Literacy and Vocational Competency. Occasional Paper No. 39.

Two focuses of a discussion of literacy and vocational competence should be the need for a more profound understanding of literacy and the relevance of that understanding for studying reading in vocational settings. A developmental model of the acquisition of literacy considers reading a second signaling system for speech. People who become literate learn to perform tasks with written language they previously could perform only with the spoken language. A second view of the written language points out that it differs from spoken language in two critical ways: it is permanent, and it may be arrayed in space. Written language can be consulted as an "external memory" and makes possible reading-to-do and reading-to-learn tasks. An exploratory study using reading-to-do tasks developed a job reading inventory to (1) identify the reading tasks performed in jobs and (2) determine the level of general reading skill needed to perform them. Results showed a strong relationship between reading ability and ability to perform job-reading tasks. The inventory approach remains unvalidated. A sound theory of literacy in vocational settings must antecede establishing minimal competency levels. (Questions and answers are appended.) (YLB)