Health and Literacy Compendium: Introduction: Definition Of Terms

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Definition Of Terms

Educators in the field of adult education use a variety of terms and acronyms. Some of the terms you find referenced here or in some of the documents you encounter include:

Adult Education: Any education engaged in by adults.

Adult Literacy Education, or Adult Basic Education (ABE): Education for adults that teaches reading, writing, and math skills at a "basic," pre-high school level or education for adults from basic through high school level, including English for speakers of other languages.

Adult new readers or Beginning readers: Adults who are learning to read or have recently learned to read.

Clear language, Plain language, Easy-to-read, or Easy-to-understand: Terms used to describe materials written below an 8th grade reading level. These materials will usually use a large font, and will be formatted to include a lot of white space. There is also a subjective element to the use of these terms, as what is "easy-to-understand" or "plain language" will depend on the needs, background knowledge, and interests of the readers.

Competency-based education: Education designed to develop peoples’ skills in concrete life skills or tasks, such as going to the doctor, finding child care, making an appointment, or reading a map.

Empowerment education, participatory education, or popular education: Education designed to help learners become agents for positive change in their own lives and in their communities; education within an atmosphere of respect between teachers and learners that encourages student-teacher partnerships in shaping the classroom experience.

English as a Second Language (ESL), English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), or English as a Foreign Language (EFL): Instruction for immigrants, refugees, and other adults who want to learn to speak, read, and write English.

Functional competency levels: Functional competency levels measure people’s ability to perform literacy tasks needed to fully participate in society. Functional competency is assessed through reading, writing, and computing tests which are then grouped into levels, with level 1 being the lowest functioning and level 5 being the highest. Functional competency levels are used in U.S. government literacy surveys and are becoming more popular than traditional "grade levels" for assessing adult’s literacy.

Grade level or Reading level: A term used to indicate the average reading skill expected each year of school in the U.S. public school system. When used to describe adult reading ability, grade levels fail to take into account life experiences and knowledge of certain topics which may make high-level vocabulary familiar. People will sometimes assess and then use a grade level to describe the reading ease or difficulty of a print material.

General Educational Development (GED), High School Equivalency (HSE) or Adult Secondary Education (ASE): Education for adults that leads to the acquisition of skills considered the equivalent of the skills of someone with a high school diploma.

Literacy: The ability to use reading and writing to get information. This definition is purposefully broad, as controversy exists around the concept of literacy. Using a grade level definition, people who read at the 5th grade level or above are considered literate. People who can read at the 4th grade level or below may be considered "functionally illiterate." Those who can read between the 5th and 8th grade levels may be considered "marginally literate."

Low literacy or limited literacy: The inability to read or write above a 7th grade reading level, which would make it hard to perform daily, necessary tasks on the job and in society.