Abstract:

The International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) was a seven-country initiative first conducted in the fall of 1994. Its goal: to create comparable literacy profiles across national, linguistic and cultural boundaries. The survey also offers the world's only source of comparative data on participation in adult education and training. The results, published in the report "Literacy, economy and society: Results of the first International Adult Literacy Survey" (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and Statistics Canada, 1995), demonstrated a strong plausible link between literacy and a country's economic potential. Since then, a second and a third round of data collection of IALS were conducted in an additional 16 countries in 1996 and in 1998. Several thematic reports and international comparative reports were published following these second and third waves of data collection. In total, IALS includes literacy data pertaining to 23 countries or regions around the world.

The Canadian component of the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) was conducted in 1994. The main purpose of the survey was to find out how well adults used printed information to function in society. Another aim was to collect data on the incidence and volume of participation in adult education and training, and to investigate the relationships between initial and adult education, on the one hand, and literacy proficiency and wider economic and social outcomes, on the other.

Note:

Participants of the first two rounds of IALS are referenced in this guide as part of the first cycle (1994, 1996), whereas participants of the third round are referenced as the second cycle (1998).

Survey years available at this site:

1994; 1996; 1998

See also:

Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey
International Adult Literacy Skills Survey (Canada)
Ontario Adult Literacy Survey
Survey of Literacy Skills Used in Daily Activities
Canadian Association of University Teachers