I’m 53 and I can’t apply literacy skills. I’m currently going back to college to FINALLY finish a degree in something (hopefully) – and I have TWO classes that require CLOSE READING.
In standardized testing in middle school, I would get 99.9% on everything EXCEPT listening/reading comprehension. On those, I could score 45%-55% every time.
“What is the author’s intent?” was the killer question that would doom me – and close reading is “What is the author’s intent?” * 1000.
“Literacy skills” sometimes require cognitive skills that are simply not available to the student. They’re not available to me in any case: but I am a voracious reader and I understand much.
But some things will always go over my head.
It would be entirely wrong for me to place the level of expectations on 5 year old that I cannot achieve myself.