International Adults Literacy Survey, 1994, 1996, 1998

<p>The International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) was a seven-country initiative first conducted in the fall of 1994. Its goal: to create comparable literacy profiles across national, linguistic and cultural boundaries. The survey also offers the world's only source of comparative data on participation in adult education and training. The results, published in the report "Literacy, economy and society: Results of the first International Adult Literacy Survey" (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and Statistics Canada, 1995), demonstrated a strong plausible link between literacy and a country's economic potential. Since then, a second and a third round of data collection of IALS were conducted in an additional 16 countries in 1996 and in 1998. Several thematic reports and international comparative reports were published following these second and third waves of data collection. In total, IALS includes literacy data pertaining to 23 countries or regions around the world.</p> <p>The Canadian component of the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) was conducted in 1994. The main purpose of the survey was to find out how well adults used printed information to function in society. Another aim was to collect data on the incidence and volume of participation in adult education and training, and to investigate the relationships between initial and adult education, on the one hand, and literacy proficiency and wider economic and social outcomes, on the other. </p> <p>Participants of the first two rounds of IALS are referenced in this guide as part of the first cycle (1994, 1996), whereas participants of the third round are referenced as the second cycle (1998).</p>

国际成人识字调查（International Adult Literacy Survey, IALS）是一项由七国联合发起的项目，首次实施于1994年秋季。其核心目标是构建跨越国家、语言与文化边界的可比成人读写素养画像。该调查同时也是全球唯一可用于比较成人教育与培训参与情况的数据源。其研究成果发表于《识字、经济与社会：首届国际成人识字调查结果》（经济合作与发展组织（Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD）与加拿大统计局，1995年），研究证实了读写素养与国家经济潜力之间存在显著且合乎逻辑的关联。此后，该调查分别于1996年和1998年开展了第二轮与第三轮数据收集，新增覆盖16个国家。在后续两轮数据收集完成后，学界又陆续发布了多项专题报告与国际比较研究报告。截至目前，IALS共收录了全球23个国家或地区的成人读写素养相关数据。

国际成人识字调查的加拿大子项目于1994年启动。本次调查的主要目的是探究成年人运用印刷信息参与社会生活的能力水平；另一项目标则是收集成人教育与培训的参与率与参与规模相关数据，并分别从初始教育与成人教育两个维度，分析其与读写素养水平、更广泛的经济与社会成果之间的关联。

本指南将IALS前两轮调查的受访者归类为第一周期（1994年、1996年），而第三轮调查的受访者则被归类为第二周期（1998年）。