Family Literacy Practices Research Articles

Analyzing Burmese refugee children’s multimodal work

Abstract Researchers have investigated how family literacy practices can effectively support children’s literacy development in school. However, few studies have explored the lived experiences of Burmese refugee families in the United States. Utilizing a social semiotics multimodal perspective, this qualitative study examines how two Burmese refugee children made meaning by blending different modes. The data sources include video recordings, artifacts, and interviews. The findings illustrate three major themes that span time and space: family past experiences across global contexts, representation of current life experiences in the United States, and family beliefs carried across global contexts and Gawa’s dream for the future. The findings also show that the participants drew upon multimodal semiotic resources to create and share family storybooks. Implications include the importance of integrating multimodal perspectives into classroom learning and the possibilities of bridging home and school literacy.

Literacies beyond Bars: (Re)Claiming and (Re)Imagining Identities through Multimodal Family Literacy Practices

This qualitative study explores the ways that incarcerated fathers (re)claimed and (re)imagined their identities as they participated in multimodal family literacy workshops.

Shared Book Reading and Bilingual Decoding in Latinx Immigrant Homes

Through in-home ethnographic observations of three multilingual immigrant families’ shared book reading, we identified recurring literacy practices in the home in which mothers, older siblings, and younger children participated during the reading. We found that families engaged in context-sensitive and cooperative shared reading practices, wherein decoding tended to be the focus. This practice—which we call transcultural decoding—involved multidirectional language socialization practices and occurred across languages, and older family members contributed both expertise and restrictive conceptions of reading. This work suggests the importance of (a) acknowledging the major focus on decoding during shared reading in families, and reconceptualizing that work as complex and nuanced, particularly across languages and cultures, and (b) considering siblings as cultural and linguistic mediators in family literacy practices.

Voices of Refugee Mothers: Navigating the Complexities of Supporting their Preschool Children’s Literacy Development

The process of guiding young children to learn to read and write may hold unique challenges for refugee families who are transitioning to a new culture and a new language, yet areas of strength and resourcefulness may lead to successful literacy readiness for these young learners. This qualitative descriptive study examined refugee mothers’ (N = 9) literacy practices with their preschool aged children (3–5 years). The study goals were first, to explore the literacy practices among refugee families and their children, and secondly, to understand how these families navigated their new environments as they prepared their young children for school. Qualitative data collected via interviews indicated that the literacy practices of families varied and were mainly focused on storytelling and writing activities. The findings also suggested that mothers face challenges in promoting literacy due to lack of literacy resources. However, all the mothers highlighted that learning to read, write, and speak English were top priorities for their young children before starting school. Implications on effective strategies for supporting literacy development among refugee families with young children are discussed.

A review of daily conversations and practices at home: Exploring practices that promote early literacy in Spanish-speaking homes and home-school interactions

Coming from a low-income heritage language family, like 17% of Latino families, entails important academic risk factors related to lower scores on reading tests. Considering that it is estimated that Latino students will represent 50% of the U.S. public schools’ population by 2050, their literacy learning must be supported adequately. The purpose of this literature review is to explore, from an ecocultural perspective, early literacy practices of low-income Spanish-speaking families and analyze the nature of literacy home-school interventions implemented for this group. The literature highlights non-traditional literacy practices that are strengths of the Latino families, such as a robust oral tradition focused on social cues, children’s engagement in written household chores, and the use of the Bible to pass values. Parents have mixed beliefs regarding literacy promotion: they do not feel prepared to support their children; thus, they support teachers as experts. Three types of home-school literacy interventions were found: printed material sharing; printed material exchange; family programs. As the literature posits, interventions should consider and be based on family beliefs, culture, and strengths; otherwise, effectivity and attrition are at risk. Moreover, new research should be conducted to bridge the gap regarding the role of family actors other than the mother, as well as the differences within the Latino community and immigrant generation.

How Homework Shapes Family Literacy Practices

AbstractThe authors explore the possibility that school literacy practices sent home as homework are changing family reading interactions by adding to the tasks that teachers expect parents to undertake. The authors consider how reading, formerly an elective leisure practice between parents and their children, has been reorganized and how this positions parents differently. The authors also examine teachers’ views on the importance of parents reading to their children and teachers’ expectations of parents to support school literacy practices in the form of homework. Evidence that teachers now depend on parents to support school‐based literacy practices and how this serves to change the nature of literacy practices in the home is discussed.

A Meta‐Ethnography of Family Literacy Scholarship: Ways With Metaphors and Silence

AbstractIn this meta‐ethnography, the authors analyze the metaphors that inhabit highly cited examples of family literacy scholarship. Meta‐ethnography is a methodology, as described by Noblit and Hare, in which metaphors are analyzed as linguistic tools; in this article, they are used to compare and synthesize understandings across existing ethnographic family literacy studies. Specifically, the authors identified and translated key metaphors in highly cited family literacy research studies to trace the development, refinement, and expansion of epistemological stances that have informed and continue to frame family literacy scholarship. This meta‐ethnography makes visible changes in understandings and emerging lines of argument related to family literacy practices that generally are not visible. Specifically, this analysis led to the identification of a problematic silence related to racism and systemic oppression, which the authors take up as a significant meta‐ethnographic finding.

Reading interest and family literacy practices from prekindergarten to kindergarten: Contributions from a cross-lagged analysis

Most studies investigating the relationship between children’s reading interest and their parents’ literacy practices have assumed that it is the latter that sparks the former. Nevertheless, the transactional model of development (Sameroff, 2010) suggests that the relationship might run the other way as well. This research examined how children’s reading interest (as reported by their parents) and parents’ literacy practices remain stable or change over time, as well as cross-lagged relationships between reading interest and parents’ literacy practices from the beginning of prekindergarten to the end of kindergarten. The 721 participants were drawn from low-SES Chilean families participating in a larger study. The results show that in these low-income Chilean families, it is more likely for reading interest to predict parents’ practices than the other way around. Results suggest that interventions designed to improve the home literacy environment could be attained through improving parents’ perceptions of children’s reading interest rather than seeking only to change parents’ practices directly.

The Role of Family Cultural Practices in the College Readiness Journey of Mexican American High School AVID Seniors

Going to college is an expectation for many students, but this is not always the norm for many minority families. The decision to leave the comfort of home for college includes many family discussions and literacy practices that greatly affect a student. Studying family literacy practices such as storytelling and “ cuentos y consejos” allows us to understand the concerns families possess as their daughters transition from home to college.

Analysis of Different Views and Conceptualizations of the Literacy Practices of Pupils, Families, and Teachers in Costa Rican Primary Education

ABSTRACTThis article is based on a socio-cultural discourse model of literacy, whereby literacy events are regarded as being situated within social practices, creating various formal, informal, and non-formal literacy events that are part of multiliteracies. The aim of the research was to analyze primary pupils’ literacy practices (8–12 years) from the perspectives of 1,354 primary pupils, 1,020 family members, and 96 teachers in Costa Rica, using an ex-post facto design and a survey method. The findings indicate that the three groups of participants (pupils, family members, and teachers) have different views on and conceptualizations of literacy practices in school and in the community. The results show that young learners develop their literacy practices according to their different communicative needs inside and outside school. A multimodal literacy is promoted outside school to meet students’ daily communicative needs. However, the school promotes a monomodal literacy, which allows pupils to respond essentially to school needs.

Family literacy in a low-income urban community in the Philippines

The growth of literacy in the Philippines is attributed to the formalization of the education system. Learning experiences from formal schooling and the home environmental influence, complement and reinforce the role of the teacher and the parent in promoting literacy. Home literacy practices which are centred on parent-child interaction can promote literacy through the sharing of information. This study examines home practices that are directly or indirectly associated with or promote family literacy. Narratives and stories of participant families about their literacy practices were gathered through naturalistic life-story interviews, observation and participation in selected outside activities. Themes were drawn from the data collected, wherein interpretative phenomenological analysis was applied in the analysis. Four themes were identified which focus on language; home strength and activities; faith, values and aspirations; and home and school connection. Languages used at home by the family serve as a springboard for family literacy, which also supports classroom instructions. Household chores and other home activities are used as a support to learn literacy concepts taught in school, such as science concepts, survival skills, hygiene and childcare. Family literacy practices are anchored in family values and aspirations that enable each family to pursue and sustain their literacy practices. Storytelling and reading are practised at home, which provides opportunities for teaching and learning among family members. Each family in this study found ways to maximize their limited resources to support the literacy of their children for better education. The findings suggest that the economic condition of the family is not a deterrent to family literacy practices. Family literacy practices depend upon the unique dynamics of each family, which are influenced by the languages used at home, household activities, family values and aspirations. Literacy practices are also related to teaching and learning activities at school.

‘Dime De Que Se Trató/Tell me what it was about’: Exploring emergent bilinguals’ linguistic resources in reading assessments with parent participation

The purpose of this study was to explore the ways emergent bilingual first-graders draw on multiple linguistic resources during reading assessments and the participation of their Spanish-dominant parents in those assessments, as children engaged in English and Spanish retelling tasks. Informed by a translanguaging lens, sociopsycholinguistic and holistic approaches to reading and critical approaches to family literacy, the analysis centres on assessment sessions with two mother–child dyads whose children attended school in a relatively new migration setting. Primary data were drawn from four reading assessment sessions and audio-recordings over a 7-month period with each child, individual interviews and home visits with mothers, and field notes from research team members. The analysis examined linguistic patterns related to second-language approximations and code-switching in miscues and oral retellings. The analysis also includes coding of strategies and resources children used in their English and Spanish retelling of the same text, using their home language to retell the texts to their mothers. Findings illustrate that while children’s miscues may be shaped by their developing control of syntactic structures and new vocabulary, they draw from multiple language resources in English retellings, conveying their complex understandings of texts. We also found that the children negotiated translating and retelling for their parents in different ways, shaped by their family literacy practices. These involved co-construction of stories, a focus on accuracy and the paraphrasing and embellishing of stories and dialogue. Insights from this study highlight the complexity of pooled language resources in young children’s repertoires. Findings also document the situated nature of oral retelling at home, when parents engage children in the sharing and translating of English books in ways that align with existing roles, practices and goals. Implications for equitable literacy assessment in new migration contexts are discussed.

Introducing Technology to Immigrant Families to Support Early Literacy Development and Two-Generation Learning

Using “funds of knowledge” and agency as lenses, this pilot study investigates the use of technology to support the early literacy practices of immigrant families.

Daughters Learning from Fathers: Migrant Family Literacies that Mediate Borders

Scholarship in literacy and composition studies has demonstrated the significance of family literacy practices, especially as they relate to educational experiences and achievement. Often, the literacies of migrant and refugee families are considered in terms of conflict: conflict within families, and between families and institutions. This article seeks to illuminate spaces where migrant family literacies inspire positive relations, specifically in daughter-father interactions. In this ethnographic study of Hmong women, I show that literacy alters traditional relationships between fathers and daughters, reframes disempowering gender dynamics, and supports daughters’ access to public realms. These literate interactions have lasting effects throughout daughters’ lives as they pursue education, professions, and political advocacy opportunities.

Family Literacy Practices Surrounding Homework

Examining authentic literacy practices regarding homework in three demographically different family groups was the focus of this study. Parents of school age children identified as living in subsidized housing, parents of school age children working in a university teacher education program and parents of school age children who spoke a language other than English, the language of their school instruction were interviewed for the study. Implications of the study encourage teachers to be conscious of the importance of homework as a tool for providing meaningful activity, communicating information to the home about the classroom curriculum and mainstream practices. Teachers are encouraged to see the bi-directional potential of homework as an opportunity for teachers to learn about family practices through the returned homework.

TEXTS, TALK AND TECHNOLOGY: THE LITERACY PRACTICES OF BILINGUALLY-EDUCATED STUDENTS

ABSTRACT It is widely recognized that to be literate in today's world requires conscious, creative and critical deployment of language (and other semiotic devices) for different social purposes, contexts and audiences (FREEBODY & LUKE, 1990, 2003). This notion of literacy as social practice (BARTON & HAMILTON, 2000; STREET, 1995) has been extended to include the idea of multiliteracies (NEW LONDON GROUP, 1996; KALANTZIS & COPE, 2012), in recognition of the roles technology and digital text use and production play in young people's lives. However, the literacy practices of primary school-aged students, as they enact them in their daily in-school and out-of-school lives, remain under-investigated. This is particularly the case with bilingually-educated students whose literacy practices, involving texts, talk and technology, are deployed across languages. The research reported here investigated the literacy practices and language use of 68 students at three primary schools in Melbourne, Australia. Each of these schools offered bilingual programs to their students (involving instruction in Mandarin Chinese or Vietnamese, along with English). Data collected through individually administered questionnaires and small group interviews reveal these students live highly multilingual lives, where sophisticated linguistic choices and translanguaging are part of both their in-school and out-of-school lives. The research revealed that direct connections are made between the languages learned at school and personal, family and community literacy practices. As such, the students were found to attach high levels of importance to becoming biliterate, and powerfully attest to the linguistic, educational, social and functional benefits of bilingualism and a bilingual education. The research findings provide valuable insights into bilingual and multilingual practices involving texts, talk and technology. This article posits that bilingual education, as implemented at the three research sites, enhances students' learning and their sense of personal identity, as well as affording them skills and understandings they deploy in their own increasingly technology-mediated lives.

Young children’s initiation into family literacy practices in the digital age

This article reports a study that explored young children’s digital literacy in the home. The aim of the study was to identify the range of digital literacy practices in which children are engaged in the home and to explore how these are embedded into family life and involve family members. Four children, two girls and two boys aged between 2 and 4 years, were the focus for study. Parents were co-researchers in the study in that they made written observations on children’s activities and captured practices using a digital camera and a digital camcorder over the period of 1 month. They took part in a series of interviews during the study in which they reflected on this data and were asked about related practices. Findings suggest that children were immersed in a range of multimedia, multimodal practices which involved extensive engagement with other family members who scaffolded their learning and delighted in the children’s technological capabilities. The article suggests that, in the light of socio-cultural developments in the new media age, a change in focus from ‘family literacy’ to ‘family digital literacy’ is required.

School Literacy Practices Closer to Home: the New Challenge of Literacy Learning

Literacy learning/teaching can be an unforgettable experience when it is a joint effort between school and home. There are family literacy practices and traditions that can bring about amazing outcomes whenthey are conjugated with school literacy activities. This article attempts to suggest some possible ways for teachers and parents to work collaboratively to make the journey of becoming literate a much more rewarding path for both children and teachers. The perspectives presented here are based on experiences that some teachers have lived by working with parents, and on some theoretical perspectives. It is an invitation forus, teachers, to reflect upon our literacy practices we promote in our classrooms and think of possible alternatives to make children find reading and writing a meaningful and enjoyable route.

Projetos de Letramento no Ensino Médio: novas perspectivas e desafios

Resumo: Este artigo discute as implicações das novas perspectivas do ensino e aprendizagem de língua materna, em especial o trabalho centrado em projetos que tomam a prática social e as demandas dos sujeitos como ponto de partida para as ações metodológicas, e se volta para a análise de um projeto de letramento realizado no Programa Institucional de Bolsa de Iniciação à Docência (PIBID) do curso de Letras Português da UFSC, que se deu por meio de uma pesquisa-ação (Thiollent, 2008) em uma turma de terceiro ano do Ensino Médio de uma escola pública. As conclusões levam a crer que a falta de engajamento dos alunos pode ter se dado em função da distinção entre práticas de letramento escolares e familiares, demandando ressignificações metodológicas na formulação de projetos de letramento.

Evaluation of Family Literacy Programs: A Case Study of Better Beginnings, a Library-Initiated Family Literacy Bookgifting Program in Western Australia

This paper examines the nature of family literacy programs, with a particular focus on those that are based around the provision of free books to babies and young children, sometimes called “bookgifting” programs. First, the paper explores the rationale for family literacy programs in general and identifies some issues in their evaluation. It then focuses specifically on bookgifting programs. Using examples from several well-established programs, it reviews the research on which they are based, with particular reference to evaluation procedures. Next, the paper identifies some important issues that need to be addressed when planning and evaluating these programs, and notes some fundamental differences between particular programs that may have impacted on the results. It argues that this area of research needs stronger definition and a more inclusive approach to evaluation that includes both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. In order to illustrate the potential of a mixed-method approach, the paper examines the evaluation of the Better Beginnings bookgifting program for babies that has been initiated, developed, and extended by the State Library of Western Australia for over a decade. The paper concludes by suggesting that effective program evaluation is complex and multifaceted and must consider changes in behavior, confidence, and attitudes, as well as the ways in which such programs are experienced and integrated into family literacy practices. This approach provides insight into the contextual variables that determine the effectiveness of programs within and across families, and therefore inform further program development.