National Adult Literacy Database

While it’s an era of high-tech communications devices and information can be at our fingertips in seconds, many of us still rely on traditional reference guides.  (Ask me how often I turn to my Oxford Canadian Dictionary (Paperback) or how happy I was to receive the 20th edition of The Canadian Press Caps and Spelling guide although admittedly I haven’t worked in the newspaper business for six years.)

That brings us to NALD’s Glossary of terms which is prominently located in the top menu on our front page.  It may take a back seat to our news headlines, our new library resources or our event listings. It may be overlooked in favour of the Story of the Week or our vast directory of websites that are either national in scope or originate in Canada’s provinces and territories.

However, if you take the time to review its over 300 entries, you’ll soon discover the Glossary’s relevance and how much ground it covers if you work in the field of learning, essential skills or workplace/workforce development.  It’s also worth exploring if your organization is going through a period of change and you need to be reminded of key elements that factor into daily routines.

Most of the material in the NALD Glossary has been reprinted with permission from the Office of Literacy and Essential Skills, Human Resources and Skills Development Canada; the publication Understanding Canadian Business; and the former Canadian Council on Learning.

Keeping in mind that terminology evolves over time and can vary depending on context, let’s view a few terms that have a bearing on our work today:

• Achievement gap

Persistent differences in achievement among different types of learners as indicated by scores on standardized tests, teacher grades and other data. The gaps most frequently referred to are those between rural and urban, female and male, majority and minority language learners.

• Business case

A business case is the information that describes the justification for a project. A business case is built on evidence derived from feasibility studies or impact analysis to support project objectives.

• Communication strategy

A communication strategy outlines a process for communicating and sharing information on project benefits and facts to target audiences and stakeholders. It is a tool used for promoting the awareness, knowledge and understanding of a project.

• Differentiated instruction

This is a form of instruction that seeks to maximize each learner’s growth by offering several different learning experiences in response to learners’ varied needs. Learning activities and materials may be varied by difficulty to challenge learners at different readiness levels, by topic in response to learners’ interests, and by learners’ preferred ways of learning or expressing themselves.

• Essential skills

Essential skills are nine skills that are common to all Canadian occupational groups, and are used at varying levels of complexity depending on occupation. The nine essential skills are Reading, Document Use, Numeracy, Writing, Oral Communication, Working with Others, Thinking, Computer use and Continuous Learning.

• Financial literacy

The knowledge and understanding of financial concepts, and the skills, motivation and confidence to apply such knowledge and understanding in order to make effective decisions across a range of financial contexts, to improve the financial well-being of individuals and society, and to enable participation in economic life.

Much further down the list, I was struck by the term NIMBY or not in my back yard, “meaning that people don’t want waste disposal facilities in their town, though they agree that such facilities are needed somewhere.”

That leads me to think that somewhere on our website we should have a directory of acronyms. Though not a fan of them myself, they have a place in our field, everyone uses them eventually and of course people should be reminded of what the letters stand for.

To peruse the entire National Adult Literacy Database (NALD) Glossary, go to http://www.nald.ca/glossary.

As always, we value your input and suggestions for content on NALD. If you have terminology you would like to see added to our Glossary, send it along with its source and we will add it to our existing listings.

This article was prepared by:

Christy English
NALD Editor/Stakeholder Liaison
Tel: 506-462-5034 or toll-free: 1-800-720-6253
Email: christy.english@nald.ca