Reading Skills in Business
In the business world, workers use special skills to complete their reading tasks. Traditionally, however, business educators have relied on others to develop the job-related reading skills of their students. In 1975, Sticht noted that the overwhelming majority of time in schools is al located to teaching the reading and interpreting of novels, short stories, dramas, and poetry as opposed to teaching technical reading skills needed in the workplace. More recently, the SCANS (Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills) report released in 1991 included the reading of technical material as a foundation skill needed by all workers. Workplace reading includes the ability to understand and interpret various documents including diagrams, directories, correspondence, manuals, records, charts, graphs, tables, and specifications.
In the 1970s, two researchers, Ross and Salzman, studied the reading tasks of randomly selected office workers in the Columbus, Ohio area. Ross completed one-hour observations of one hundred beginning office workers, and Salzman collected 2659 samples of reading, writing, and mathematical activities from thirty-five beginning and thirty-five experienced office workers. Outcomes of these two studies identified three unique reading skills office workers use: proofreading, verifying, and comprehending detail.
Building on the research that Ross and Salzman completed, Schmidt reported, in 1987, the reading levels of office documents collected for the purpose of developing reading materials aimed at building technical reading skills.
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