This chapter is at the core of the Coalition francophone's research. It described and compared three of the
eight program models used in the research. We chose these three models because they were used most
often and because they respect most of the criteria for the selection of a family literacy program. The
chapter then gave a synopsis of the results of the research and ended by underlining the impact of the
programs on the participant' use of French and parenting skills, as well as on literacy activities in general
and family literacy activities in particular.
The Grandir avec mon enfant model targets the parents of preschool and school-age children and Des livres
dans mon baluchon targets the parents of preschoolers. Lire et ecrire a la maison is addressed to parents of
children in grade 1. Whereas Lire et écrire à la maison and Des livres dans mon baluchon offer a direct
intervention with the parent and the child, Grandir avec man enfant is focused on the parent. Lire et ecrire
ala maison is devoted to reading and writing activities, and Grandir avec mon enfant is mainly focused on
promoting improvement in parenting skills. Although Des livres dans man baluchon includes activities to
promote reading, writing and parenting skills, it also aims to heighten the process of awareness of
socialization in French (e.g., speaking French at home) and awareness of cultural activities in French in
which families can take part at home and in the community.Finally,Des livres dans man baluchon and Lire
et ecrire a la maison include kits and pedagogical resources that parents can take home.
The results and their interpretation found in the For My Child reports can be summarized as follows. The
majority of the participants in the programs lived mainly in French at home, and most of them were
women. Most of the men who participated in the programs enrolled in the Lire et ecrire a la maison
program model for parents of school-age children. In their responses to the questionnaire, almost all of the
parents reported a very high level of motivation toward their program. Parents mentioned that they had
observed changes relating to their use of French and that they had increased the frequency of their literacy
activities. They indicated that they had learned various strategies for helping their child during literacy
activities. They were better informed about the resources available in French in their community and had
made new Francophone acquaintances. They also reported changes in their child: he is more confident, he
has enriched his vocabulary, is better at respecting routines and has developed a greater sense of
belonging to the French language.
According to the evaluations, it appears that the inclusion of children in the programs is a success factor
and contributes, among other things, to reducing absenteeism. The practitioners and directors of the
centres felt that the programs fostered improvement in spoken French, the development of cultural
identity, and, for the children, integration into French-language schools. They were satisfied with the
partnerships with the schools, child care centres and other community organizations. The chapter ended
with 18 recommendations that came out of the For My Child reports.
The next chapter is devoted to establishing the connections between the results presented in the For My
Child reports with results of other research on family literacy.