Towards a Social Contextual Approach to Family Literacy

Elsa Roberts Auerback – Harvard Educational Review, Vol. 59, No 2 May 1989 Univ. of Mass., Boston

I think that Auerback’s new approach to Family Literacy was a very worthwhile article to read. It certainly dispelled my attitude that these particular types of homes lack literacy support. They just have a different kind of support in a hurry-up world.

One study was a model of children reading to their parents (Tizard, Schofield, Hewison, 1982) which really stood out in my mind. I even shared this insight with the classroom teacher immediately. It is that children who read to their parents regularly make the most gains. They made even more gains that those students who receive extra reading instruction from reading specialists. This shows that the context and regular parental help is most valuable for these students. One fourth grade teacher insists that the children read to their parents nightly and the parents even have to sign a form indicating that their child read to them and they list the amount of time it took.

One other main idea was the study by Diaz (1986) that indicated that community practices can be a basis for informing and changing school practices. Children are more interested in reading and writing about their social values – youth gangs, unemployment, immigration, and the need to learn English. So teachers need to adjust and incorporate family interests into the classroom teachings.

In this article there were five assumptions listed regarding transmission of school practices to the participants. These assumptions were explained and eliminated.

This article indicated that more studies need to be done in this area and it also dispelled a lot of myths.

Ida M. Rounds