Formally Learned Literacy vs. Lirico (Farr)

In her article, Marcia Farr, uses the experiences of a handful of Mexican men to discuss the phenomenon of lirico or the informal learning of literacy. On page 474, Farr discusses a specific case in which one man picked up a pamphlet and began reading much to the dismay of his peers who were unaware that he could read. Farr, in regards to this moment, questions the belief, “if one doesn’t learn to read ‘officially’ in school, what one does when decoding print isn’t ‘really’ reading”.

This belief (which is not Farr’s), in my opinion, opens up a huge can of worms. My question then is simply what are your feelings on this? If one can read the words on the page, but does not necessarily comprehend every word are they still reading? In other words, how much comprehension is necessary to make reading “count”? Also, what are your thoughts on informal vs. formal literacy acquirement? Do you believe self-taught literacy is to be less valued than literacy taught in school?