Functional Illiteracy

Functional illiteracy is reading and writing skills that are inadequate "to manage daily living and employment tasks that require reading skills beyond a basic level".[1] Functional illiteracy is contrasted with illiteracy in the strict sense, meaning the inability to read or write simple sentences in any language.
Foreigners who cannot read and write in the native language where they live may also be considered functionally illiterate.
Contents
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1 Characteristics
2 Links with poverty and crime
3 Remedial reading
4 Reasons for functional illiteracy
5 Problems functional illiterates face
6 Monetary costs of functional illiteracy
7 Prevalence
8 Research findings
9 Ending Functional Illiteracy
9.1 What is causing English to be difficult to read?
9.2 How did English spelling become so confusing?
9.3 Conventional wisdom on spelling
9.4 Spelling Reform Proposals
10 See also
11 Notes
12 External links
§Characteristics[edit]
Functional illiteracy is imprecisely defined, with different criteria from nation to nation, and study to study.[2] However, a useful distinction can be made between pure illiteracy andfunctional illiteracy. Purely illiterate persons cannot read or write in any capacity, for all practical purposes. In contrast, functionally illiterate persons can read and possibly write simple sentences with a limited vocabulary, but cannot read or write well enough to deal with the everyday requirements of life in their own society.
For example, an illiterate person may not understand the written words cat or dog, may not recognize the letters of the alphabet, and may be unable to write their own name. In contrast, a functionally illiterate person may well understand these words and more, but might be incapable of reading and comprehending job advertisements, past-due notices, newspaper articles, banking paperwork, complex signs and posters, and so on.
The characteristics of functional illiteracy vary from one culture to another, as some cultures require