Presentations from PLAIN conference, 2013

With just over 2 weeks since the PLAIN conference in Vancouver, presentations are starting to come available on the internet.

The paper I presented in partnership with Mark Starford, from The Board Centre,(US) has been uploaded for your viewing.  Our paper Plain Language for Democracy and Citizenship is available at  http://www.slideshare.net/plain2013

You can contact me with any questions, or requests for resources or references mentioned in the presentation.

Cathy
cathy@accesseasyenglish.com.au
0466 579 855

Some thoughts from the International PLAIN conference

How can I use the ideas I heard at the recent Vancouver International PLAIN conference?  http://www.plain2013.org/

Can I adapt any ideas for writing for people with low literacy skills?

Yes!

Plenary session.
How do our readers really think, understand, and decide                                                        - despite what they know.
Some concepts from Mark Hochhauser, PHD

1. Decision making - use "law of least effort." All readers will take the least demanding route.
2. Word knowledge is critical for good comprehension. However, people with low literacy have not made the shift from word recognition to language comprehension. People with low literacy will read word-for-word, without being able to necessarily comprehend the message.
3. Some Health Problems can affect cognition, and therefore reading, comprehension and interpretation of written materials. For example, 
     - inpatient experience of being an inpatient of ICU, or 
     - chemotherapy treatment.

Report on International Assessment of Adult competencies.
A summary of new data in Canada, and internationally from Noel Baldwin, Policy Coordinator for Post Secondary Education  at Council of Ministers of Education, Canada.

The Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competences (PIAAC) complete data was released just a few days before the conference. Specific data was discussed for Canada, so watch this space for updates on Australian data. What will it mean for the development of documents in Easy English?

The new data looked at 3 keys areas - Prose Literacy, Numerical Literacy and Problem based Technology Literacy.

My paper with Mark Starford included the new data for Australia and US.
44% or 7.3 million Adult Australians has non functional literacy.
52 % of Adult US citizens has non functional literacy

More details of the Australian data and the international report coming ASAP!

Cathy
Cathy@accesseasyenglish.com.au
0466 579 855

2013 PLAIN conference

It is just a day now before this years conference starts.http://www.plain2013.org  Safe travel for all those arriving in the next few hours. I look forward to seeing some of you there. I am presenting on Friday with Mark Starford from BR Center, US http://brcenter.org/ on Plain Language for Democracy and Citizen Engagement, in the Nelson Room on Friday afternoon.
 
Come along to hear why written information needs to be written for people with limited or non functional literacy.  What impact does non-functional literacy have on access to ones community?  Engage with us to identify barriers and facilitators to working with this demographic.

Cathy
cathy@accesseasyenglish.com.au
0466 579 855

What is Literacy

Spend a few minutes watching these YouTube clips.

It reminds us all of the expanse of literacy in our society.

Think about its impact on an individual level, but also for society.

What is Literacy?
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHH5vOPQGsw

This second video confronts levels of illiteracy in our contemporary adult society.
This clip shows the data for America. However, don’t dismiss it - in Australia, we are confronted with similar percentages. ABS 2006 #4228. 46% or 7 million Adult Australians has non functional literacy. New data is due for release in October 2013. The newest data highlights 44% or 7.3 million Australians have non functional literacy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LghnA2XbuU

Cathy
cathy@accesseasyenglish.com.au
0466 570 855