Family Literacy
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More Good Practices:
ESL and Family Literacy
Carolyn Kessler, University of Texas at San Antonio
The way that family literacy is defined has critical implications for the success of programs for
families in which a language other than English is used in the home. On the one hand, family
literacy programs can be defined narrowly to guide programs in the direction of teaching parents
to do school-like activities at home in hopes of assisting their children with homework and
ultimately, with school achievement. An alternate view taps into the family's socio-cultural reality
and emphasizes strengths of the family.
The narrow definition corresponds to a close link between the culture of schooling and to
mainstream literacy practices. For ESL parents, this can present major problems in which,
ultimately, the demands of a family literacy program set up so many obstacles that parents are
unable to participate. Basically, this view sees parents as lacking certain skills, including language,
needed to foster school success for their children.
In the broader definition proposed by Auerbach (1996, 1989), family literacy addresses family
concerns and strengthens parents' abilities to care for their children. When parents focus on
acquiring English language and literacy from this perspective, they are in a position to enhance the
role of literacy in their family. This has crucial consequences for the quality of family life.
Parents gain confidence in their own skills, become less dependent on their children
as English-language interpreters, and come to a new understanding of the value of their home language and
culture.
The two definitions are distinguished in part by directionality: school-to-home programs as opposed
to home-to-school. In the latter, a variety of strategies makes use of the home language and culture
in the context of acquiring ESL. When the home is seen as a rich socio-cultural resource, not as a
source of deficits, parents and their children can together experience the culture of hope, possibility,
and promise. From this view, research (McCaleb 1994, Auerbach 1989) shows that families will
experience greater success in learning English and knowing how to use it effectively to
strengthen family life.
REFERENCES
Auerbach, E. 1996. From the community to the Community: Adult ESL Literacy. Mahwah, NJ:
Lawrence Erlbaum
Auerbach, E. 1989. Towards a social-contextual approach to family literacy., Havard
Educational Review, 59 (2): 165-181.
McCaleb, S. 1994. Building Communities of Learners: A Collaboration Among Teachers,
Students, Families, and Community. New York: St. Martin's Press.
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