Alfabetismo funcional em alunos dos cursos superiores de administração e de gestão tecnológica e sua relação com self directed learning

Abstract

This paper aimed at measuring the actual level of literacy amongst B.A. in Business Administration and Technologic Degree students. In addition, the correlation between this level of literacy and their capacity to self-directed learn and their ability to do associations between literacy and several other variables in relation to gender, age, academic backgrounds and cultural aspects. It was taken a sample of 422 students from both courses mentioned above, all of which currently enrolled at schools based in São Paulo. It was used three tools to collect all necessary information and data to support this study. The first one was used to collect the samples in relation to reading information. The second one, based upon the Self Directed Learning Readiness Scale (SLDRS) Guglielmino (1977), collected data from the student's ability to self-conduct by its own learning. The last tool was developed particularly to this study, and allowed the measuring of the group of student's literacy. Amongst the results obtained in this study one could point out that despite all students have brought more than eleven years of formal education or equivalent academic background in this group, a large percentage (90.7%) of them were classified in low levels of literate. It was also possible to conclude that there was a correlation between the level of literacy and their ability to be a self-directed learner. Another point to be mentioned relates to the positive association between a student's cultural habits, for instance readings, and their level of literacy in which one is classified.