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Scoping the Development of a Measure of Adults’ Numeracy (and Literacy) Practices

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Contemporary Research in Adult and Lifelong Learning of Mathematics

Part of the book series: ICME-13 Monographs ((ICME13Mo))

Abstract

We describe our research scoping the development of a measure of adults’ numeracy and literacy practices, focusing in particular on numeracy. Our ultimate aim is to develop a way of tracking changes in how adults use numeracy and literacy in the workplace, community and at home, to inform educational efforts. This is particularly important for numeracy because there is often a gap between the numeracy adults use in their daily lives and their performance on proficiency tests designed to measure their progress and assess their suitability for work or further training. We treat numeracy and literacy as both social practices and technical skills, against prevailing polarized positions in the academic and policy literature, and present a conceptual framework encompassing numeracy, reading, writing, speaking and listening practices, in real and virtual (digital) environments.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Successive OECD international surveys of adult skills have been undertaken roughly ten years apart from the mid-1990s (see: OECD Directorate for Education, 2009).

  2. 2.

    The project was entitled ‘Scoping the Development of a Measure of Adults’ Literacy and Numeracy Practices’ and funded by the New Zealand Ministry of Education, February–June 2015.

  3. 3.

    http://www.cpls.educ.ubc.ca.

  4. 4.

    LSAL http://www.lsal.pdx.edu/ followed a random sample of around 1000 Portland Oregon area high school dropouts from 1998–2007.

  5. 5.

    Note, the UPSKILL project did find gains in proficiency.

  6. 6.

    https://www.literacyandnumeracyforadults.com/resources/356174.

  7. 7.

    Publicly-funded programs in New Zealand include 100-h intensive numeracy and literacy programs for native or fluent English speakers (200 h for speakers of English as an additional language) and 40-h workplace programs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand

    Diana Coben

  2. Heathrose Research, Wellington, New Zealand

    Anne Alkema

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  1. Diana Coben
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Correspondence to Diana Coben .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Mathematics Department, Saint Peter’s University, Jersey City, New Jersey, USA

    Katherine Safford-Ramus

  2. Institut für Didaktik der Mathematik, Johannes Kepler Universität Linz, Linz-Auhof, Austria

    Jürgen Maaß

  3. Department 3: Faculties, Pädagogische Hochschule Niederösterreich, Baden, Austria

    Evelyn Süss-Stepancik

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Coben, D., Alkema, A. (2018). Scoping the Development of a Measure of Adults’ Numeracy (and Literacy) Practices. In: Safford-Ramus, K., Maaß, J., Süss-Stepancik, E. (eds) Contemporary Research in Adult and Lifelong Learning of Mathematics. ICME-13 Monographs. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96502-4_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96502-4_5

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