Transmission and Development of Literacy Values and Practices: An Ethnographic Study of a Malay Family in Singapore

Abstract

In this chapter, ethnographic methods to illustrate some of the dynamic relationships involved in the transmission and development of literacy values and practices in a Malay family in Singapore are used. Interactions between parents, between parents and children, and between the home and the school all contribute to the nature of reading and writing practices in the family. School experiences are mediated in particular ways by the parents’ personal histories, religion and occupation and by the experience of the older siblings. The family’s literacy practices are also continually changing as the children act and react in sharing literate experiences throughout their development. The descriptions bring into focus the nature of children’s literacy learning in the home: they do not just acquire language and literacy skills but also learn different ways of relating to texts and of being a reader and writer through participation in social practices and the pursuit of social relations.