Thus, individuals establish their habitus as learners from multiple influences in their own environment. This may involve adopting values of the culture to which they are exposed. Important in this is the effect of experiences and prior knowledge to motivate and offer the individual access to literacy and a sense of either power or powerlessness.

In the next section on Sociocultural Context, I highlight how individuals are socialized into their culture and values. Sleeter (1996) and later Nagle (1999) argue that individuals become entrenched in the dominant cultural milieu through public social institutions such as schools, as well as the media. In addition, faith organizations, such as churches, cannot be overlooked since they may also play a significant role in socializing individuals to literate ways.

Sociocultural Context

Similar to Auerbach's (1989) socio-contextual approach that incorporates family, culture, and community, I place the individual within a family recognizing the family as a primary focus and a social context. This position is represented by the circle labeled Sociocultural Context on the bottom left in Figure 2. Each individual is interdependent on others within the sociocultural context and affected by variables related to social and family conditions. They may interact with others in their family unit and are influenced by the family literacy practices, cultural capital, as well as by various economic factors, social conditions and cultural beliefs.