The term multiliteracies was coined in 1996 by a group of leading educators from the United States, Great Britain and Australia who called themselves the New London Group. Multiliteracies refers to a new combined approach to literacy pedagogy that includes a broader conception of literacies which emphasizes participation and a multiplicity of discourses to address the range in cultural and linguistic diversity in society (New London Group, 1996). The term discourse was explained in Chapter 1. In brief, discourses are sets of social practices that help regulate subjective life. Primary discourses are learned in the home while secondary discourses are attached to institutions. This approach to literacy goes beyond the use of traditional print to place emphasis on visual and media literacies of learners and recognizes how meaning is made in ways that are often multimodal.

Having discussed the definitions of literacy and problems in defining the term, I now turn to a historical overview of the family literacy movement, tracing its development back to initiatives designed to support families. Below, in the historical review, I highlight what was happening in North America including programs and legislation, while providing a cursory overview of other initiatives elsewhere in the world. This is followed by a review of program approaches, a look at sociocultural contexts for literacy learning and a discussion of Auerbach's socio-contextual family literacy model. The relevant research reviewed on family literacy includes a focus on poverty and family interactions in low-income homes.

Following the literature review, I discuss the conceptual context I chose as a framework for understanding the research questions for my study. This includes a critical theory stance based on principles from the Frankfurt School to show how literacy is social, political and economic in nature and social reproduction theory with Bourdieu's concepts of cultural capital and habitus as useful points of reference for discussing how literacy learning is embedded in cultural contexts. Finally, I conclude the chapter with an emerging framework in which I offer a broad conceptualization of family literacy.