Today is the United Nations’ International Literacy Day, which is focused on ‘Literacy and Multilingualism’.
However, while I consider learning a language to be a fantastic skill (I’m trying to learn Spanish – emphasis on the word trying), I think the bigger concern is that people are not able to read and write in their own language.
Statistics from the Reading Agency from 2014 show that one in five children in England cannot read well by the age of 11. Further research in 2015 found that a similar percentage of 15-year-olds did not have the minimum level of literacy proficiency they should have.
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I find these statistics frightening. As a lover of reading for pleasure, I find it shocking that there are people who are missing out on the joy of entering a new world and visiting new places through books. But it’s not just about reading fiction. The Reading Agency research goes on to show that poor literacy affects not only the study of English language and literature; it has a negative impact across all school subjects. After all, if you can’t read properly, you’ll struggle to understand instructions given for solving mathematical problems or carrying out science experiments.
As children grow into adults, poor literacy persists unless something is done to tackle it. Research from the National Literacy Trust shows that 16.4% of adults (that’s 7.1 million people) could be described as having ‘very poor literacy skills.’ NLT goes on to say that these people can understand straightforward texts on subjects they’re familiar with and information from everyday sources, but new information on unfamiliar topics could cause them problems. This is known as being functionally illiterate. How can you develop a career if you’re unable to understand new, perhaps complex, subjects?
I suspect that the solution to the problem of poor literacy is not a simple one. After all, there’s a lot of ground to cover to make reading attractive to an adult who had a bad experience with books in their youth, or for a child who perhaps isn’t encouraged to read for pleasure outside school.
What I hope though, is that we can all do something to help others learn to appreciate the importance of literacy skills. It must be difficult as an adult to admit that you struggle with reading or writing and I think that there’s a role for all of us in helping others to learn.
It’s difficult to see what you as an individual can do it help, but my way of doing that is supporting my local library to make sure it stays open to give access to free books, magazines and newspapers. Lack of money should never be a reason why someone cannot learn to read. So, make a pledge this week to do something to support your local library and give someone the opportunity to find out the pleasure that can be gained from reading.
Here are some of my further thoughts on why libraries are so important.