Types of Literacy

There are many different types of literacy with different meanings. At the Literacy Council, we focus on teaching adult learners:

Prose literacy – the ability to understand and use information found in newspapers, magazines, novels, brochures, manuals or flyers.
Document literacy - the ability to find and use information in forms, schedules, charts, graphs and other tables of information.
Quantitative literacy - the ability to use numbers found in ads, forms, flyers, articles or other printed materials to get the information you need.
Technology literacy - the ability to use computers and other technology to improve learning, productivity, and performance."

Once the basics are in place, the adult learner is able to access information on literacy context areas such as financial literacy, health literacy, legal literacy, family literacy, etc.