Communication Issues: Literacy

Literacy is commonly defined as the ability to understand and use language in a written form. Since much communication occurs in the print media, literacy becomes a vital component of communicating.

Poor literacy is a major problem facing the United States. According to the National Institute for Literacy's 1992 National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS), "21 to 23% - or some 40 to 44 million of the 191 million adults in the United States - demonstrated skills in the lowest level of prose, document, and quantitative literacy proficiencies" based on the survey requirements. Of the respondents at this level, 29% reported not being able to read at all.

Additionally, literacy levels vary by ethnic, gender, and age groups. Older populations and minority groups, on average, have lower literacy levels that for the total US population (17).

Compounding the problem of poor literacy or illiteracy is the problem of poor science literacy. Science literacy, generally defined as "what the general public ought to know about science," or "an appreciation of the nature, aims, and general limitations of science, coupled with some understanding of the more important scientific ideas."(18)

Of course, this is compounded by the ever-changing and growing nature of science, as well as the difficulty in prioritizing what is important. It's impossible to create a list of "basic scientific concepts to know in order to be scientifically literate." Science literacy also refers to an understanding of the process of science, as well as science's goals and products. Though measurement of science literacy levels has not been conducted in an overly accurate or systematic way, it is fair to say that low scientific literacy pervades the general population.

Low science literacy means that even if communication is conducted at a level appropriate to the standard literacy level of the population, it may not be appropriate or understood based on the public's understanding of scientific concepts or processes.

What the numbers mean:

• that 40% of the population reads at or below the 8th grade level
• that most documents produced by the goverment are unable to be read with meaning by a sizable percentage of the population
• that scientific, medical, or legal information is nearly incom-prehensible
• that important communications (like those about water contam-ination) need to be constructed so that they can be understood by those with low literacy levels