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Citation:

Bloome, D., Katz, L., Solsken, J., Willett, J., & Wilson-Keenan, J. A. (2000). Interpellations of family/community and classroom literacy practices. The Journal of Educational Research, 93(3), 155-163. EJ602598.

Annotation:
This article reports briefly on two action-research ethnographic studies that show different sides of building on a community-centered model of literacy among young children. The authors distinguish between school and family/community literacy practices. They state it is the social relationships among the persons involved and the written language used that define these practices, rather than the location in which they occur. For example, school-centered literacy practices may occur in family/community settings when parents become "teachers" and children become "students"; that is, bedtime stories and similar storybook reading practices become enactments of school literacy practices. In the first study, the researchers examined the storytelling and reading practices of African American parents from a low-income community. They found that at a deeper level the parents and children had transformed these literacy practices so that they were compatible and consistent with their approaches to family and community life. In the second study, the teacher made the lives of parents and members of the community a major part of the curriculum by inviting parents into the classroom to share their stories and experiences. These two models opened up opportunities for students to integrate multiple social and cultural literacy identities with an academic literacy identity. Students were able to adapt school literacy practices and family/community literacy practices into a hybrid set of literacy practices. Together, these two studies provide new directions for researching and conceptualizing the relationship between family/community and school literacy practices. The authors argue that the transformation of literacy practices from a school-centered model to a community-centered model is key for several reasons. They question whether the use of a school-centered model is appropriate, or whether imposing the institution of schooling might cause an erosion of social institutions like family and community. Also, to the extent that the relationships between classrooms and families/communities are based on a school-centered model of literacy, opportunities for teachers and students to adapt multiple literacy practices may be limited. Limited, too, may be the ability to create classrooms that recognize and respect the cultural and linguistic diversity of the families and communities of students.