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Family and intergenerational learning and literacy: International perspectives from Argentina, Egypt, Jamaica, and Turkey

Wed, March 13, 6:30 to 8:00pm, Hyatt Regency Miami, Floor: Terrace Level, Gardenia C

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

Family and intergenerational learning and literacy (FILL) programs are an effective means of developing and improving parents’ and children’s literacy, numeracy, and other foundational skills, promoting parents’ support for children’s education, and fostering “wider benefits” such as self-esteem, civic participation, and adults’ further education. Although intergenerational learning has happened informally for millennia, non-formal family literacy and learning programmes emerged in the USA in the 1980s and have since spread across the globe. Internationally, UNESCO promotes FILL as a way for UN member states to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 4—“to ensure inclusive and quality education and promote lifelong learning for all”—and other Sustainable Development Goals.

However, most of the academic and grey literature focuses on FILL models and programs in higher-income or English-speaking countries, particularly the USA, Canada, and UK. As such, FILL programs, models, and policies in lower- or middle-income, non-Anglophone countries are not well documented. The literature also lacks a complex understanding of informal family and intergenerational relations and learning, including literacy, as practiced around the world. For example, FILL models and programmatic practices from Anglophone North America or the UK may be less relevant, successful, or feasible in other countries due to differing approaches to language and literacy learning, adult-child or parent-child roles and interactions, family structures, educational systems and policies, and material resources. Moreover, we know little about innovative programs that incorporate local knowledge and respond to community needs in international contexts.

To address the geographic, economic, linguistic, and sociocultural limitations of current FILL research, policy, and practice, this panel will feature presentations by four authors whose chapters are part of a forthcoming book on family and intergenerational learning and literacy (to be published by the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning). The book editors will serve as session chairs. The chapter authors for this panel were selected because their research focuses on different geographic regions: Argentina, Egypt, Jamaica, and Turkey. The presentations will highlight family learning and literacy practices and programs in countries that are middle-income and/or non-Anglophone.

The first presentation is “The Study of Children’s Household and Community Contexts as the Base for an Intercultural and Bilingual Early Literacy Program in Argentina.” The presentation will report on an early family literacy program that began in 2004 and is implemented with organizations such as community daycares, after school clubs, community kitchens and kindergartens. To date, 6,240 children and their families have participated in the educational activities. Additionally, approximately 60,000 children indirectly benefitted because their daycare and kindergarten teachers participated in the children’s language development and family literacy training workshops. Specifically, the presentation will describe a project that articulates language research and educational interventions aimed to ensure inclusive, high-quality education to Argentinian Spanish monolingual children living in situations of extreme poverty in Buenos Aires and Spanish-Qom bilingual children from Indigenous semi-rural and rural communities in the Northern Chaco province. A distinctive feature of this project is the use of ethnographic research to create educational materials and activities.

The second presentation is “A Case Study of an Intergenerational and Family Literacy Program in Egypt.” Initiated by the Egyptian government and the United States Agency for International Development, the Literate Village Project combines an effort to improve early grade reading instruction in community primary schools with an effort to teach mothers how to read and how to support their children’s success in school. The presentation will focus on this latter component by showing how the intergenerational family literacy program helps mothers of primary school children in rural areas of Egypt learn to read or improve their reading skills, to help their children succeed in learning to read in school, and to have productive discussions with their husbands and other family members about how they could help the family’s children learn to read. The presentation will summarize findings from mixed-methods research regarding mothers’ gains in literacy, household changes in intergenerational and family literacy practices, program impacts, and ways to improve the program.

The third presentation is “Challenging Epistemic Exclusion: Creating a Space for Understanding Caribbean Family Literacy Practices.” Rather than examining a specific, current family literacy program, this presentation will underscore the importance of understanding and valuing family literacy practices (writ large) in Jamaica as a representation of the Caribbean region’s cultural heritage, resilience, and strength. The presentation is grounded in the assertion that family literacy in the Caribbean has historically been viewed through a Eurocentric lens, leading to the dismissal of local knowledge and the perpetuation of epistemic injustice. Accordingly, the presentation will highlight family literacy practices that reflect Jamaicans’ cultural heritage (e.g., those incorporating music, dance, oral storytelling, Jamaican Patois) and discuss public figures and activities that have promoted these cultural practices (e.g., the Ring Ding TV show with Miss Lou, 1969-1980). The presentation will stress the need for culturally responsive forms of family literacy interventions that appreciate and recognize existing practices rather than using family learning solely as a tool to address social issues through a return-on-investment lens.

The final presentation is “Enhancing Young Children's Home Literacy Through Digital Books: A Türkiye Case Study.” Picture books are a stepping-stone that helps children learn to read. However, data suggest that in Turkey, only children from high socioeconomic-status families have sufficient access to picture books. Free digital books are one way to increase families’ access to high-quality books. In 2021, Turkey's National Broadcasting Channel launched the Children's Digital Book Library app, providing over 200 Turkish children's books that have been downloaded more than 5 million times. This free app allows users to read digital books offline on their mobile phones and tablets. The digital books include interactive multimedia enhancements that encourage children to interact with the book (e.g., hotspots, visual effects, games). Based on content analysis of 60 digital books, the presentation will examine how effective the digital books’ multimedia features are for enhancing children's reading experiences and identify areas for improvement.

This panel will share knowledge about family and intergenerational learning and literacy in four countries, demonstrating how it is situated in and informed by distinctive sociocultural contexts.

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