A Comparison of the Literacy Development Context of United States and Japanese Families

Abstract

ness of print, and a motivation to become self-sufficient Families have a major impact on their children’s readers. Reading together provides a setting for literacy lives. During the last decade, researchers have focused learning; children and adults generate a close, warm retheir attention on non-“mainstream” family practices. The lationship during book sharing within the family circle. results of their studies have led to the elaboration of famChildren engage themselves in literacy learning when ily literacy programs (Orellana, Reynolds, Dorner, & they use educational toys, interact with print, pretend to Meza, 2003) and have called attention to family membe reading, and attempt to identify words and letters on bers’ influence on their children’s literacy development. t-shirts and cereal boxes (Saracho, 2002). Families parIncreasingly, the importance of families reading to their ticipate in a variety of literacy experiences at home. These children in the home environment and the critical nature literacy experiences consist of reading storybooks, reciof literacy experiences from early childhood through adopes, cooking instructions, newspapers, telephone book, lescence have been shared with educators, parents, policypersonal letters, personal notes, homework assignments, makers, and citizens (Morrow, Tracey, & Maxell, 1995). and school cafeteria menu (Saracho, 2000b). Family litFamilies who provide their young children with literacy goes beyond the home to include its community’s eracy experiences can influence their school-based litercultural resources and practices. acy development. Studies (e.g., Barillas, 2000; Janes & Families have rich cultural resources and practices Kermani, 2001; Saracho, 2000a, 2000b, 2002; Stainbased on the unique culture and language of the families thorp & Hughes, 2000; Tett, 2000) indicate that there is and communities. Janes and Kermani (2001) report on a strong relationship between the literacy experiences in a Family Literacy Tutorial project for immigrants from the home environment and children’s school-based literprovincial areas of Mexico and Central America. Apacy development. Interest has increased among researchproximately 30% of the families in this project learned ers and practitioners on the role of the family and the to use storybooks and questioning strategies with their value of home–school collaborations (Baker, 2003). Acchildren. The techniques families use to introduce text to cording to Rasinski, Bruneau, and Ambrose (1990), famtheir children may conflict with the ones used at school ily members have similar responsibilities in the home that (Saracho, 2002). For example, the Family Literacy Tutohelp young children acquire the language and literacy rial project used techniques that conflicted with the famlearning that teachers provide in the classroom. ilies’ cultural styles. Janes and Kermani (2001) found In families with young children, daily practices frethat the families changed the school’s literacy procequently consist of storybook reading at different times dures and used their own cultural resources, such as the throughout the day, with one or more children and with stories. The project organizers used stories that deviated multiple texts. When children listen to stories that are from the families’ culture; therefore, the families altered