Literacy education in industrialized and developing countries. Changes of perspective and assessment approaches

摘要

Literacy rates in developing countries have increased significantly during the last decades. This calls for a more complex, multi-faceted and multi-level view of the competencies related to literacy. The article reviews the most recent and visible changes of theoretical perspectives and highlights some of the methodological consequences referring to an adequate measurement of literacy abilities. It is argued that improving the quality of literacy research and the effectiveness of literacy education is of utmost importance for industrialized as well as developing countries. Democracy, cultural participation, employment opportunities, and increase of income are inconceivable without a universal distribution of high standards of literacy among the population. (DIPF/orig.)