The
Importance of Family Literacy
Family Literacy programs are designed to improve the
language and literacy skills of both parents and children. The majority are
designed for parents with preschool or early school-age children and aimed at
improving children's school readiness and success, while simultaneously
supporting the language/literacy development of parents. Most federal programs, such as Even Start,
have adopted a specific definition for family literacy that addresses four program
components. Most federally funded
programs must include all four components:
1. Early Childhood Education programs for children that are age-
appropriate and help prepare children for success in school and life.
2. Adult
Education, specifically, parent literacy training that leads to economic
self-sufficiency.
3. Parenting Education, training that
helps parents become teachers of
their children and full partners in
educational systems.
4. Parent and Child Together (PACT)
programming that enhances the
interaction
of parents and their children around language and literacy.
Need for Literacy and Language Programs well
documented.
- 1991 - in the Carnegie
Foundation report, Ready to Learn:
A mandate for the nation, teachers reported that 35% of
kindergarten children were not ready for school. The area in which children were reported
to be most lacking was in literacy and language skills (
Boyer, 1991).
- 1998 - the Annie E. Casey
Foundation reported that 39% of fourth-grade students scored below the
basic reading level nationwide.
- Children for whom English is a
second language are of particular concern
because their numbers are
increasing and they often have difficulty in school (Rossi &
Stringfield, 1995).
- Studies show that children who
start Kindergarten without basic language and literacy skills have
difficulty learning to read, and they continue to experience reading
problems throughout school (Snow, et al, 1998).
- Research on brain development
helps explain why early home and child care experiences are critical to
language development.
- By the time babies are a year
and a half old, the bottom 10% will understand around 90 different words
while the top 10% will understand
more than 300 words.
- Research indicates that children
who have books and other reading materials at home, as well as writing
materials, do better than children who have none.
- Children who see their parents
reading and writing do better than children who do not see such models.
- Children who have many opportunities
to talk and listen, practice eye-hand coordination
activities that will help develop the foundation skills for writing,
and "read" books," gain invaluable experience with
language.
- Working with parents to enrich
home environments, through family or intergenerational literacy programs,
increases the chance that preschoolers will succeed once they reach school
(Bus, van Ijzendoorn, & Pellegrini, 1995; Edwards, 1995; Edwards,
Pleasants, & Franklin, 1999; Jordan, Snow, & Porche, 2000; Neuman ,1996; Whitehurst, et al., 1988.
The foundation for literacy skills is set during the preschool years,
and it is during this time that young children develop the skills that will
help them be successful (Chall, Jacobs, & Baldwin, 1990). Whereas it was once thought that children
learned to speak and listen during their early years and later learned to read
and write at school age, we now know that they develop literacy related
abilities simultaneously from infancy.
Emergent literacy is the term used to describe young children's
developing literacy skills before formal schooling and encompasses the
constellation of speaking, listening, reading and writing skills young children
acquire (Teale & Sulzby, 1989).
There is
increasing interest in teaching parents how to help children build essential
literacy skills (Nickse, 1989). Research
has shown that parents can create supportive home literacy environments,
express positive attitudes about literacy, and share literacy activities such
as joint book reading (Arnold, Lonigan, Whitehurst & Epstein, 1994;
DeBaryshe & Binder, 1994; Payne, Whitehurst, & Angell, 1994).
Reading aloud with
children is probably the
single most important activity for building early literacy skills and
understanding in preschool age children (Wells, 1985; Bus & van Ijzendoorn,
& Pellegrini, 1995; Bus et al.; 1997; Whitehurst et al., 1994)
when:
·
children
feel emotionally secure
·
are
active participants in reading
·
parents
and caregivers engage the child - for example,
asking children to predict what will happen next
·
naming
and talking about the pictures
·
rereading
the story many times
·
helping
children link what is in the book with what is in their own lives
·
giving
the child many age-appropriate opportunities to build on book reading with activities that encourage an
understanding of "reading,"
"writing," listening and speaking.
In addition to reading aloud, parents also can:
·
improve
the quality and quality of verbal interaction with their children
·
show
interest, valuing, and encouragement of reading and language
·
provide
access to a wide range of reading, writing, and drawing materials
·
show
their own interest in literature and modeling of reading and writing in the
home
·
provide
opportunities for literacy experiences within routine family interactions and
activities.
References
Bialystok,
E., & Herman, J. (1999). Does bilingualism matter for early
literacy? Bilingualism: Language and cognition, 2(1), 35-44.
Boyer,
E. L. (1991). Ready to learn: A mandate from the nation. Princeton, NJ:
The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
Bus,
A., Belsky, J., van Ljzendoorn, & Crnic, K.
(1997). Attachment and
book-reading patterns: A study of
mothers, fathers, and their toddlers. Early
Childhood Research Quarterly, 12, 81-98.
Bus, A.G., van Ijzendorn, M.H., & Pellegrini,
A.D. (1995). Joint book reading makes for success in
learning to read: A meta-analysis on
intergenerational transmission of literacy, Review of Educational Research,
65(1), 1-21.
Edwards,
P.A. (1995). Empowering low-income
mothers and fathers to share books with young children. The Reading Teacher, 48, 558-564.
Edwards,
P.A., Pleasants, H.M., & Franklin,
S.H. (1999). A path to follow: Learning to listen to parents. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Jordan,
G.E., Snow, C. E., & Porche, M.V.
(2000). Project EASE: The effect of a family literacy project on
kindergarten students’ early literacy skills.
Reading Research Quarterly, 35(4), 524-546.
Learning
to read and write: Developmentally
appropriate practices for young children (1998). Young Children, 30-23.
Neuman,
Susan B. (1996). Children engaged in
storybook reading: The influence of
access to print resources, opportunity, and parental interaction. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 11,
495-513.
Perez,
B. (1998). Language, literacy, and
biliteracy. In B. Perez (Ed.) Sociocultural
Contexts of Language and Literacy,
(pp. 21-48). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Rossi,
R.J. & Stringfield, S.C.
(1995). What we must do for
students placed at risk, Phi Delta Kappan, 77, 73-76.
Snow, Catherine E., Burns, M. Susan,
& Griffin, Peg, (1998). Preventing
Reading Difficulties in Young Children.
National Research Council (U.S.). Committee on the Prevention of Reading
Difficulties in Young Children, National Acad. Press.
Wells, G. (1985).
Preschool literacy-related activities and success in school. In D.R. Olson, N. Torrence, & A. Hildyard
(Eds.), Literacy, language and learning:
The nature and consequences of reading and writing (pp. 229-255).
Cambridge, England: Cambridge
University Press.
Whitehurst,
G. J., Galco, F.L., Lonigan, C.J., Fischel, J.E., DeBarshe, B.D.,
Valdex-Menchaca, M.C. & Caulfield, M.
(1988). Accelerating language
development through picture book reading, Developmental Psychology, 24,
552-559.
General
Reading
Bridges
to Literacy: Children, Families, and
Schools. David K. Dickson (Ed.). Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Press, 1994.
Family
Literacy: Connections in Schools and
Communities. Lesley Mandel Morrow (Ed.). Washington, DC: International Reading Association, 1995.
The
Role of Family Literacy Environments in Promoting Young Children's Emerging
Literacy Skills. Pia Rebello Britto & Jeanne Brooks-Gunn
(Eds.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2001.
Literacy
Development in the Early Years: Helping
Children Read and Write. Lesley Mandel Morrow. Boston, MA:
Allyn & Bacon, 2001.
Hardcover. 2/26/2000.
80 pages. List price $9.99. ISBN-10: 0842373535. ISBN-13: 978-084237531. 
Dr. Bostrom is an
accomplished author of numerous books for children and books for adults. She is
an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA) with degrees from
Princeton and McCormick Theological Seminaries. Elena Kucharik’s not only
creates colorful and captivating illustrations for the Little Blessings line, but was the lead artist and developer for
Care Bears. She also designs and illustrates for major corporations and
publishers.