Literacy and Communication in the United States

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Literacy and Communication in the United States

• By Grant Lovejoy

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Reading Preferences
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Reading Preferences

• In 2002 the average American spent more time on
  the Internet (about three hours a week) than
  reading books (about two hours a week).
• The average American adult spent more money in
  2002 on movies, videos, and DVDs (166) than on
  books (90).
• --Albert Greco, Fordham University
• 10 Years of Best Sellers How the Landscape Has
  Changed, USA Today (Mar. 11, 2004), 2A

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10 Years of Best Sellers How the Landscape Has
ChangedUSA Today 3/11/04, p. 2A

• Despite growing competition from other parts of
  the entertainment industry and changes in
  technology, Michael Korda, editor-in-chief of
  Simon and Schuster says, The book has survived
  and people continue to buy big best sellers.
  Possibly literacy itself is doomed in some kind
  of digitalized future, but for the moment, all we
  can say is that people are reading about as much
  as they ever did, that the big best sellers are
  measured in numbers significantly higher than
  ever before, and that the best-seller list, in
  one form or another, is very likely to be with
  us, for better or worse, for another 100 years or
  more.

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Reading at RiskReleased July 2004

• Sponsor National Endowment for the Arts (2002)
• The U. S. Census Bureau asked more than 17,000
  adults if--during the previous 12 months--they
  had read any novels, short stories, poetry or
  plays in their leisure time, that were not
  required for work or school.

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Reading at Risk

• This comprehensive survey of American
  literary reading presents a detailed, but bleak
  assessment of the decline of readings role in
  the nations culture. For the first time in
  modern history, less than half of the adult
  population now reads literature, and these trends
  reflect a larger decline in other sorts of
  reading.
• Dana Gioia
• Chairman, National Endowment for the Arts

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• Literary reading in America is not only
  declining rapidly among all groups, but the rate
  of decline has accelerated, especially among the
  young.
• Dana Gioia, Chairman

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Reading at Risk

• The important thing now is to understand that
  America can no longer take active and engaged
  literacy for granted. Reading is not a timeless,
  universal capability. Advanced literacy is a
  specific intellectual skill and social habit that
  depends on a great many educational, cultural,
  and economic factors. As more Americans lose this
  capability, our nation becomes less informed,
  active, and independent-minded.
• Dana Gioia, Chairman, Natl Endowment/Arts

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Reading at Risk

• There was a decline of 10 in pleasure readers
  from 1982 to 2002, representing a loss of 20
  million potential readers.

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The steepest rate of decline--28--occurred in
the youngest age groups (adults 18-24). The rate
of decline for the youngest adults was 55
greater than that of the total adult population.
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Reading at Risk

• Only slightly more than one-third of adult males
  now read literature.

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Reading at Risk

• Reacting to the Reading at Risk report, Kevin
  Starr, librarian emeritus for the state of
  California . . . said that if close to 50 percent
  of Americans are reading literature, that's not
  bad, actually."

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Reading at Risk

• In an age where there's no canon, where there
  are so many other forms of information, and where
  we're returning to medieval-like oral culture
  based on television," he said, "I think that's
  pretty impressive, quite frankly."

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Reading at Risk

• Mr. Starr continued "We should be alarmed, I
  suppose, but the horse has
• long since run out of the barn.
• Two distinct cultures
• have evolved, and
• by far the smaller
• is the one that's
• tied up with book and high culture.
  
• New York Times, July
  13, 2004

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Reading Skills
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National Assessment of Adult Literacy (2005)

• Tested 19,000 adults age 16
• The assessment defines literacy as using printed
  and written information to function in society,
  to achieve ones goals, and to develop ones
  knowledge and potential.

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NAAL

• Three types of literacy
• Prose
• Document
• Quantitative

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National Assessment of Adult Literacy (2005)

• Four literacy levels
• Below Basic
• Basic
• Intermediate
• Proficient

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Adults Prose Literacy Skills

• Below Basic (14 )
• Basic (29)
• Intermediate (44)
• Proficient (13)

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Number of Adults in Each Prose Literacy Level
2003
Significantly different from 1992. Note Detail
may not sum to totals because of rounding. 
Adults are defined as people 16 years of age and
older living in households or prisons.  Adults
who could not be interviewed due to language
spoken or cognitive or mental disabilities (3
percent in 2003 and 4 percent in 1992) are
excluded from this figure. Source U.S.
Department of Education, Institute of Education
Sciences, National Center for Education
Statistics, 1992 National Adult Literacy Survey
and 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy.
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Prose Literacy by Race/Ethnicity 19922003
Significantly different from 1992. Note
Adults are defined as people 16 years of age and
older living in households or prisons. Adults who
could not be interviewed due to language spoken
or cognitive or mental disabilities (3 percent in
2003 and 4 percent in 1992) are excluded from
this figure. In 1992, respondents were allowed to
identify only one race. In 2003, respondents were
allowed to identify multiple races. In 2003, 2
percent of respondents identified multiple races
and are not included in the White, Black, or
Asian/Pacific Islander categories in this figure.
All adults of Hispanic origin are classified as
Hispanic, regardless of race. The Asian/Pacific
Islander category includes Native Hawaiians.
Total includes White, Black, Hispanic,
Asian/Pacific Islander, American Indian/Alaska
Native, and Multiracial/Other. Although not
reported separately, American Indians/Native
Alaskans are included. Source U.S. Department
of Education, Institute of Education Sciences,
National Center for Education Statistics, 1992
National Adult Literacy Survey and 2003 National
Assessment of Adult Literacy.
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Prose Proficiency Compared to Educational
Attainment

• High School Graduate
• Vocational/Trade School
• Some College
• Associates/2 yr. degree
• College graduate
• Graduate studies/degree

• 4
• 5
• 11
• 19
• 31
• 41

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Prose and Document Proficiency among College
Graduates

• From 1992 to 2003, the percentage of college
  graduates scoring proficient in prose literacy
  dropped from 40 to 31.
• From 1992 to 2003, the percentage of college
  graduates scoring proficient in document
  literacy dropped from 37 to 25.

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Plato on Writing
"If men learn this writing, it will implant
forgetfulness in their souls they will cease to
exercise memory because they will rely on what is
written, calling things to remembrance no longer
from within themselves, but by means of external
marks what you have discovered is a recipe not
for memory, but for reminder.
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Plato on Writing
And it is no true wisdom that you offer your
disciples, but only its semblance for by telling
them of many things without teaching them you
will make them seem to know much, while for the
most part they know nothing and as men filled,
not with wisdom, but with the conceit of wisdom,
they will be a burden to their fellows. Phaedrus
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Dilbert on Writing
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Fact, Truth, Story

• Tell me a fact and Ill learn. Tell me a truth
  and Ill believe. But tell me a story and it will
  live in my heart forever.
  Indian proverb

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Corporate Storytelling

• From BusinessWeek Onlines article about
  buzzwords in the corporate world
• Storytelling The art of creating a compelling
  narrative for your product and brand that
  connects emotionally with your customers. Think
  Pixar."

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Storytelling in Boardrooms

• "Why was Solomon recognized as the wisest man in
  the world? Because he knew more stories
  (proverbs) than anyone else. Scratch the surface
  in a typical boardroom and we're all just cavemen
  with briefcases, hungry for a wise person to tell
  us stories.
• --Alan Kay, former V. P., Walt Disney

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Jesus the Storyteller

• He used many such stories and illustrations to
  teach the people as much as they were able to
  understand. In fact, in his public teaching he
  taught only with parables, but afterward when he
  was alone with his disciples, he explained the
  meaning to them. (Mark 433-34, NLT)

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Storytelling is not what I do for a living - it
is how I do all that I do while I am living.
Donald Davis
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• Our lives must find their place
• in a greater story
• or they will find their place
• in a lesser story.
• H. Stephen Shoemaker

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Thanks for Listening