Peter Hannon

Children’s Perspectives on Family Literacy: Methodological Issues, Findings and Implications for Practice:

This article reports a study of family literacy practices from the perspectives of five-year-old children drawn from areas of social and economic deprivation in an English city. Methodological and ethical issues of interviewing young children are discussed. An interview survey (N= 71) found literacy activity reported in all homes; fathers involved in literacy with their children; and boys (as well as girls) involved in literacy activity. Findings were compared with those of a further randomly selected sample (N= 77) whose parents had participated in a family literacy programme. The comparison showed a modest, but consistent, increase in child-reported family literacy activity in the programme group, and concludes that the impact of a family literacy programme is discernible through children’s perspectives. Implications for family literacy practices and the need for further research, including measures of children’s literacy achievement and views of parents and the teachers participating in the programme, are identified.

Parents’ and Teachers’ Perspectives on Preschool Literacy Development

Parents of 40 three to four year‐olds attending nursery classes in schools in one English local education authority and their childrens teachers were interviewed about the teaching of reading and writing. Parents were interviewed at home, and teachers were interviewed in school, about the childrens literacy experiences in both settings. A very high level of parental interest in literacy was found, centred on books and print‐related activities. Teachers, however, placed more emphasis on developing what they saw as pre‐reading and pre‐writing skills. Teachers felt that parental involvement in preschool literacy could lead to children being put under too much pressure and being taught by the wrong methods. Parents saw their involvement as productive, would have welcomed help from teachers, and were unsure about the place of literacy in the nursery curriculum.

parents’ experiences of a family literacy programme

Relatively few studies of family literacy programmes have investigated parents’ views, despite their importance for the future development of this kind of programme in early childhood education. This article reports on a family literacy programme from the perspectives of the parents involved in it. The study was carried out in socio-economically disadvantaged communities in a northern English city. Parent experiences were investigated through interviews at the beginning and end of the programme (N = 85) and home visit records. Interviews with a control group (N = 73) of parents who had never participated in a family literacy programme were also conducted at the end of programme. Take-up and participation rates were extremely high for child-focused components of the programme, but the adult (parent-focused) education component had lower take-up. Parents expressed extremely positive views about the child-focused component of the programme and all felt it had benefited children. There was evidence, according to parent report, of programme impact on family literacy practices. Implications for family literacy programmes are discussed.

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.

A study of work with parents to promote early literacy development

Abstract Recent research has shown the extent of childrens literacy experiences in the home before school entry, and their importance for subsequent attainment. Pre‐school intervention involving parents has been found effective in other areas of child development but there have so far been very few attempts to promote pre‐school literacy development directly by working with parents. There may be doubts about the form such work should take and its feasibility. In the present study, home‐based and school‐based ways of working with parents were devised and tried out with families in the Sheffield Early Literacy Development Project. Case studies of 20 children in the Project, aged between 1 and 4 years, and their parents were carried out. It was found that parents were willing and able to engage in a dialogue about their childrens home literacy and that the Project changed their approach to childrens literacy experiences. Both home‐based and school‐based methods had an impact but the former appeared superi...

Effects of a preschool bilingual family literacy programme

This article reports a multi-method evaluation of a one-year small-scale preschool family literacy programme with bilingual Pakistani-origin families in the UK. The programme was implemented mostly through home visits and included provision of literacy resources, some postal communication and group meetings. The study was conducted in collaboration with the Sheffield REAL (Raising Early Achievement in Literacy) project. Take-up and participation were high (with significant involvement of older siblings) and no families dropped-out. Families’ views, obtained through interviews at the beginning and end of the programme, were extremely positive in terms of increased understanding of how to support their children’s literacy development, impact on their confidence and literacy achievements, and how they valued the programme. Outcomes for children showed significant gains over a control group. The family literacy programme was found to be both feasible and effective.

Parents’ and teachers’ strategies in hearing young children read

Abstract The principal way in which parents can be involved in the teaching of reading is by hearing their own children read at home. However, doubts have been expressed about their competence in this role. Despite its importance this is an under‐researched area. Most studies, whether experimental or naturalistic, have restricted themselves to teachers and to particular aspects of their performance considered to be of theoretical significance, usually their responses to childrens miscues. Some studies have attempted a more comprehensive description of what teachers do but there has not been any comparable research into parents hearing reading. This research studied how 52 children, aged five to seven years, were heard to read in school by their class teachers and at home by their parents. They were participants in a parental involvement project at a primary school in a disadvantaged area of the north of England. Tape recordings were made of children reading in both settings. School reading sessions tende...

Involving parents in the teaching of reading: a study of current school practice

Summary Recent work aimed at involving parents more in the teaching of reading by encouraging parents to hear their children read school reading books at home has created a great deal of interest. But to what extent does it depart from normal school practice? Little is known about schools’ attitudes to parental involvement in home‐based, as opposed to school‐based, educational activities. Therefore a study was made of a sample of 16 infant and first schools. Interviews were carried out with head teachers, all teachers of seven‐year‐olds, and some of their pupils. It was found that whilst there was general support for the idea of parental involvement in the teaching of reading this stopped short of helping parents hear their own children read at home. An examination of the schools’ practice suggested that at present comparatively few children regularly take school reading books to read at home.

Children's Understanding and Cultural Factors in Reading Test Performance

An investigation was carried out into the relationship between childrens performance on a multiple‐choice sentence‐completion reading test and their understanding of the test items. Three groups of 24 primary school pupils (aged 7:10 to 8:11) from working‐class homes, middle‐class homes, and from homes where English was a second language were studied. Their understanding of test items, determined by administering the reading test orally, was found to vary considerably according to cultural background, and to be partly responsible for social class differences in test performance. An examination of the test items suggested some reasons why this might be so. Implications for educational practice and research are identified.

Teachers' use of a conceptual framework for early literacy education involving parents

Abstract Changes in literacy education regarding the importance of the early years and the role of parents have implications for teacher professional development which have not yet been fully addressed. This article describes a conceptual framework intended to give early childhood educators a way of thinking about the role of parents in childrens early literacy development and how teachers can work with parents. The conceptual framework was offered to a group of teachers through a professional development programme of six seminars. Four sources of data were used to evaluate the meaningfulness of the framework, its perceived usefulness to teachers, and its impact on practice. Findings indicate that the framework largely achieved its intended purposes but some issues requiring further development and investigation are identified