CONTENTS
Editor's preface = xi
Acknowledgments = xv
1 Approaching literacy = 1
Introduction = 1
Dimensions of literacy and illiteracy = 11
2 Defining and measuring literacy and illiteracy = 22
Defining literacy = 22
Functional literacy : a brief history = 25
Operationalising functional literacy = 36
A sociological conception of literacy = 42
3 The historical perspective = 47
Introduction = 47
Literacy in classical Greece and Rome = 47
Medieval manuscript literacy in Britain = 55
The advent of print = 69
Literacy in early modern Britain = 73
The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries = 82
4 Tutors and students = 94
Introduction = 94
Illiteracy myths = 95
The Nottingham Adult Literacy Scheme = 98
Recruitment and matching procedures = 102
Tutor training = 104
The Nottingham literacy catchment area = 106
Illiteracy careers = 109
Initial contacts = 112
Tuition and orientations to illiteracy = 115
Progress and dropping out = 121
Summary = 123
5 Illiteracy and work = 125
Introduction = 125
The Nottingham labour market = 125
Work histories = 128
Employers and illiteracy = 135
Explaining literacy screening policies = 146
6 Dealing with illiteracy = 150
Introduction = 150
The British Adult Literacy Campaign = 150
The political economy of illiteracy = 155
The scale of illiteracy : misreading the problem = 164
Responding to social disadvantage = 171
Remedying illiteracy = 178
7 The future of literacy and literacies of the future = 183
Introduction = 183
The oral-literate transition = 185
Literacy and the information explosion = 191
Appendix 1 Details of smapling and interviewing procedures = 208
Appendix 2 English historical literacy rates = 211
Notes = 217
Bibliography = 228
Index = 249
