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The IALS has developed a
method of measuring the probability of successfully completing literacy
tasks.
To get a level four, you
would have to consistently perform level four tasks correctly 80% of the time.
This means that individuals who have achieved a particular literacy level will
consistently perform tasks at their level with an 80% probability of success.
It also means they will have a greater than 80% chance of successfully
performing lower level tasks. It does not mean, however, that individuals with
low proficiency can never succeed at more difficult tasks. They may do so some
of the time but their probability of success is relatively low. In other words,
the more difficult a task relative to a proficiency level, the lower the
likelihood of a correct response.
The above chart shows the
probability of individuals with different literacy levels consistently
responding correctly to tasks with various degrees of difficulty. For example,
an individual with a proficiency score of 200 at level 1 on the document scale
would only have a 20% chance of understanding and completing level 3 tasks and
only a 12% chance of successfully understanding and completing level 4 tasks.
On the other hand, a person performing at level 4 is expected to be able to
perform level 1, 2, and 3 tasks with a high probability of success. However,
the same person would only have 41% probability of successfully performing
level 5 tasks. |
