Critique of the Research on Family Literacy

The foregoing discussion lends support to the direction of my research questions. I have pointed out the significance of context variables and a social dimension in viewing individuals as situated within the social world. A primary premise of my research questions, backed by a divergent body of literature, is the importance of culture. Delgado-Gaitan (1994) stresses the necessity of critically examining the various notions of literacy and the socializing of children to mainstream culture. Clearly, education's dominant discourse represents power relations and social formations that are the products of history and culture (Stuckey, 1991).

In striving to understand family literacy, the various ways that social and familial situations may impinge upon literacy and the way institutional practices may exacerbate those influences must be critically examined. There may be benefits in looking beyond the individual to consider how institutions structure experiences of students and how work, along with neighborhoods and interpersonal factors may have an impact on individual achievement. It behooves educators to become better informed about the contexts in which children live (Harman, 1987) to help them to augment the various ways that children are enculturated into the literacy practices. Without considering some of the social realities and cultural characteristics that may be influential in the lives of students, institutional practices may contribute to, or indeed create, greater discrepancies in academic and literacy outcomes (Auerbach, 1989).

At this point, it is perhaps a good idea to pause and enter an important caveat regarding the dangers of such surveillance for those with little or no power over their lives. While it is true that knowing about family situations may help educators understand why children are having certain problems, there is also a danger in knowing too much or at least certain things. Those who are on the receiving end of such inquiries may see the intrusions as just more regulation of their lives, which are already regulated by social service agencies and others.