Learning to live with it: Reflections on surviving critical times from Irish adult education

Derek Barter; Bernie Grummell

doi:10.53807/0401mrfq

Learning to live with it: Reflections on surviving critical times from Irish adult education

eucen Studies eJournal of University Lifelong Learning ◽

10.53807/0401mrfq ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 04 (01) ◽

pp. 31-36

Author(s):

Derek Barter ◽

Bernie Grummell

Keyword(s):

Adult Education ◽

Critical Times

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Understanding functional illiteracy from a policy, adult education, and cognition point of view: Towards a joint referent framework

Zeitschrift für Neuropsychologie ◽

10.1024/1016-264x/a000255 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 30 (2) ◽

pp. 109-122

Author(s):

Aleksandar Bulajić ◽

Miomir Despotović ◽

Thomas Lachmann

Keyword(s):

Adult Education ◽

Operational Definition ◽

Literacy Skills ◽

Point Of View ◽

Industrialized Countries ◽

Functional Illiteracy ◽

Scale Levels ◽

Components Of Reading ◽

The One ◽

Definition Of

Abstract. The article discusses the emergence of a functional literacy construct and the rediscovery of illiteracy in industrialized countries during the second half of the 20th century. It offers a short explanation of how the construct evolved over time. In addition, it explores how functional (il)literacy is conceived differently by research discourses of cognitive and neural studies, on the one hand, and by prescriptive and normative international policy documents and adult education, on the other hand. Furthermore, it analyses how literacy skills surveys such as the Level One Study (leo.) or the PIAAC may help to bridge the gap between cognitive and more practical and educational approaches to literacy, the goal being to place the functional illiteracy (FI) construct within its existing scale levels. It also sheds more light on the way in which FI can be perceived in terms of different cognitive processes and underlying components of reading. By building on the previous work of other authors and previous definitions, the article brings together different views of FI and offers a perspective for a needed operational definition of the concept, which would be an appropriate reference point for future educational, political, and scientific utilization.

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