Functional Illiteracy With First-Year Students (18-25-Year-Old Adults), In Journalism

Abstract

The study on First-year Students’ Functional Illiteracy, Journalism measured the correlation between the problem-solving capacity in new contexts as an expression of functional illiteracy in emerging adults – first-year students, Journalism – and academic performance. Problem solving is one of the indicators of functional illiteracy. The tests applied to first-year students of Journalism were: Pisa-2013 Test (intended for 15-year-old students) and a task specific to Journalism: identifying the relevant content elements of a news story (according to Laswell’s communication theory: who? what? where? when and why?) and making a journalistic statement in a new context based on those 5 previously identified fundamental content elements. This study was conducted at the beginning of the second semester of the current academic year on first-year students, studying Journalism. The results of the study showed that out of 28 respondent students, 4 students fully completed the tasks required by the Pisa test in mathematics, 12 students in reading and 17 in problem solving. The tasks contained in this type of tests are practically-applicative. The correlation between the PISA results and the students’ academic performance after the first semester showed that the 3 students who completed the reading comprehension requirement also have good results after the first session of exams in their lives as students of Journalism. In Romania the functional illiteracy rate among adolescents stands at 42%, the duration of its decrease to 35% is estimated at 8 years by the Center for Evaluation and Educational Analysis.

Keywords: Functional Illiteracyjournalismstudentseducation

Introduction

The definition of “illiteracy” given by UNESCO (2009) focuses on writing and reading skills: “a person is illiterate if they cannot write and read and cannot understand a simple statement that is related to their everyday life”. Between 1960-1970, the discourse regarding illiteracy as a social problem, to which socio-educational policies had to be designed to combat this scourge, was increasingly emphasized. Besides this, the eradication of illiteracy was also seen as a condition of economic growth and social development, an idea developed at the World Congress of Education Ministers, as well (1965).

At the same time, it was considered important to tale into account assumptions about “functional literacy”: “literacy must be considered not as an end in itself, but as a means of preparing man for a social, civic and economic role that goes beyond the limitations of rudimentary literacy.” In 1978, UNESCO launched the definition of functional illiteracy, also valid today, and operationalized as follows: “A functional illiterate person is a person who does not have the science of books to start those activities that will ensure his/ her effective functioning in the group or community he/ she is part of in order to develop personally and socially.” The concept of “functional illiteracy” is not assimilated under this title in all countries (UNESCO, 2013).

The problem of literacy continues to be present in the discourse of specialists today as well. For the case of Romania, the problem is far from being solved. If, in the Communist period, the indicator of the literacy rate was 99%, today we sadly find out that illiteracy makes its presence felt. According to the data provided by the National Institute of Statistics, the result of the 2011 census shows that illiteracy in Romania has increased (Agenţia Naţională Socrates, 1996).

A functionally illiterate person is one who does not have educational, linguistic and numerical skills. Functional illiteracy is defined as a person’s inability to effectively use the skills related to: writing, reading, counting, making simple computer applications, responding to requests on solving current situations. It is also appreciated that these people have difficulties in understanding written and auditory messages. In a broad sense, functionally illiterate people do not understand the content of a form and how to fill it in, do not understand prescriptions or simple usage instructions of different purchased items, do not understand the written press, cannot follow the map, do not know how to use a dictionary, do not understand the signs of circulation, do not understand the meanings of the usual lexicon, they know the terms but cannot place them in a valid context, do not answer questions related to the given subject, rephrase poorly, give erroneous explanations related to a subject, do not understand the meaning of the TV discourses, of verbalizations presented as recommendations in “to do”, “to execute”, “to apply”, etc. (European Commission, 2014/2015)

At the level of a social problem, functional illiteracy as a process results from the number of early school leavers, the number of adults who do not follow any form of training after having graduated from the compulsory school level, from the poor results in PISA and IASL evaluations, from the low results in national and international school exams, from the low number of adult educational programs and of educational programs that do not meet the needs of social development. (The Memorandum on Lifelong Learning, 2000)

Worldwide, functional illiteracy is distributed heterogeneously, practically this problem is being recorded in all countries that have not developed high-performance education systems. According to the statistics made by HDR (Human Development Reports) in 2009, the percentage of functional illiteracy in the age group 16-65 is as follows: 23% in the USA, Mexico 43.2%, Australia 17%, Norway 7,9%, New Zealand 18,4%, Sweden 7,5%. In our country, 40% of the 15-year-old students was identified as illiterate. In 2008, at the level of the countries in the European Union, 50% of the secondary school graduates were rated as functional illiterates

Problem Statement

At microsocial level, the following causes can be identified: social disadvantages following models of poor family education where the erroneous placement of social roles within the family generates identity perception disorders, personality disorders, personal constraints in social behavior due to the acquisition of sets of erroneous social values, escape from or refusal of individual and collective responsibility, poor motivational system, erroneous expectations of personal implications in social development according to the model, “I do not need to know, there are others who will do it for me”, “I’ll find someone who will solve this for me”, “Why should I know?”, negative social model, erroneous perceptions about the necessity and importance of knowledge, the destruction of the system of values, the development of deformed social behaviors following the devaluation and social functioning according to the explanatory model derived from the analyzes “cost-benefit”, socio-behavioral and educational deviations, individual and social addictions (Infante, 2000).

At macro-social level, functional illiteracy is supported by: social precariousness and vulnerabilities impacting the family nucleus (poverty, unemployment, welfare state deterioration, family dissolution, family conflicts, family violence, dramatic family events, etc.). All this causes the individual's attention to move away from the need and importance of personal and social development to the possibility of emerging from the crisis by following the action model, i.e. crisis intervention and problem solving in a very short time frame, without considering the actions with a preventative and sustainable role (Martinez & Fernandez, 2010).

The picture of this analysis is complemented by other descriptions of elements that make the object status/ role at the level of a multicultural social group: the place and position of the person within the majority ethnic group, in the membership group, workgroup, cohabitation group and their group of friends. The derivative issues are: marginalization, exclusion, stigmatization, isolation, labeling with direct and major implications on the person (low self-esteem, uselessness, demotivation, social activity of mechanic type, etc.).

Beyond these projections, the factors which are within the educational system are also taken into account. Poor learning conditions lead to imbalances regarding the quality of the acquired acquisitions and their long-term importance. Thus, overloading pupils with additional school tasks for each subject without an assessment of the pupil’s performance leads to fatigue, repulsion to the subject, and implicitly to the school curriculum. The absence of an education centered on the pupil and on his/ her needs, the lack of progressive assessment of skills and the channeling of education on cognitive acquisition to the detriment of the development of applicative instrumental skills, facilitate the student’s lack of interest in discovery and in their personal involvement in knowledge. To these can be added the causes which are extrinsic to the pupil’s personality: poor or absent didactic means, didactic methods which are inappropriate to the contents, the poor personality of the didactic staff, poor management of the educational environment, etc.

The study that identified characteristic elements of the analyzed phenomenon was carried out by the Center for Evaluation and Educational Analysis. One of the conclusions showed that, although Romania's gross domestic product has grown since the revolution, the population’s poverty stood at a constant level. And the explanation lies in the fact that adults are too poorly trained to succeed in getting well-paid jobs. Lack of professional training comes from the state of the education system, from pre-school to post-graduate education. The CEAE study concludes with the idea that the decline in functional illiteracy “can be achieved not only through support programs, but also by structural reforms in the education system.” From the point of view of reforms and time-consuming programs, Poland is exemplary, since it needed almost a decade to reduce the functional illiteracy rate among adolescents from 22% to 14%. Given that in Romania this percentage stands at 42%, the duration of its decrease to 35% is estimated at 8 years by the Center for Evaluation and Educational Analysis, but only with the implementation of a package of reforms involving – among others – introducing standardized national assessments, pupil-centered education, continuing education programs even for teachers and an objective evaluation of their contribution to the educational process (Husanu & Hasu, 2017).

Research Questions

The study on First-year Students’ Functional Illiteracy, Journalism measured the correlation between the problem-solving capacity in new contexts as an expression of functional illiteracy in emerging adults – first-year students, Journalism – and academic performance.

The study measured the ability to solve general (PISA) and journalistic issues (drafting tasks) in new contexts. Problem solving is one of the indicators of functional illiteracy. The tests applied to first-year students of Journalism were: Pisa-2013 Test (intended for 15-year-old students) and a task specific to Journalism: identifying the relevant content elements of a news story (according to Laswell’s communication theory: who? what? where? when and why?) and making a journalistic statement in a new context based on those 5 previously identified fundamental content elements. This study was conducted at the beginning of the second semester of the current academic year on first-year students, studying Journalism (OECD tests, 2013).

Purpose of the Study

Establishing the correlation between the problem-solving capacity in new contexts as an expression of functional illiteracy in emerging adults – first-year students, Journalism – and academic performance.

Research Methods

The research method was the correlation study. The pilot study was conducted on a segment of 28 first-year students, studying Journalism, aged 18-20.

Measured variables: Responses to the PISA 2013 tests, Selecting the relevant information in a text, Basic cause-effect reasoning from a text in the media, Writing a journalistic statement in a new context

Findings

At the PISA 2013 Test, the following results were obtained:

•Mathematics: out of 28, 4 students fully solved the 3 requirements.

•Reading: out of 28, 12 students fully solved the 3 requirements.

•Problem Solving: out of 28 students, 17 students solved the problems.

•Science: out of 28 respondents, 6 students answered correctly.

At the Journalistic Requirement students achieved the following results:

•In requirement 1, whose purpose was to check comprehension, 6 significant elements of content had to be identified (6 elements: who, what, where, when, how, why?).

•6 recognized elements – 3 students, 5 recognized elements – 5 students, 4 recognized elements – 10 students, 3 recognized elements – 6 students, 0 recognized elements – 2 students,

•In requirement 2, which aimed to draft a new journalistic statement, students responded using the previously discovered content items: 13 students and 15 failed to create a journalistic statement with a message other than the original one (Figure 01 , 02 and 03).

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Conclusion

The subject analyzed by this pilot study is only a preamble to extensive scientific research that can evolve both from the perspective of the communicational space and from the perspective of the educational field. The problem of functional illiteracy is not specific to a certain age segment, since it affects all age groups regardless of their urban or rural background. The need for cognitive acquisitions and their importance for social, cultural, personal development are elements that policy actors in education (teachers, ministers, legislators) have to mark as being of utmost importance. In every act of human knowledge, it is relevant what must be known, how it must be known, and the reason for which something must be known by every age category. In this context, these often-found statements start to get axiomatic value: A man without training and education is an incomplete man and a society without education and training is a lost society

References

1. Agenţia Naţională Socrates. (1996). Combaterea eşecului şcolar: o provocare construcţia europeană, [Fighting school failure: a challenge to the European construction], Bucureşti: Editura Alternative.
2. European Commission (2014/2015). Compulsory Education in Europe 2014/15. Eurydice – Facts and Figures. Brussels: European Commission.
3. Husanu, A. Hatu, C. (2017). Raport-Scaderea-analfabetismului-functional, Bucuresti: Center for Evaluation and Educational Analysis. Retrieved form http://ceae.ro/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Raport-Scaderea-analfabetismului-functional.pdf
4. Infante, I. (2000). Functional Literacy in Seven Latin American Countries. Santiago: OREALC/UNESCO
5. Martinez R., Fernandez A. (2010). The Social and Economic Impact of Illiteracy. Analytical Model and Pilot Study. Santiago: OREALC/UNESCO.
6. OECD (2013). Education Working Papers, 26 Paris: OECD Publishing.
7. The Memorandum on Lifelong Learning (2000). Memorandum-ul privind învăţarea permanentă. [The Memorandum on Lifelong Learning], Lisbon: Document developed by the European Commission.
8. UNESCO (2009). The Next Generation of Literacy Statistics: Implementing the LITERACY ASSESSMENT and Monitoring Programme (LAMP). Paris: UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
9. UNESCO. (2013). Schooling for Millions of Children Jeopardized by Reductions in Aid. Education for All Global Monitoring Report. Paris: UNESCO Institute for Statistics.