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Social Issues – Illiteracy – Facebook Twitter WhatsApp LinkedIn Email ‘)}catch(e) delete t.name}else o=n.createElement(“iframe”);return t.id&&(o.id=t.id,delete t.id),o.allowtransparency=”true”,o.scrolling=”no”,o.setAttribute(“frameBorder”,0),o.setAttribute(“allowTransparency”,!0),i.forIn(t,function(t,e) ),i.forIn(e,function(t,e) ),o}},function(t,e,n) t.exports= },isHorizonTimelineVariantSupported:a,isHorizonTimelineEnabled:function(t,e) }},function(t,e) }},function(t,e),function(t,e,n) )},trigger:function(t,e) )}}},function(t,e,n) function a(t) ;return arguments.length>1&&(e.params=.slice.call(arguments,1)),e}s.prototype._generateId=function(),s.prototype.notify=function(),s.prototype.request=function() )},t.exports=s},function(t,e,n) )=e:r=e,t.postMessage(r,”*”))}function h(t) function d(t,e) function m(t,e) function g(t,e),this.target=t,this.isTwitterHost=c.isTwitterURL(r.href),this.filter=h(e),i.addEventListener(“message”,f(this._onMessage,this),!1)}u.aug(m.prototype, ))},attachTo:function(t),detach:function() }),u.aug(g.prototype,,_onMessage:function(t) catch(t) (e=u.isType(“array”,e)?e:).forEach(f(this._processResponse,this))}},send:function(t) }),t.exports= }},function(t,e,n) }},function(t,e) }},function(t,e) },function(t,e,n),function(t,e,n) A.aug(“config”, ),i=(r=v).getElementById(“b”),o=r.getElementById(“widget”),s=function(t) );return t}(x.combined(y)),a=,u=,c=,m=j(R.asNumber(s.time)),R.asBoolean(s.dnt)&&P.setOn(),s.lang=s.lang&&s.lang.toLowerCase(),r.body.parentNode.lang=s.lang=I.contains(S,s.lang)?s.lang:”en”,A.set(“lang”,s.lang),d=_(“ltr”),s.type=I.contains(u,s.type)?s.type:”share”,s.size=a?s.size:”m”,L(r.body,a||””),(“mention”==s.type||s.screen_name)&&((h=O.screenName(s.screen_name))?s.screen_name=h:(delete s.screen_name,”mention”==s.type&&(s.type=”share”))),”hashtag”==s.type||s.button_hashtag?(p=O.hashTag(s.button_hashtag,!1))?(s.button_hashtag=p,s.hashtags=s.button_hashtag+”,”+(s.hashtags||””)):(delete s.button_hashtag,s.type=”share”):”share”==s.type&&(s.url=s.url||r.referrer),c.push(d),L(r.body,c.join(” “)),r.body.setAttribute(“data-scribe”,”section:”+s.type),g=r.getElementById(“l”),r.title=_(“Tweet Button”),g.innerHTML=function() “, );case”mention”: return _(“Tweet to % “, );default:return _(“Tweet”)}}(),i.parentNode.style.width=i.offsetWidth+”px”,N.triggerResize(o),L(r.body,”ready”),f=,l=A.get(“config.intentURL”)+”?”+E.encode(f),m||T.clientEvent(,,!1),i.href=l,i.onclick=function(t),!1),N.trigger(“click”,”tweet”),N.trigger(“tweet”,”tweet”),t.altKey||t.shiftKey||t.metaKey||b.ios()||b.android()))return e=l,s.id,w.open(e,null),function(t) (t)}}])); JSS 2 Civic Education First Term Week 7 Topic : Social Issues (Illiteracy) Contents

• Meaning of social issues
• Meaning of illiteracy
• Causes of illiteracy

Social Issues are social problem that influences and it is opposed by a considerable number of individuals within a society. Some social issues in Nigeria are Illiteracy, Drug abuse, child abuse, child trafficking, traffic rules and regulation, accidents, corruption etc.

1. All of these are some of the social problems in Nigeria.
2. Illiteracy Illiteracy can simply be defined as a situation where people cannot read and write.
3. An illiterate is someone who has not learnt how to read or write, an illiterate is a person who can neither read nor write while a literate is a person who can read and write.

Causes of Illiteracy

1. Poverty: According to Ewetan 2005 poverty is defined as a situation of low income or consumption. It is the lack of physical necessities, assets and income, a person who is poor therefore cannot afford to be literate because of their financial status.
2. Wrong attitude to education: Attitude is the opinion and feeling that a person have towards something. The wrong attitude of government and individual persons to education will increase the level of illiteracy in the nation.
3. Wrong policies and priorities: When people in government do not make policies that will address the educational system in the country, the citizens become illiterate. Government and individual must set their priorities right and see the need for education.
4. Traditions and values: Some people because of their ways of life and mind set may not see going to school as something important and crucial, some don’t have values for education, the nomadic cattle rearers for instance move from one location to another. Their traditions and type of jobs made them to have no value for education.
5. Lack of access to education: There are some people who live far away from school and some don’t even have school in their areas and because of this they remain illiterate due to lack of access to where schools are.
6. Poor and inadequate facilities: Poor classrooms, inadequate staffs, unequipped library etc will discourage students from learning; they thereby end up in becoming an illiterate.
7. Social evils: This social evil like child marriage, child labor and slavery is the reason why some children are illiterate.
8. Emigration of educated individuals: Another reason for illiteracy is that those who are educated traveled or emigrated to other advanced country because of good job and better standard of living leaving the young ones with no hope of teachers
9. Overpopulation: This is a situation where the available resources are not sufficient enough to the available people in the country.

Illiteracy in Adults Illiteracy in individuals stems from different, generally inter-related causes which, together, create a series of often insurmountable barriers for those concerned. For instance, for someone born into an underprivileged milieu to parents with little formal schooling, the likelihood of being illiterate or experiencing serious learning difficulties will be higher.

• Parents with little schooling;
• Lack of books at home and lack of stimulation as to the importance of reading;
• Doing badly at or dropping out of school—many have not completed high school;
• Difficult living conditions, including poverty;
• Learning disabilities, such as dyslexia, dysorthographia, etc.

Consequences of Illiteracy The consequences of illiteracy are many and harmful in several respects. As well as affecting illiterate individuals themselves in their daily lives and often jeopardizing their future, this scourge has a significant effect on society, both socially and economically. The consequences of illiteracy on individuals and society include the following: For individuals

• Limited ability to obtain and understand essential information;
• Unemployment: The unemployment rate is 2–4 times higher among those with little schooling than among those with Bachelor’s degrees;
• Lower income;
• Lower-quality jobs;
• Reduced access to lifelong learning and professional development;
• Precarious financial position;
• Little value is given to education and reading within the family, and this often leads to inter-generational transmission of illiteracy;
• Low self-esteem, which can lead to isolation;
• Impact on health: Illiterate individuals have more workplace accidents, take longer to recover and more often misuse medication through ignorance of health care resources and because they have trouble reading and understanding the relevant information (warnings, dosage, contraindications, etc.).

For society

• Since literacy is an essential tool for individuals and states to be competitive in the new global knowledge economy, many positions remain vacant for lack of personnel adequately trained to hold them;
• The higher the proportion of adults with low literacy proficiency is, the slower the overall long-term GDP growth rate is;
• The difficulty understanding societal issues lowers the level of community involvement and civic participation.

Without the basic tools necessary for achieving their goals, individuals without an adequate level of literacy cannot be involved fully and on a completely equal basis in social and political discourse. Test and Exercise

1. Social issues are issues that affect everybody in the society. True / false (true)
2. A person who cannot read and write is (a) literate (b) genius (c) illiterate (d) champion. ans (c)
3. A person who can read and write is called (a) literate (b) illiterate (c) genius (d) dumb. ans (a)
4. All of these are some of the causes of illiteracy except (a) poverty (b) lack of access to school (c) provision of access to school (d) wrong policies and priorities. ans (c)
5. A situation where people cannot read and write is (a) literacy (b) illiteracy (c) normalcy (d) accuracy.

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What is illiteracy and causes of illiteracy?

As you know, Literacy New York supports adult literacy initiatives, working with literacy groups throughout New York State. You may wonder though—Why are adults illiterate? What causes illiteracy? Here are some of the most frequent causes of illiteracy in adults:

Parents with little schooling; Lack of books at home and lack of stimulation as to the importance of reading; Doing badly at or dropping out of school—many have not completed high school; Difficult living conditions, including poverty; Learning disabilities, such as dyslexia

Most often, “illiteracy in individuals stems from different, generally inter-related causes which, together, create a series of often insurmountable barriers for those concerned.” (Literacy Foundation) The good news is that illiteracy is a solvable problem, and the partner organizations that we work with can “cure illiteracy”.
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What is called illiteracy?

1 : having little or no education especially : unable to read or write an illiterate population 2 : showing or marked by a lack of acquaintance with the fundamentals of a particular field of knowledge musically illiterate 3 a : violating approved patterns of speaking or writing b : showing or marked by a lack of familiarity with language and literature an illiterate magazine
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What is the main causes of illiteracy?

Some of the causes of low literacy in adults are: Undiagnosed learning disabilities. Hearing or vision loss. Lack of a role model, i.e. no one in the family or household stresses reading or education.
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What is illiteracy in detail?

Illiteracy is the quality or condition of being unable to read or write. Illiteracy is a major problem throughout the world.
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What are effects of illiteracy?

The Social Impact – When a child or student struggles with reading and writing, the social impacts are profound and will usually follow them into adulthood. Often, students who struggle with literacy feel ostracised from academia, or find themselves unable to fully participate in society or government.

A person who cannot read and write struggles to know their rights, to vote, to find work, to pay bills and to secure housing. They also may have low self-esteem or feel emotions such as shame, fear and powerlessness, which can often lead to isolation. Former President of the International Literacy Association Bernadette Dwyer said, “Literacy permeates all areas of life, fundamentally shaping how we learn, work, and socialise.

Communication and connection are the basis of who we are and how we live together and interact with the world.”
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What is illiteracy long answer?

A lack of ability to read and write.2. the state of being illiterate; lack of any or enough education.3. a mistake in writing or speaking, felt to be characteristic of an illiterate or semiliterate person.
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What is an example of illiteracy?

It’s easy to spot illiteracy. An English speaker who can’t read even simple consonant-vowel-consonant words, like ‘cat’, is illiterate. Harder to spot, but infinitely more revealing, is the notion of functional illiteracy. A functionally illiterate person might have some early reading skills: naming the upper and lower case letters of the alphabet, knowing that sounds can be represented with letters; realising that writing flows from left to right, for example.

1. They might even be able to read simple material: texts with a reading level appropriate for 6 to 8 year olds.
2. However they would not be able to read or write sufficiently well to deal with the literacy demands of everyday life; that is, newspapers, medical prescriptions, job advertisements, payment notifications, banking messages, signs and posters, instructions, maps, letter-writing, and the like would be beyond their abilities.

Although functional illiteracy does not have a precise definition, loosely speaking it describes the abilities of those people who, post nine years of age, have literacy skills normally found, in average learners, aged between 6 to 8.5 years – but no higher.

Becoming functional literate is easier in some languages than others. English poses a particular challenge, with many ways to represent its sounds. Consider, for example, the sound ‘OR’ in words like ‘almost’, ‘four’, ‘tore’, ‘roar’, ‘caught’, ‘fort’, ‘gnaw’, ‘taut’, ‘bought’, ‘poor’, ‘pour’, ‘war’: 12 different signs for one sound! I mentioned that the notion of functional illiteracy is revealing.

In the USA, according to the National Center for Educational Statistics:

85% of US detained juveniles are functionally illiterate. Two-thirds of students who are not functionally literate by age nine will serve prison time or end-up on social welfare. Most students who are not functionally literate by age nine do not catch up. Three out of five adults in the US prison system read at or below the average level for nine year olds.

Research organisations consistently find around 20% of US adults are functionally illiterate. The UK government’s Department for Education reported in 2006 that 42% of students left school at age 16 without a basic level of functional English. They estimate that 100,000 students leave school, each year, functionally illiterate.

1. About 22% of the UK adult population is functionally illiterate.
2. Emergent to Independent Emergent literacy describes those language skills that, for average learners, are gained by about age 6.
3. Independent (functional) literacy requires skills normally gained by about age nine.Books designed for six year olds have about 5 words per page, have many illustrations, and operate well below the verbal language level of the learner.

Books for 8/9 year olds have around 10 lines, about 100 words, per page. It is at this level of complexity that reading becomes a pleasurable and stimulating activity – in itself, By age 9 the hard work should be over and ‘reading under the bed covers’ becomes a possibility.

• The bulk of learners can take up to three years to close the gap between the emergent and independent literacy stages.
• In other words, it can take up to three years before reading moves from being a chore to an intense source of pleasure.
• Clearly, in the battle to increase national levels of functional literacy, anything that can be done to shorten the time between reading as a chore and reading as a pleasure would be very worthwhile.

Our app ‘Sounds English Phonics’ which is available on iOS and Android has been designed with this end in mind. Backed by a school based efficiency research study with the results analysed by the University of Surrey, Sounds English Phonics is proven to be 2.8 times more effective as other school based programmes.
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What is an example of illiterate?

Britannica Dictionary definition of ILLITERATE 1 : not knowing how to read or write

an illiterate person She didn’t want anyone to know that she was illiterate,

— opposite literate 2 : having or showing a lack of knowledge about a particular subject

She is politically illiterate and has never voted in an election. He’s illiterate when it comes to computers.

— opposite literate 3 : not grammatically correct Britannica Dictionary definition of ILLITERATE : a person who is illiterate

His parents were illiterates, a class for computer illiterates

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What are the characteristics of illiteracy?

Has difficulty pronouncing long or complex words. Has a limited vocabulary. Has difficulty expressing simple ideas or abstract concepts. Prefers to memorize information rather than write it down.
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Who is most affected by illiteracy?

+ Key Takeaways – Functional illiteracy is defined as the inability to read and comprehend relatively short texts or understand basic vocabulary. Illiteracy affects 18% of US adults (approximately 57.4 million people), most commonly impacting black people, Hispanic people, and low-income individuals.
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What is the meaning of illiteracy and ignorance?

Submitted by ckenward on Sun, 01/29/2012 – 11:08pm At the end of class last week, I found myself feeling uncomfortable with the way the class was using the term “illiterate.” As we are all working to expand our definitions of literacy, I think it is important to keep in mind how we’re using related terms.

I really like the idea that literacy goes beyond the ability to read and write to encompase having knowledge or competency in an area but does that mean that being illiterate is the opposite of that? While I’m comfortable with the fact that I am not literate in all areas, I’m not comfortable with the idea that not being literate in an area means that you are illiterate.

I’m also interested with the connection between illiteracy and ignorance. Are they connected? If only in the sense that both words seem to have very negative connotations with me despite the fact that they shouldn’t be neccessarily negative. For me, ignorance is not knowing and I think given my previous definition of literacy one could say that being illiterate is not knowing.

• However, I think illiterate is used in a much broader sense than ignorance.
• For example, I think the way I have been thinking about the terms, one can easily be ignorant about part of a culture or lifestyle or any number of things.
• However, if you are illiterate, it isn’t just one part of a culture or lifestyle but its the whole culture.

I think it is easiest to understand in terms of language. To be literate, one must know a language – how to read and write in that language but also nuances in terms of tone, when certain words are used instead of others, knowing a discourse. To be illiterate is to not know any language.

1. This is why I do not think the two work as opposites of each other.
2. It is possible to be literate in more than one language but not possible to be illiterate if you know at least one language.
3. To be ignorant is to know part of a language.
4. Maybe you know how to read and write but are not able to discern nuances like sarcasm or understand when you are speaking formally or informally.

Perhaps these defnitions don’t leave enough grey area, but for me they establish a base with which to develop better ideas of all these terms.

ckenward’s blog

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What are the 5 levels of literacy?

The Five Stages of Literacy Development – As a child grows older and demonstrates the key stages of literacy development they will improve their reading and writing ability. The five stages of literacy development include emergent literacy, alphabetic fluency, words and patterns, intermediate reading, and advanced reading.
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What are the four levels of literacy?

Literacy Levels Among College Students When I confront “problems of practice” in my teaching, I like to turn to my smart friends for advice. About a year ago, I was really confounded by my students’ trouble with reading for deep understanding. While I could see that the students were completing assigned readings, they weren’t always able to process the information deeply to analyze the concepts or apply the content to new situations.

Since I don’t have much experience teaching reading, I turned to my colleague, Dr. Jennifer Shettel. Jen is a literacy professor and has run several tremendously successful close-reading workshops in our area. I figured she could give some advice. Our conversations prompted some pedagogical experimentation with different literacy-based strategies.

Some readers here may be wondering why we even need to examine reading strategies for collegiate students. After all, our students are adults and they should have already developed advanced reading abilities. That was one of the first areas that Jen tackled with me.

While we’d like to think that our students are prepared for the challenging content we assign, collegiate students are still developing as readers and we need to help them in this process. To demonstrate her case, Jen shared Jeanne Chall’s, In this model, Chall identifies six different stages across a reader’s development and the different characteristics and abilities prominent at each.

Based on their age, we may expect that our students have reached the highest stage, Construction and Reconstruction. At this stage, students should be able to construct their understanding based on text analysis and synthesis. The reality, however, is that some of our students may be entering our classes without this ability.

1. Maybe some are still at Chall’s “Reading for Learning the New” stage or maybe others are just reaching the “Multiple Viewpoints” stage.
2. Realizing that our students are still developing as readers was pretty eye opening.
3. In our conversations, Jen and I began wondering whether any large-scale studies had been done to examine college students’ reading abilities.

After searching around a bit, we found a 2006 study conducted by the American Institutes for Research titled The Literacy of America’s College Students. looked comprehensively at college students’ literacy levels from a variety of different perspectives.

If Chall’s work was eye opening, this study was even more so. In the study, the authors identify four literacy levels (below basic, basic, intermediate and proficient) across three different a literacy types (prose, document and quantitative). Looking at the average literacy levels for students enrolled in two- and four-year institutions, the authors report that while college students on average score significantly higher than the general adult population in all three literacy types, the average score would be characterized at the intermediate literacy level.

Expanding the lens to examine the collegiate student population closer, the authors uncover some important findings for those institutions of higher education whose missions include working with first-generation college students or with international students.

Students whose parents are college graduates score significantly higher across all literacy types than those students whose parents did not attend any post-secondary education. Foreign-born students score significantly lower across every literacy type than their US-born peers. I know some readers may see these findings and think that our schools just need to be more selective.

Maybe other readers dismiss this study entirely because they work at an elite school with a (presumed) higher caliber of student. It’s important to note that the researchers did not find significantly different literacy levels when comparing students at public vs.

Private institutions or at selective vs. nonselective institutions. While the findings may be a little disheartening, the report shows that ALL institutions of higher education need to be aware of their students’ literacy levels. And that’s the big takeaway from this post. Considering our students’ literacy development and ability, we need to assist them with interacting with the readings we assign.

We need to help them access our disciplinary texts and support them in their growth as readers. Ollie Dreon is an associate professor at Millerville University, where he also serves as the director of the Center for Academic Excellence. References: Baer, J.D., Cook, A.L., & Baldi, S.
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What are the five elements of literacy?

Effective instructional programs and materials emphasize the five essential components of effective reading instruction: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.
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How is illiteracy a cause of poverty?

4: Many do not have knowledge about food and nutrition. This leads to poverty which in turn becomes the cause of illiteracy giving rise to a vicious cycle.
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Why illiteracy is a social problem?

The major effect of illiteracy in India is poverty. Poverty is a problem for both the developing and the developed countries. It can be understood from three perceptions these are basic needs, income and capability. An individual is avowed to be under poverty when his income is below a certain point.
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What is illiteracy 10th?

Illiteracy is a state in which someone is unable to read and write. In other words, it can also be defined as a lack of education.
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