Measuring literacy skills as a continuum
LAMP is specifically designed to provide policy planners, donors and others interested in the public debate on literacy with the information required to effectively plan and implement literacy programmes. To do so, LAMP measures three levels of literacy, which can be summarized as:
- Level 1: Typical respondents can identify literal, concrete information in reading-to-do passages or simple one-paragraph passages, given certain conditions: i) identical terminology is used in the passage and the question; ii) only everyday colloquial vocabulary is used; and iii) distractors are absent. These respondents can produce answers that require minimal action.
- Level 2: Typical respondents can identify literal information in reading-to-do or reading-to-learn passages, provided that the required information appears: i) in reading-to-do passages, in a brief and clearly marked section; or ii) in reading-to-learn passages, where the information is provided near the beginning of the text. In addition, distractors are absent; the terminology used in the passage and in the question is not identical; and respondents can paraphrase, understand more “academic” language, and write answers that require full sentences.
- Level 3: Typical respondents can identify literal information in longer reading-to-learn texts with a higher degree of abstraction, including texts with challenging features such as: i) potential distractors; ii) linguistically dense passages; or iii) where required information appears in the middle or towards the end of the text. The terminology used in the passage and in the question is not identical. Respondents can paraphrase, understand more “academic” language, and write answers that require full sentences.
In addition, LAMP focuses on individuals most in need by measuring pre-reading skills. These measures are needed to design literacy programmes that take into account the prior knowledge of potential participants.
How does LAMP address linguistic, cultural and socio-economic differences?
All of the LAMP instruments and methodologies have been tested, validated and refined based on extensive pilot testing in diverse countries. As a result, LAMP:
- caters to countries at all stages of development;
- has been validated in ten languages belonging to six linguistic families using three different scripts and two numeral systems; and
- yields data that can be compared across time, countries and cultures.