Teaching and Learning about Family Literacy and Family Literacy Programs

Jacqueline Lynch, Esther Prins

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781000467352
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

This book provides a systematic exploration of family literacy, including its historic origins, theoretical expansion, practical applications within the field, and focused topics within family literacy. Grounded in sociocultural approaches to learning and literacy, the book covers research on how families use literacy in their daily lives as well as different models of family literacy programs and interventions that provide opportunities for parent-child literacy interactions and that support the needs of children and parents as adult learners. Chapters discuss key topics, including the roles of race, ethnicity, culture, and social class in family literacy; digital family literacies; family-school relationships and parental engagement in schools; fathers' involvement in family literacy; accountability and employment; and more. Throughout the book, Lynch and Prins share evidence-based literacy practices and highlight examples of successful family literacy programs. Acknowledging lingering concerns, challenges, and critiques of family literacy, the book also offers recommendations for research, policy, and practice.

Accessible and thorough, this book comprehensively addresses family literacies and is relevant for researchers, scholars, graduate students, and instructors and practitioners in language and literacy programs.

Part I Introduction and Literacy Foundations

1 Family Literacy Introduction and Overview

DOI: 10.4324/9780429352805-2

This chapter provides an overview of family literacy, including the meanings of family literacy, definitions of literacy, and the historical development of family literacy as a field of study. An introduction to family literacy programs is shared. The chapter discusses why family literacy is important, including connections to children’s literacy learning, and common concerns about programs. Reasons why educators and researchers should continue their involvement in, and examination of, family literacy are presented. We also define key terms used throughout the book.

Historical Origins and Growth

The term family literacy, particularly as a field of study, developed from Denny Taylor’s (1983) book, Family Literacy: Young Children Learning to Read and Write, which was based on her dissertation research. Taylor’s research examined literacy values and practices that were a natural part of the families’ everyday lives. Similarly, Morrow (1995) describes family literacy as the ways that parents, children, and extended family members learn and use literacy at home and in their community, often as part of routines of daily living. Conversations, beliefs, and interactions are all tied to literacy development in the home. Activities, such as interactions around recipes, lists, and advertisements, have all played a role in our understanding of family literacy (Lynch, 2008; Purcell-Gates, 1996). However, Taylor (1997) reminds us that our attempts to formally define family literacy may be futile. She notes that “no single narrow definition of family literacy can do justice to the richness and complexity of families, and the multiple literacies, including often unrecognized local literacies, that are part of their everyday lives” (p. 4).

Importantly, the role of family literacy as an area of study, including practices recognized as part of family literacy, has grown over the years. As Taylor (2018) notes, there are now family literacy initiatives in every member state of the United Nations (p. 3). In Taylor’s (1983) landmark research, the families were White and middle class. However, currently “family literacy programs and family literacy research serve people who are diverse in terms of culture, social class, race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, and language” (Compton-Lilly et al., 2012, p. 33). As we discuss in Chapter 10, families can include siblings, extended family, grandparents, neighbors, community neighbors, and community members from various racial/ethnic groups. Families, then, can include individuals who serve in a parenting role but are not biologically related.

Family Literacy Programming

Family literacy is a multifaceted concept that can include both what families do with literacy and the programs or activities that seek to enhance parents’ and young children’s educational, language, and literacy development and to foster parental involvement in education—primarily focusing on lower-income families (Goodling Institute for Research in Family Literacy, 2012; see also Anderson et al., 2010). Any program, service, or activity that seeks to provide education for both adults and children, to encourage reading in families, or to help parents support their children’s education could be categorized as family literacy. Related terms include family learning, family engagement, family involvement, two-generation, or intergenerational literacy.

When we consider family literacy programs and interventions, there is often a focus on parent-child activities, or intergenerational, two-generation programs focused on services to adults and children, a model that emerged in the 1980s (Wasik & Van Horn, 2012). Commonly, there may be activities or interventions devoted to children and adult caregivers playing and interacting with literacy together, known as PACT (Parent and Child Together Time) or ILA (interactive literacy activities). These activities may include songs, book reading, writing activities, recipe reading, internet activities, alphabetic letter or word engagement, and many others. As Heath (2010) cautions, family literacy programs should promote wonder and delight and involve parents engaging with children rather than parents giving activities to children.

More comprehensive family literacy programs include a focus on adults, as well as children’s educational needs, in addition to ILA (Wasik & Van Horn, 2012; see Chapter 7). A complex family literacy model may require more planning and resources but has been found to be effective in promoting systematic changes in literacy outcomes (Institute of Education Sciences [IES], 2004). Adult learning is a significant aspect of comprehensive family literacy programs (see Chapter 4 for a broader discussion on its importance). Improving adult education can mean better employment for parents, which may assist them in acquiring resources for children. It also can support adults with increased knowledge of ways to support children’s learning at home (Goodling Institute for Research in Family Literacy, 2021). Adult education also fosters many psychosocial benefits such as increased confidence (see Chapter 4). For the adult education component, assessment typically focuses on reading and math or English language skills (Van Horn & Forlizzi, 2004), often to the exclusion of writing (Pickard, 2021). Finally, early childhood education provides an opportunity for children to interact with a range of developmental activities to support early learning, and the focus on assessments centers most commonly on language and literacy (Lonigan et al., 2004).

Some family literacy programs are large-scale and federally funded, while local initiatives were created to respond to specific needs identified within the community (Wasik & Van Horn, 2012). Programs can be supported through federal, state, municipal, and private funding as well as other sources such as fundraisers and donations. Overall, there are many reasons why family literacy programs have been implemented. Some of the most prominent reasons are that children’s literacy skills often correlate with parents’ education and income; increased recognition of the role that parents play in children’s literacy learning; strong relationships between the home environment and children’s literacy development; and the need to provide education for English language learners (Wasik & Van Horn, 2012).

Family literacy programs have reported how participation influences parents’ and children’s literacy practices (e.g., Anderson et al., 2011). Family literacy programs have also been connected with school literacy outcomes. Carpentieri et al. (2011), for example, reviewed six meta-analysis studies on family literacy programs and observed that “evidence indicates that family literacy programs have a greater impact than most educational interventions” (p. 10). Their study concluded that “child literacy strategies should include a family literacy component, and that policymakers should more actively support the widespread proliferation of family literacy interventions” (pp. 10–11). Moreover, van Steensel et al. (2012), based on their review of the research, claimed that “family literacy makes a non-trivial contribution to children’s literacy development” (p. 137). Swain et al.’s (2015) research also demonstrated support for the effectiveness of family literacy programs (as cited in Morris et al., 2019).

It has been proposed that some family literacy programs have not had significant effects on child achievement because of changes in program implementation after design or the threshold needed to make a difference in child achievement (Morris et al., 2019; Powell & Carey, 2012). In addition, some educators change the programs when they are not well received by parents (e.g., Janes & Kermani, 2001; Reyes & Torres, 2007), which can help them align with families’ needs and achieve better outcomes. Family literacy program evaluation is an area where further research is needed. We need to develop a better understanding of the “bidirectional intergenerational influence” (Gadsden, 2000) whereby children’s and parents’ literacy practices mutually influence each other (e.g., see Chapter 10 on how grandparents and children learn from each other). Powell and Carey (2012) recommend that being more specific about the goals of family literacy programming can lead to better assessment measures. Similarly, Morris et al. (2019) questioned the fidelity of family literacy program evaluations. Effects on children can take time, and the focus of evaluations may need to account for this. Furthermore, Morris et al. recommend being more specific about which families are expected to demonstrate outcomes, such as parents of second language learners. Regarding assessment of adult outcomes, Reder’s (Reder et al., 2020) empirically grounded practice engagement theory indicates that participation in adult education may not lead to greater proficiency (higher test scores) in the short term; rather, adult education can increase engagement in literacy practices, which leads to greater proficiency 3 to 5 years after program exit. Thus, typical pre-post measures are unlikely to capture the real, long-term outcomes of adult literacy education.

The benefits of family literacy programs transcend language and literacy achievement; they also have wider implications. For example, family literacy programs are known to increase parental engagement with schools (Crosby et al., 2015). When parents are treated as respected partners with schools, they can work with teachers to support children’s success. Although teachers report that families’ engagement has increased over the years, it remains a challenge (MetLife Survey of the American Teacher, 2011). To further the development of home-school partnerships, Mapp (2016) suggests that educators should begin by examining our own beliefs about families and family-school partnerships. Curry et al. (2016) stress that teachers must not view family literacy practices through a deficit mindset but partner with families to develop home literacy practices that may support school practices. Teachers can also engage in interviews, observations, and analysis of artifacts to identify the strengths and knowledge that students and their families bring to classrooms as a means to build on home literacy practices in schools (Compton-Lilly et al., 2012; Lazar et al., 2012). As Compton-Lilly et al. (2012) point out, the “funds of knowledge [approach] strives to change curricula by changing teachers” (p. 37).

These recommendations reflect concerns about deficit views of families in family literacy programs (see Chapters 5 and 6). Compton-Lilly, Rogers, and Lewis (2012) highlight this concern by stating: “Historically, U.S. policies have identified family literacy as a potential solution to economic and social disparities” (p. 34). From this perspective, the focus is on fixing families, based on the assumption that bolstering individual skills can cure all social issues. From a social change perspective, though, the problems of marginalized people originate as part of a complex interaction of political, social, and economic factors in society rather than in family inadequacies or differences between home and school cultures (Auerbach, 1995, p. 654). A growing chorus of educators and scholars questioned the validity of imposing a family literacy model that did not reflect families’ cultu...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Part I Introduction and Literacy Foundations
• Part II Family Literacy and Diversity
• Part III Family Literacy in Practice
• Part IV Family Literacy: Focused Topics
• Part V Conclusions
• Index