International Adult Literacy Survey

Description: The International Adult Literacy Survey was a collaborative effort by seven governments and three intergovernmental organizations. Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States participated in the survey. Since 1994, fourteen additional countries have applied the survey's statistical instruments. They are: Australia, New Zealand, Chile, the Czech Republic, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, the Irish Republic, Northern Ireland, Great Britain, Hungary, Norway, Portugal and Slovenia.

The Canadian component of the survey had a number of objectives, namely:

1. to provide an updated profile of adult literacy abilities for Canada for comparison to that provided by the 1989 Survey of Literacy Skills Used in Daily Activities;
2. to provide sufficiently large numbers of Franco-Ontarians, seniors, social assistance recipients, employment insurance recipients and out-of-school youth to profile their skill levels;
3. to shed light on the relationship between performance, educational attainment, labour market participation and employment for those at certain literacy levels and;
4. to compare Canadian literacy levels with those in other countries.

Who/what was surveyed: Non-institutionalized persons, 16 years of age and over

How the data were collected: All data were collected by personal interview

Geographic detail: Canada and provinces

Demographic detail: age, sex, country of birth, immigration variables, linguistic profile, parental profile

Information collected:

Classification content:

• country/province of birth
• year of immigration
• years of stay in Canada
• highest level of education attained before immigration
• years of formal education attained before immigration
• years of formal education during lifetime
• highest level of schooling

Type of education program:

• academic
• college/preparatory
• business/commercial or trade/vocational
• high school equivalency program
• province or country of secondary education
• reason for stopping schooling

Linguistic profile:

• language first spoken as a child
• current ability to speak / understand the language first spoken as a child
• current reading / writing skills in language first learned
• age when started to learn English
• language (s) spoken at home when growing up
• language first learned to read and write
• ability to understand and/or speak English
• skills in reading and writing English
• languages spoken well enough to hold a conversation
• language spoken most often at home / at school / at work / during leisure activities
• language used to express most easily
• ethnic or cultural group of ancestors

Parental information:

• citizenship / age / educational profile of mother (or female guardian)
• citizenship / age / educational profile of father (or male guardian)

Labour force information:

• employment status
• class of worker
• full-time / part-time work
• industry
• occupation
• reason for not looking for work
• reason for not working
• unemployment

Skills

• reading and writing skills at work, and limitations if any
• mathematical skills and limitations, if any
• adult education programs taken (by type, by sponsorship, by duration, by purpose)
• reading and writing skills, by activity type
• family literacy, children, educational profile

Household income, by source

Frequency: Quinquennial

Sample size: 5,660 respondents

Data availability: Data are available for 1994

Reference period: September 1994

Release dates: November 1995

Products and services:

1. Reading the future: A portrait of Literacy in Canada, Catalogue no. 89-545-XPE, Canada $49, US $59US, Other countries $69US
2. Literacy, Economy and Society: Results of the First International Adult Literacy Survey, Catalogue no. 89-551-XPE, Canada $40, US $40US, Other countries $40US
3. Microdata file and user's guide, Catalogue no. 89M0014GPE - $2000
4. Microdata user’s guide (only), Catalogue no. 89M0014GPE - $30
5. Special tabulations available on a cost-recovery basis (#89C0023)

Responsible division: Special Surveys Division