Literacy and Reading Behavior

The fastest growing professions are those with greater-than-average demands for reading and writing skills. Today's adolescents must acquire sophisticated literacy and numeracy skills to be successful in the employment market and in their private lives as partners and citizens. We first examine how the concepts of literacy and reading have evolved over time. We then focus on reading and literacy learning and development in adolescence before taking a global perspective and examining what we know about adolescents' reading and literacy behaviors around the world. We conclude with a discussion of literacy and reading crisis in developed and developing worlds.