Four jurisdictions have overall average prose literacy scores below the Canadian average, including Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, Quebec and Nunavut. This general pattern holds across the age groups with a few notable observations. With the exception of Nunavut, the average performance of 16 to 25 year-olds is not much different from the Canadian average. Further, Figure 2.3C shows that for all age groups the average prose literacy scores for Nunavut are much below the Canadian averages. Additionally, the decline in average prose literacy scores is more pronounced between the age groups of 46 to 55 and 56 to 65 in Nunavut than it is in Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick and Quebec. As noted in Chapter 1, prose literacy for a substantial portion of the population of Nunavut was assessed in a language that was not their mother tongue. The language of the test may have had a greater effect in older age groups.
The findings presented in the previous section describe the proficiency in prose literacy by age based on information available in one time period. In the absence of data that measure the performance of the same individuals over time, it is difficult to answer the question of how literacy proficiency changes with age. However, by comparing the prose literacy scores of a given age cohort at the two points currently available, 1994 and 2003, it is possible to approximate changes in the literacy proficiency of the age cohort.1
For this analysis there are five age cohorts. The youngest age cohort is composed of individuals born between 1968 and 1977, and hence, aged 17 to 26 in the 1994 survey and aged 26 to 35 in the 2003 survey. The oldest cohort is made up of individuals born between 1928 and 1937, and hence, aged 57 to 66 in 1994 and 66 to 75 in 2003.
Figure 2.4 presents the results of the comparison of prose literacy for the five age cohorts at two points in time. For each cohort, except the youngest, the average prose literacy scores declined slightly between 1994 and 2003 suggesting a possible ageing effect. The only group for which this difference is statistically significant is the cohort of individuals born between 1948 and 1957. The slight increase in the average proficiency score between 1994 and 2003 for the cohort of individuals born between 1968 and 1977 is not statistically significant.
To explore the possibility that changes in literacy proficiency over time are associated with generational factors, a group of people in a given age range can be compared to those who were in a similar age range at a different point in time.
While the group who were 57 to 66 years of age in 1994 had an average prose literacy score of 233 points in 1994, those who were in that age group in 2003 had an average score of 258 points — an increase of 25 points over the nine year period. Similarly, the average prose literacy score for those aged 46 to 55 in 1994 and 47 to 56 in 2003 increased by 11 points over the same period. These improvements in performance suggest that a generational effect may be at play, i.e. that younger generations have higher literacy than those that preceded them.
It would appear that age differences in proficiency scores might be due both to generational differences and to the ageing process. The level of proficiency attained at the end of formal education may be an important determinant of the proficiency level observed throughout an individual’s life. Future studies would be needed to disentangle the complex relationship between age and ageing and to understand any cumulative effects of ageing on literacy proficiency.