Parker (1989) argues that differences between the literacy promoted in the home and that in the school may contribute to difficulty with what he calls schooled literacy. This school-based or school literacy involves reading and writing specific forms of texts and talking about them in ways that are typically prescribed by the school. For example, children may be expected to read trade books in the narrative genre and write about the stories in story-like frames (Pellegrini, Galda, Flor, Bartini & Charak, 1997).

Thomas, Skage and Jackson (1998) add that school-based literacy is often decontextualized and requires students to read, understand and answer questions which may be far removed from the present situation. Freire (1970), the renowned Brazilian literacy theorist and critical educator, deplored the banking concept in traditional school-based literacy instruction. This is the notion of educators depositing knowledge in the minds of students for their future use. Instead, he advocated a form of education which values students' prior knowledge and encourages them to read both the word and the world (Freire, 1987).

Similar to Parker (1989), Polakow (1993) ascribes to the view that deficiencies in the homes of the "undeserving poor" (p. 84) consign them from birth to a world of "otherness" (p. 2). My view is that the purported relationship between reduced resources or promotion of alternate literacies in the home cannot be connected to literacy outcomes in such a simplistic causal manner. I also recognize a strong need to study the sociocultural factors that influence literacy in contemporary society to gain a fuller understanding of this relationship. By sociocultural factors, I refer broadly to the cultural attributes of the population such as their ethnic origin, language or languages spoken, religion, kinship, and belief systems, along with the values, norms and practices of the population. I also acknowledge the close link to socioeconomic factors.