literacy (n.)

The ability to read and write; it contrasts with illiteracy, the two poles now being seen to demarcate a continuum of ability. Discussion of the problem, either within a country or on a world scale, is complicated by the difficulty of measuring the extent of literacy in individuals. The notion of functional literacy was introduced in the 1940s, in an attempt to identify minimal levels of reading/writing efficiency in a society, such as being able to write one’s name; but defining even minimal levels is difficult, especially today, with increasing demands being made on people to be literate in a wider range of contexts. National literacy campaigns in several countries have raised public awareness, and standards are slowly rising. Biliteracy is the ability to read and write in more than one language. The term ‘literacy’ is also now often used in a broader sense, referring to the ability to understand a technical or cultural domain, as in computer literacy and graphic literacy.