Functional illiteracy is the inability to understand texts and simple math operations and to organize one's own ideas to express, for example, an argument.
One functional illiterate it is not necessarily a person who cannot read or write, but rather an individual who has difficulties in understanding and using written information and reflecting on it.
According to the concept of functional illiteracy, the individual may be able to identify and read numbers, letters, words and even phrases, but not being able to gather this information and assimilate it as a whole. It is a interpretation problem.
The concept applies not only to message recipients, but also to senders. It happens that the individual is unable to establish efficient communication in certain situations due to a large difficulty expressing yourself.
One of the biggest causes of functional illiteracy is the low access and stimulation of reading. To resolve these issues, various programs are developed by governments and NGOs, which carry out storytelling, distribute books and seek to educate people.
Functional Literacy
Functional literacy is just the opposite of functional illiteracy, that is, the ability to understand texts and simple mathematical operations and to organize one's own ideas.
Functional literacy levels
Functional literacy was classified into different groups according to the abilities presented by the individuals who responded to the surveys.
The literacy scale of INAF (Functional Literacy Indicator), is divided into five groups.
See below which groups these are and check out the main points of each one:
Illiterate
- It cannot identify letters and numbers, nor perform simple tasks such as reading words or sentences.
Rudimentary
- Can identify explicit and literal information in simple texts.
- Compares, reads and writes familiar numbers and can identify the largest and smallest.
- It solves simple math problems and establishes relationships between quantities and measurement units.
- Recognizes punctuation marks and knows their respective designations and functions.
Elementary
- Select units of information in medium length texts.
- Solves problems involving basic math operations with numbers in the order of thousands.
- Compares and relates numerical or textual information, presented in graphs or tables.
- Knows how to recognize what a graphical representation of direction and/or a sense of a greatness means.
Intermediary
- It can identify literal information in various types of text, including scientific ones.
- Solves problems involving complex mathematical operations with numbers in the millions.
- Can interpret different types of texts and prepare summaries.
- Recognizes the aesthetic effect or the meaning effect of lexical and syntactic options, figures of speech or punctuation marks.
Proficient
- Produces texts of greater complexity (message, description, exposition or argumentation).
- Interpret tables and graphs involving more than two variables.
- It can solve problem situations related to tasks from different contexts.
Are considered functional illiterates, the individuals who are part of the “Illiterate” and “Rudimentary” groups.
Functional Illiteracy in Brazil
Functional illiteracy in Brazil is assessed by the Instituto Paulo Montenegro (IPM). This institute has a partnership with the NGO Ação Educativa, supported by IBOPE Intelligent, with the objective of measuring the literacy level of the Brazilian population between 15 and 64 years of age.
This analysis is carried out through the INAF, a survey that assesses the population's skills and practices in reading, writing and mathematics applied to everyday life.
In 2018, for example, the INAF carried out a study to define the functional literacy rate of Brazilians in the world of work. For the research, 2002 people from urban and rural areas from all regions of Brazil were chosen.
Literacy Level |
Percentage of population |
|---|---|
| Illiterate | 8% |
| Rudimentary | 22% |
| Elementary | 34% |
| Intermediary | 25% |
| Proficient | 12% |
According to the survey, it is possible to get a sense of who the functional illiterates are. The group was divided into different items to simplify understanding of the results. See below which individuals make up the majority of each item:
- education: individuals with no education or with a maximum education equivalent to elementary school
- gender: male individuals
- age group: individuals aged 50 years and over
- race: black individuals
- work situation: unemployed people or housewives
functional literacy
Functional literacy is a teaching and learning process aimed at specific purposes.
This type of teaching is focused on developing skills related to adult life, such as performing everyday tasks, both in a work context and in a life context in community.