The following section relates in particular to the third research question regarding factors within the family that contribute to family literacy and enculturation of children. I offer two classification systems for family literacy program approaches. First, I present an overview of Morrow and Paratore's (1993) scheme of home-school partnership programs, intergenerational literacy programs, and ethnographic studies of family literacy. The simplicity of this organizational grouping is likely to mask important differences between the programs. Then, I compare and contrast Auerbach's (1995a) scheme of Intervention Prevention, Multiple Literacies and Social Change in terms of how each type of program views the problem, what each one recommends to solve the problem and its notions about power and culture.

Program Approaches to Family Literacy

A literature search revealed a burgeoning body of studies and articles on family literacy program initiatives but, like literacy, there is no agreed upon definition for family literacy (L. M. Morrow et al, 1995) and the programs vary in terms of their purpose, content and who attends. In addition, theoretical underpinnings for programs are often absent (Gadsden, 1994) and there has been little evaluation of the effectiveness of the various initiatives. Auerbach (1989) describes the common transmission of school practices model which promotes parental involvement in supporting school goals. Other programs aim to raise literacy levels by working either with parents alone or together with their children (Philliber, Spillman & King, 1996). Despite the differences in programs, they share the common goal of aiming to enhance literacy within the home (Purcell-Gates, 1993b).

L. M. Morrow and Paratore (1993) recognize the diversity in family literacy programs and suggest a three category classification scheme consisting of home-school partnership programs, intergenerational literacy programs, and ethnographic studies of family literacy. Home-school partnerships are designed to support families' participation in their children's education and usually involve parents in literacy activities which support school-based goals. Inclusion of children in the activities is optional. Intergenerational literacy programs are designed to improve the literacy development of both adults and children. They offer literacy instruction to adults to guide them in helping their children with literacy skills. They may or may not include children. The third category is ethnographic studies of family literacy which involve long-term, detailed investigation of the ways in which literacy beliefs and practices are constructed through the interactions of family members.

Auerbach (1995a) classifies current family literacy programs into the following three categories, although it is clear that they share some overlap: (a) intervention prevention, (b) multiple literacies, and (c) social change. How programs falling under these three categories would view literacy problems, their probable solution, and their varying notions regarding power and culture are summarized in Table 1 on the following page. Auerbach criticizes the first two approaches; she especially abhors the pathologizing medical model that is implicit in the intervention prevention category. She explains that the commonly stated strengths focus is only masking a deficit approach which points fingers at mothers as the source of the problem. Further, she claims that these models perpetuate negative stereotypes of families caught in a vicious cycle from the disease of illiteracy.