Cultural Capital And Textually Mediated Discourses: What Is (Un)Valued In Early Literacy Work?

• In Event: 435 - Section on Sociology of Education Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 20. Parental Involvement during Childhood

Abstract

In this paper I suggest that family literacy programs often have a silenced gendered discourse about who is meant to support children’s early literacy habits and what kind of work is expected (i.e. reading to children every night; coming to the library). This paper explores some of the findings from a larger study examining the intersections of gender, race, and class in early literacy involvement through observations and in-depth interviews with librarians and mothers with regard to their experiences and involvement with early literacy programs. Data collection was gathered at Smallville library, a children’s library in the Greater Toronto Area. In this paper, I investigate some of the unidirectional transmission of instruction from librarians to mothers (exploring “proper” literacy habits), while considering mothers’ understandings and experiences of this. I also interrogate librarians and mothers expectations about what kinds of literacy skills are expected, or valued, and why. In doing so, I dismantle and examine further the structural framework that guides this local library: Every Child Ready to Read, which has very clear expectations about “proper” literacy habits needed for “successful” readers.

Author

• Jessica Rizk, McMaster University