Literacy Task Analysis

Project REALISTIC: Identifying Listening, Reading, Mathematics Demands of Jobs

Attempts to find out how literate adults needed to be to perform various jobs led to the introduction of techniques for identifying the kinds of tasks involving reading that job trainees and job incumbents have to perform. In 1975, the Human Resources Research Organization (HumRRO) published “Reading for Working: A Functional Literacy Anthology”. The research and development reported in RfW set the stage for what became known as “workplace literacy.” For the first time, adult literacy work included an extensive body of empirical research to find out just how literate adults had to be to perform well in various occupations. The work took place within the context of the U. S. Army of the Vietnam era of the 1960s and continued into the newly implemented Volunteer Army of the 1970s and beyond. It expanded from studies to determine how literate personnel had to be to work as automobile mechanics, cooks, supply clerks, medical corpsmen, etc., to the design of more readable and usable books and manuals, and the design, development, and implementation of workplace literacy programs at Army recruit training centers across the United States.

Reference: Sticht, T. G. (1975). Reading for Working: A Functional Literacy Anthology. Alexandria, VA: Human Resources Research Organization.

Literacy Skills Analysis for Job Training

A 1998 technical report issued from the National Center on Adult Literacy (Norback, 1998)) provides a summary of work by Sticht and colleagues and reviews three large-scale U.S. studies relating to skills and literacy as an introduction to the discussion of literacy skills analysis for job training. The history and evolution of literacy skills analysis are covered, including work by Sticht, Mikulecky, Phillipi, and Norback and a description is given of the two literacy skills analysis methods currently in wide-scale application, Literacy Task Analysis and Job Literacy Analysis. The different purposes that each approach fulfills are described along with several ongoing projects that involve the application of a combination approach. The author also discusses the differences between literacy skills analysis and traditional job analysis approaches. The contribution of literacy skills analysis approaches in developing customized curriculum is included, as are the evaluation procedures used to assess the effectiveness of the training. Finally, policy implications and recommendations regarding literacy skills analysis are made.

Reference: Norback, J. S. (1998, August). Literacy Skills Analysis for Job Training. (TR98-0) Philadelphia, PA: National Center for Adult Literacy. (available in pdf form at: http://literacyonline.org)

Literacy Task Analysis for Reading to Learn at Secondary & Post-Secondary Levels

What kinds of reading comprehension and learning strategies are relevant for students at GED and developmental studies levels? Three studies describe how students learn from texts. Twos studies involve adult job training situations and one involves community college students in a freshman psychology class. The first case of adult job training involves the use of correspondence course materials for job advancement. The second case of adult job training involves the use of texts in technical courses where the teachers follow a detailed curriculum guide and textbooks and workbooks are followed precisely to cover the course content. The third study involves students in a community college freshman psychology class describing how they study textbooks and how textbooks could be designed for better use.

Reference: Sticht, T. G. (2003, March). The Learning process and the Text in Use. ICAE: El Cajon, CA: (available online at www.nald.ca/fulltext/sticht/mar03/cover.htm)