A new Statistics Canada study released last Friday shows that literacy skills can diminish as people age. The study also said that adult literacy levels are critical to Canada’s economic competitiveness.
photo by ryan vella

New report reveals that if you don’t use it, you can lose it

Tiffany Thompson
In Focus Reporter

Of all the skills students will learn at college, literacy may be the most important.
About a third of all adult Canadians are functionally illiterate, meaning they do not have the skills needed to function on a day-to-day basis, according to Grace Santeramo Beckles, a program officer of the City Adult Learning Centre.
“When you live in a country like Canada, that’s basically a wealthy country…and a great education system, it’s surprising to see those kinds of statistics in our literacy rates,” said Beckles.
The problem is the lack of attention being placed upon adult literacy programs, she added.
“I think not as many people are aware that these programs exist as they should be. I think that we need to reach more people than we are,” Beckles said.
“That’s what we’re trying to address, by making the program as available as possible,” she said. “Functional literacy is important for day-to-day life and there are a large percentage of people who don’t have that.”
A former teacher with the Toronto District School Board, Beckles said the learning centre could help adults progress their reading and writing skills.
“The biggest step for them is actually coming here in the first place,” she said. “Sometimes they feel scared, intimidated or ashamed. A lot of people are ashamed of the fact that they don’t have higher literacy skills.”
A Statistics Canada report released last Friday shows that as people age, they lose their literacy skills. The study also cited that in order for Canada to compete in the global economy, it is necessary for people to continue to use these skills.
Although adult literacy rates seem to be waning, Canadian fourth graders are doing well internationally according to a 2006 Progress in International Reading Literacy study, which followed up on its 2001 report by examining literacy skills such as comprehension, acquisition of knowledge and the ability to interpret and integrate information in their daily lives. The study showed a marked improvement from previous years and makes the claim about using or losing these skills more plausible.
Franc Jamieson, program coordinator of the Writing Centre, believes there’s a correlation between Canada’s success and its literacy rate.
“I think that literacy is essential for a country to thrive,” Jamieson said. “Many people in Canada do not realize just how staggering these figures are. We’re probably suffering economically as a nation because of the rate.”
Jamieson suggests the unemployment rate would escalate as the number of those who are illiterate continues to amplify.
“Literacy for students is crucial to doing well in any program, in any career, in any field,” he added. “The ones who read most effectively are the ones who go the furthest.”
“The biggest thing is to develop an enjoyment of reading, so that you’ll do it not because you have to, but because you want to,” said Jamieson.
In addition to reading, many students need help with their writing, according to Tanya Reda, a second-year business administration student who works as a peer tutor at the school’s Writing Centre.
“They have their assignments and they kind of have an idea of what they want to talk about and maybe what their points are, but then they don’t know where to go from there.”
Reda said many students arrive at Humber thinking their literacy skills are strong, only to be caught off guard by the colleges’ high standards.
“Humber has, I think, a really good English program, because they actually go over the grammar,” she said. “I went to the University of Toronto before this, and what I learned in a full-year English course there was nothing compared to what I learned in one semester of Comm. 200.”
“It is crucial. Nothing could be more important in their understanding the world in which they live. Their ability to understand it depends on their ability to articulate it,” said Humber English professor Trevor Arkel.
He suggested one way to improve your literacy skills is to read outside your comfort zone.
“Read as widely and as frequently as possible, and read extended arguments and articles that are challenging and that present perspectives that may not be in concert with their own feelings to see how the world actually functions,” said Arkel.