Indigenous Knowledge Contributions to Family Literacy

• In Event: A Place for Indigenous, Immigrant, and Refugee Cultural Contributions to Family Literacy

Abstract

Purpose: Drawing on research with Indigenous families and caregivers at six western Canadian sites whose children participate in the national early intervention program Aboriginal Head Start (AHS), this paper reports on the range of early literacy practices that Indigenous parents engage in with their children, the ways in which families participate in family literacy initiatives that draw on Indigenous knowledge contributions, and the opportunities that culturally specific family literacy experiences offer children and families.

Framework: This study is situated within an Indigenous knowledge framework (Battiste, 2005; Brayboy & Maughan, 2009). Indigenous knowledge represents the local and culturally specific knowledge of a people comprising their practices, values, and beliefs and is intimately linked to their worldview, their way of making sense of the world (Barnhardt & Kwagley, 2005). The focus-group, interviews, and observation protocols were designed to inquire how the literacy experiences of Indigenous families reflect (a) a range of semiotic multi-modalities (Jewitt & Kress, 2003) that may include Indigenous knowledge as a theory for understanding; and (b) instances where literacy extends beyond encoding and decoding print to include various forms of meaning-making within Indigenous cultures, languages and traditions.

Method: This research engaged Aboriginal parents and caregivers from six AHS sites in western Canada. Data was gathered through focus groups discussions with parents at each site, interviews with caregivers (staff) at each site who took part in an Aboriginal Family Literacy training program, and observations at each of the programs. Transcribed discussions, interviews and field notes will be analyzed thematically. A second level of analysis will code participant responses within and Indigenous knowledge framework represented by five features that are relatively common across Indigenous societies.

Results: Preliminary analysis of the data suggests that i) Aboriginal parents prefer to participate in literacy initiatives that include Indigenous culture and language; ii) parents are able to identify forms of meaning-making embedded within cultural practices, values and artifacts and articulate their relationship to learning and strengthening their identities; and iii) affirmation of culturally specific meaning-making practices in family literacy initiatives fosters participation in community and school contexts.

Significance: A growing body of literature provides evidence on the contribution that Indigenous knowledge contributes positively to a coherent identity for Indigenous children (Ball, 2009; RCAP, 1996, Canadian Council of Learning, 2007; Grande, 2004). What has been overlooked are the ways in which Indigenous knowledge can build on the skills and knowledge associated with school based literacy practices. Siegal (2006) tells that more studies are needed that document what happens when multiliteracies and multimodalities meet school based literacy. By using Indigenous knowledge as a theoretical framework we are able to find educational advantages and opportunities in specific meaning making practices that can inform the curriculum and pedagogies of literacy programs that engage Indigenous families, while ensuring they continue to pass on their own traditional knowledge This is significant to Indigenous families who approach learning environments with caution due to colonial policies of schooling that have left an enduing legacy.

Author

• Jan Hare, The University of British Columbia