Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The Home-School Connection To Language and Literacy Development
The Home-School Connection To Language and Literacy Development
Family Literacy
Most parents are very interested in supporting their children’s skills in reading and writing at
home. If parents know the advantages of particular activities for their children, they may be more
likely to facilitate those experiences (Edwards, 1995). The significance of home literacy
practices cannot be understated (Payne, Whitehurst, & Angell, 1994). One study of Mexican
American preschoolers found that the home literacy environment had a greater impact on literacy
skills than many other factors, such as the home-school relationship, family composition, and
family history (Ezell, Gonzalez, & Randolph, 2000). A number of specific activities have been
found to contribute to a child’s home literacy environment. These include
We often find, however, that the culture of educators and the school is different from that of the
family. Sociolinguistic context can include different ideas and values related to how children
learn, relationships between families and educators, and home literacy practices. In these cases,
educators need to make a conscious effort to engage families in ways that do not communicate
messages that parenting skills are judged negatively or perceived as inadequate. Perceptions by
families that they are being judged negatively may simply be the result of divergent perspectives
emerging from interactions with educators, but these perceptions can quickly become reality for
families. The following are conversational tips to help avoid the potential alienation of adult
family members:
● Limit use of school jargon and acronyms (e.g., IEP, SAT, SBAC, CCSS).
Approaching conversations with family members in this way will contribute to more positive
feelings toward the school and educators, and helps reduce negative or adversarial perceptions.
The whole point is creating a partnership to support children based upon mutual respect between
family and school. How we talk and interact with families is where this begins.
At many schools, families are present and bustling throughout the building at the beginning and
end of every school day. This is even more true in urban environments where young children
frequently walk to school. The hallway workshop is a family engagement experience that
strategically occurs directly when and where families are most likely to be found. The hallway
workshop is designed to be a brief 10–15 minute conversation. Adults are individually invited to
participate in a manner that is intentionally planned as nonthreatening and low stakes.
Disseminating information is not the primary purpose of the conversation, rather it is to promote
a personal connection. The educator’s conversational role is that of advocate and active listener
in an interaction framed from this perspective. Developing the capacity of families to support
home literacy will hopefully be an associated outcome of this interpersonal exchange.
The invitation comes in the form of a complimentary gift offered as adults pass the teacher’s
table in the hallway. The gift is a book available for them to take home and share with their
child. It is inside a folder that contains an assortment of materials to use with the text. These
Family Literacy Toolkits each contain: the book, a dry erase marker, highlighter, and laminated
worksheets that include an alphabet chart, basic sight word lists, and lined paper. The teacher has
a casual conversation with the adults about how they can use these resources to read with their
child at home. The importance of language and literacy at home is discussed as well as the
principle that they are their child's first teacher. This principle is particularly important for
families of English language learners because we want to promote the native language as an
essential resource in the academic growth of the child. Native language exchanges between
parent and child: (1) extend dialogue, (2) prompt questioning, and (3) expand vocabulary, which
Impact
The hallway workshops had an immediate impact on all stakeholders. They increased the
frequency and quality of conversations between family members and teachers. More adults are
now engaged in positive interactions with the school and are supporting literacy behaviors at
home with their children. As a result of the hallway workshops, adults that participated in
previous weeks now take the initiative of bringing other adults to the table. The unsolicited
feedback from families has been extremely positive.
The toolkit materials are presented as simple tools that families can use to teach their children at
home just like teachers do at school. Family members confirm the success of this objective. They
note how they use the materials with their children, that their child wants to “play” like they do
in school, and that the activities motivate their child to want to read books at home. These first
steps, established in the context of warm and supportive conversations at school, hold the
promise of developing even stronger home literacy practices over time.
References
Edwards, P. A. (1995). Combining parents’ and teachers’ thoughts about storybook reading at
home and school. In L. M. Morrow (Ed.), Family literacy: Connections in schools and
communities (pp. 54–69). New Brunswick, NJ: International Reading Association.
Ezell, H. K., Gonzales, M. D., & Randolph, E. (2000). Emergent literacy skills of migrant
Mexican American preschoolers. Communication Disorders Quarterly, 21(3), 147–153.
Frijters, J. C., Barron, R. W., & Brunello, M. (2000). Direct and mediated influences of home
literacy and literacy interest on prereaders’ oral vocabulary and early written language skill.
Journal of Educational Psychology, 92, 466–477.
Payne, A. C., Whitehurst, G. J., & Angell, A. L. (1994). The role of home literacy environment
in the development of language ability in preschool children from low-income families.
Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 9(3-4), 427–440.
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Dr. Teresita Galarza is a veteran educator in the Hartford Public Schools, a former principal
and district administrator, and a specialist in second language acquisition and bilingual
education. Her doctoral research focused on classroom conversational interactions and their
impact on language development and academic performance. Current research focuses on
literacy and family engagement. Dr. Galarza facilitates professional learning on language and
literacy development for educators in Connecticut and Massachusetts.