Greer (2001) indicates that although women dominate the literacy field, there is a role for males in literacy development, particularly with boys. She points out that men can serve as important role models for boys and can provide early literacy experiences. Greer than predicts that if young boys have these models of their gender, they will become more interested in reading and there will be a rise in their interest level for books and in their reading ability. She highlighted also how young boys will follow not only the positive, but also the negative response of a father to books and reading and programs that involve men.

School Aspect

With regards to an elaboration of the school aspect of the present study, spending longer periods of time in each classroom over an extended period throughout the school year would be helpful for gaining more insight into school practices. Although the interactions in the present study were revealing, there are areas that I feel could have been more fully explored if time had permitted. For example, I would like to know more about the teacher negotiating the literacy the child brings to class and how literacy is integrated into the curriculum. Another area for elaboration is how the teacher incorporates relevant meaningful literacy with the students, while keeping in mind the curriculum objectives.

The inclusion of younger, kindergarten level, and older, middle and high school students would be one way to determine if the same influences operate in these classes as in the primary grades, or if other factors emerge that should be examined. Since the school context plays an important role in this study, a greater variation in data might be obtained by including schools in urban and rural settings and looking at more teachers of both genders at various stages in their careers, from very first years of teaching, to mid–career and veteran teachers nearing retirement.