Occupational literacy as a variable construct in the mineral extraction/energy and service industries

Abstract

This study of workplace literacy practices of 81 employees in the mineral extraction/energy and tourist-related industries in a southwestern Wyoming county utilized the Diehl-Mikulecky Job Literacy Survey. The purpose of the study was to determine if Diehl's (1980) findings regarding occupational literacy would generalize to mineral extraction/energy and service occupations, occupations which were either under-represented or not represented in his Indiana study. The following research questions directed the investigation: (1) Are job literacy demands related to the level of occupational success? (2) Is job literacy competency related to job tenure, general reading attitude, job reading interest, and attitude toward the job? (3) What types of reading strategies (reading-to-do, reading-to-learn, or reading-to-assess) are used by workers? (4) Do workers whose literacy skills fall below the reading demands of job materials compensate through job experience and use of alternative sources of information? A literacy profile which included three components was developed. These components were attitudinal/behavioral dispositions, literacy demands of the job, and the literacy competency of workers. Respondents were assigned Dictionary of Occupational (DOT) numbers which indicate occupational categories. Respondents were roughly divided into quartiles on the success factors of status, income, and responsibility. Comparisons on the variables of the three components of the literacy survey were made among success levels and DOT categories. The results of the study indicated that almost all workers report some reading and writing done in the workplace, with a mean work reading time for the sample of 91 minutes per day. Job literacy demands were found to be related to the level of occupational success but generally only those workers in the lowest quartile of success factors had significantly lower literacy demands. Job reading competency correlated with general reading competency, attitude towards the job, and job reading interest/comfort. Reading-to-do was by far the most common type of reading activity for all occupational groups. The only significant difference found between workers whose general cloze test scores were below the difficulty level of their job reading and those whose scores were above the difficulty level was that the below group encountered more difficult job reading material.