Summary.

Table 5, presented on the next two pages, offers a summary of the perceived support and limitations of low-income parents in providing for literacy experiences in the home. Parents in this study extend literacy activities with their children by spending time reading and talking together, playing together, involving them in their everyday routines and by modeling literate behaviors. Sometimes the parents fail to see the purpose for the child's involvement or presence in the activity and thus limit the activity's potential for extending literacy learning by separating themselves in space and time from the child. The parents may engage in an activity which holds potential for literacy learning, but use it for an alternate means. An example that was presented was Andrea using bedtime stories as a way to calm her children. Another problem is that the level must be suitable for the child and the parents need to keep the activity going by displaying interest, asking suitable questions and relating to the child.

Discussion

The interpersonal interactions occurring in these low-income homes comprise one aspect of the literacy experiences at home. Parents place a high value on educational attainment and support their children by overseeing the completion of their homework assignments and practicing reading with them. Their use of personal resources to support learning in these homes, such as literacy skills and establishing healthy routines, is variable. As outlined in the preceding section, talking and playing with children are not frivolous activities, but ways to help build children's language skills and provide good support for literacy learning. Adult-child language experiences build connections for the child between oral and written modes of expression. Although the parents have ample opportunities to extend literacy through activities such as reading story books, playing together, engaging in everyday routines and modeling literate behaviours, often they fail to recognize opportunities to facilitate naturalistic learning and may miss many teachable moments. In the next section, I discuss the physical environment and how it relates to literacy experiences.