Abstract

According to UNESCO, industrialized countries are now being affected by "functional illiteracy." Canada and Japan have almost opposite standpoints with regard to literacy issues. In Canada, on the one hand, the 1987 Southam Report warns that 24% of adults are functionally illiterate, and 100,000 illiterates are annually added to the population by a flawed education system. On the other hand, illiteracy is considered non-existent in Japan based on the 99.9% attendance rate in Japan's compulsory education. This thesis discusses some of the most crucial issues involved in defining and measuring functional literacy, and the state of current functional literacy research. It also explores whether or not Canada is having a functional literacy "crisis," as some recent studies suggest, and whether or not Japan's literacy rate is truly 100 per cent as its government and Ministry of Education claim.