Ontario Adult Literacy Survey, 1998 [Canada]

The goal of the proposed study was to obtain a literacy profile for immigrants living in Ontario, in the reading of either English or French. In particular, immigrants from the Caribbean with a mother tongue of English and immigrants with a mother tongue of Chinese, Polish, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian were profiled. Further, the study measured Ontarios immigrants perceived skills in English or French and in their own mother tongue (if applicable) as well as perceived needs with regard to training and the barriers which may restrict access to such training. The central element of the survey was the direct assessment of the literacy skills of Ontario immigrants using commonplace tasks of varying degree of difficulty drawn from a range of topic and knowledge areas. This information was supported by the collection of background information on respondents. In addition, the background questionnaire included questions on the self-assessment of literacy skills of respondents, on the training which the respondent has taken in the year previous to the survey and on the perceived barriers to realizing enhanced literacy skill levels.Each interview was approximately 1.5 hours in duration and consisted of a half-hour questionnaire, asking demographic and literacy-related questions as well as a one-hour literacy test. This literacy test was derived from that used in the 1994 International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) and covered the domains of document and quantitative literacy. An overall response rate to the survey of 76% was achieved, resulting in 4,648 respondents.本研究旨在构建安大略省（Ontario）居住移民的读写能力画像，覆盖英语与法语阅读场景。具体而言，研究对象涵盖母语为英语的加勒比裔移民，以及母语为汉语、波兰语、西班牙语、葡萄牙语与意大利语的移民群体。此外，本研究评估了安大略省移民对自身英语、法语及母语（如适用）读写能力的主观认知，同时调研了其在读写能力提升培训方面的需求与可能限制其参与此类培训的障碍。本次调查的核心环节为直接测评安大略省移民的读写能力，采用源自多主题与知识领域、难度梯度各异的日常任务作为测评素材。该核心测评数据辅以受访者背景信息的采集工作。此外，背景问卷涵盖多项内容：受访者对自身读写能力的自评结果、调查前一年内参与过的培训经历，以及对提升读写能力水平所面临障碍的主观认知。每轮访谈时长约1.5小时，包含两个部分：一是时长30分钟的问卷，用于采集人口统计学特征与读写能力相关信息；二是时长1小时的读写能力测评。本次读写测评改编自1994年国际成人读写能力调查（International Adult Literacy Survey, IALS）所使用的工具，涵盖文档读写能力与量化读写能力两大领域。本次调查最终获得76%的整体有效回收率，共收集到4648名有效受访者。