Family Literacy

The field of family literacy unites principles from early childhood and adult literacy for a whole-family learning effort. Although research in the domain of family literacy has a history of about 20 years, what is striking is the absence of a solid theoretical framework on which interventions may be based (Gadsen, 1994). Early work was not embedded within a theoretical framework, and was often poorly conceptualized. Further, in my literature review, I could not find convincing evidence that learning was enhanced, that students progress further in their education, or that they achieve more in life as a result of exposure to one particular program approach over another.

I now offer a cursory historical review of family literacy and synthesize results into a summary of what is and is not known in the field. As Thomas (2001) points out, "issues related to defining family literacy are fundamental to an understanding of underlying assumptions that drive decision making about program models and instructional practice" (p.171). The summary is followed by a look at family literacy program approaches and two classification schemes to highlight the controversy in approaches. Then, I discuss related research where cultural issues and context are central to expose the gaps in the research and to help develop questions for future research. Since family literacy is still relatively new and unknown, research with school age children, and particularly with a focus on members of low-income families, is scarce.