• Literacy skills enhance flexibility. They enable people to deal with change and with unfamiliar contexts (NLS, 1997).
• Literacy is not an either-or, but represents a continuum of different skill levels. Very few people are completely unable to read or write anything, but very high proportion of Canadians have literacy skills which are sufficiently limited and affect their ability to function in society. These people are especially vulnerable to changes in circumstances or contexts, such as changes in their job requirements or employment situation (Statistics Canada, 1994; NLS, 1995).
• Prior knowledge and the familiarity of context have an important impact on the ability of people to understand written and oral information. For example, the ability to understand health communications can depend in part on one‘s previous acquaintance with the topic and the extent to which the information is related to what one already knows (Statistics Canada, 1994; NLS, 1995).
• The above findings are not well-recognized or accepted by the public at large, by health professionals or by individuals about their own literacy skills. Among Canadians with low literacy skills, only a small proportion acknowledges this limitation or go on to participate in literacy or adult upgrading courses (Statistics Canada, 1994; NLS, 1995).

In Canadian research, the Southam Literacy Survey (1987) found the following links to literacy in the Canadian context:

• No or low literacy is higher among Francophone Canadians
• 50% of the 4.5 million persons identified as “functionally” illiterate are 55 years of age and older
• One in twelve of those identified as functionally illiterate are university graduates
• Poverty and education are highly significant in deciding whether no or low literacy is transmitted from one generation to the next

“Several of us sought help in various adult basic education programs that had differing attitudes and beliefs. Something was still missing; the pieces were not falling into place as they should” (Nosek, 1997)

Adult Basic Education and Literacy Programs

Adult basic education and literacy programs provide invaluable services to learners and the communities in which they live. These programs provide learners with supports that go beyond learning how to decode and comprehend written language. According to Knox (1987), adult basic education and literacy instruction serve four potential purposes: to promote economic productivity, to underwrite political change, to effect social equity or to enhance quality of life. The goal of promoting social equality is a troublesome challenge, as the Nation‘s poorest citizens are the least likely to participate in programs (Quigley, 1990). While these literacy goals may be the manifest objectives of literacy programming, others such as Kozol (1985) argue literacy is a worthy end in itself. Literacy from this perspective is viewed as the birthright of all humans for cultivating their human potential. Radencich (1994) suggests that all political, economic and social improvements depend on universal literacy.