Poverty and Literacy

Shalla and Schellenberg (1998) point out that some literacy researchers ascribe to a cultural deficit theory of literacy to account for variations in literacy performance and academic achievement. In this body of research, the focus is on the culture of poverty perspective and its proponents hold to the belief that there is a strong correlation between poverty and low levels of literacy. According to this view, children from low-income homes are destined for low achievement since it is felt that their home environments do not provide the types of literacy-enhancing experiences, values and attitudes that are important for school success. Willms (1997a; 1997b) shows that Canadian youth from less advantaged financial backgrounds perform poorer in literacy skills than those raised in better financial conditions, while Chaney (1994) cites American research to support the claim that fewer than half of young adults who were raised in financially disadvantaged homes achieve more than a basic literacy level.

B. Hart and Risley (1995) contrast the literacy experiences of children growing up in poverty circumstances, in middle class homes, and in homes with professional parents. Their findings reveal that all children have social interactions with family members and are surrounded everyday by language. The difference was not in the kind of experience, but rather in the frequency. They found that parents who were professionals spent 50 percent more time talking to their preschool children than those parents who were on welfare. Since children who are economically disadvantaged have less opportunities, they learn significantly fewer words and have restricted vocabularies when compared to their peers from middle class homes or those with professional parents.