Current status of the next generation

The respondents in this research represented a wide spectrum of family literacy attitudes. We uncovered some examples of negative passive modeling behavior. For example, there are parents who turn on the television as soon as they get home. More than one person said their children watch television and videos (usually children’s cartoons) for three or four hours a day.

However, we also had many positive comments:

• “My philosophy is that money spent on books is never wasted.”
• “Reading is really emphasized in our household.”
• “We encourage a lot of reading because we know it enhances other subjects as well.”
• “Our kids each have their own bookshelves packed with books.”
• “We go to the library every second week and the kids take out 10 or 15 books.”
• “My daughter writes a lot of songs.”
• “My son’s passion is his guitar.”
• “About twice a month we go on big family outings. We take our two year old to the museum, art gallery and TELUS World of Science.”
• “We try to do social things with the children. We want our kids to do well in school but also have fun.”

Rubin (2004:289) stated “rather than simply transmitting literacy to their children, the parent’s task is to model literacy as a useful practice for solving problems and to establish social literacy practices in which children can participate as a critical part of their lives. Thus, literacy involves integrating reading, writing, listening and speaking to be able to use language to think critically.” We have seen that parents today have some understanding of this requirement. They are much different from their parents and as one parent said, “My parents were a different type of parent and weren’t as involved as parents are now.” One respondent said, “My parent were old school and worked all the time.”

The past generation was focused on the work ethic and literacy was not emphasized. Parents today realize that their children’s success means more than just being able to read and that learning begins at an early age. Time will tell if their practices result in greater literacy. The research suggests this should happen.

Attitudes such as those reflected in the comments above are positive indicators that parents are increasingly aware that positive literacy behaviors can ensure literacy skills in the next generation. This may result in more parents who are interested and able to support literacy in their families and an increase in the number of qualified workers in Alberta’s next generation.