Introduction
Interest in community literacy practices is not new. Its consideration by administrators, schools and teachers has generally been driven by recognition that the literacy experiences of home and community have a significant impact on literacy success at school. But most interest has been in how families and their literacy practices serve school agendas with interest being driven by limited definitions of literacy and at times deficit views of learning (Cairney, 2003). This limited view of the relationship between literacy practices in and out of school has limited many attempts to build stronger relationships between schools and their communities. Prior to the 1980s most interest in non‐school literacy was focussed on how parents support children's print literacy learning and to a limited extent how non‐school literacy Footnote 1has an impact on school literacy learning. This work paid little attention to variation in literacy practices within the community and appeared...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Notes
- 1.
- 2.
There are numerous researchers whose work has contributed to the growing understanding of literacy diversity and its complex relationship to culture, ethnicity and class. See for example Bernstein ( 1964), Halliday ( 1975), Scribner and Cole ( 1981), Harste, Woodward & Burke ( 1984), Street ( 1984), Cook-Gumperz ( 1986), Cazden ( 1988) and Lareau ( 1989).
- 3.
This review does not attempt to address the significant work done in relation to adult literacy and workplace literacy. While each body of work is significant in understanding broader community literacy practices, a full discussion of each is outside the scope of this chapter that focuses primarily on the literacy worlds of children. For an interesting discussion of ‘specialized’ literacy populations and institutions see Quigley ( 2005).
- 4.
See Cairney ( 2000) for a more detailed review of this early work.
- 5.
- 6.
Hall ( 1987) provided one of the earliest syntheses of the emergent literacy research and did much to translate this work into a form that could inform early childhood practice. However, this new view of preschool literacy had its roots in the work of many researchers including Clay ( 1966), Holdaway ( 1979), Wells ( 1982; 1986), Harste, Woodward and Burke ( 1984), Mason and Allen ( 1986), Teale and Sulzby ( 1986).
- 7.
- 8.
The term ‘local literacies’ has been used by Barton and others (see for example, Barton and Hamilton, 1998) to describe the literacy of everyday life. They observed that in everyday lives, people inhabit a textually mediated social world, bringing reading and writing into most activities. For an interesting discussion of ‘heritage’ literacies of immigrant families living literate lives in multiple languages see Maguire, Beer, Attarian, Baygin, Curdt-Christiansen and Yoshida ( 1995).
- 9.
- 10.
The work of Dyson ( 1997) has much to say about these possibilities and how they are realised.
- 11.
One of the seminal works on this topic is the work of Lareau ( 1989).
- 12.
The issue of boy's education and falling literacy standards is a significant issue in its own right. Goldman's ( 2005) key publication provides an overview of this important issue.
References
Auerbach, E.: 1989, ‘Toward a social‐contextual approach to family literacy’, Harvard Educational Review 59, 165–181.
Auerbach, E.: 1995, ‘Which way for family literacy: Intervention or empowerment?’, in L.M. Morrow (ed.), Family Literacy: Connections in Schools and Communities, International Reading Association, Newark.
Bakhtin, M.: 1929/1973, Problems of Dostoevsky's Poetics (translated by R.W. Rotsel, 1973), Ardis, Ann Arbor.
Barton, D.: 1994, Literacy: An Introduction to the Ecology of Written Language, Blackwell Publishers, Oxford.
Barton, D. and Hamilton, M.: 1998, Local Literacies: Reading and Writing in One Community, Routledge, London.
Bernstein, B.: 1964, ‘Aspects of language and learning in the genesis of the social process’, in D. Hymes (ed.), Language in Culture and Society, Harper & Row, New York.
Breen, M.P., Louden, W., Barrat‐Pugh, C., Rivalland, J., Rohl, M., Rhydwen, M., Lloyd, S., and Carr, T.: 1994, Literacy in its Place: Literacy Practices in Urban and Rural Communities (Volumes 1 & 2), DEET, Canberra.
Bruner, J.: 1983, Child's Talk: Learning to Use Language, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Bruner, J.: 1986, Actual Minds, Possible Worlds, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.
Cairney, T.H. and Munsie, L.: 1992, Beyond Tokenism: Parents as Partners in Literacy, Heinemann, Portsmouth, NH.
Cairney, T.H.: 2000, ‘Beyond the classroom walls: The rediscovery of the family and community as partners in education’, Educational Review 52(2), 163–174.
Cairney, T.H.: 2003, ‘Literacy in family life’, in N. Hall, Larson Marsh (eds.), J. Handbook of Early Childhood Literacy, SAGE Publications, London, 85–98.
Cairney, T.H. and Ruge, J.: 1998, Community Literacy Practices and Schooling: Towards Effective Support for Students, DEETYA, Sydney.
Cairney, T.H., Ruge, J., Buchanan, J., Lowe, K., and Munsie, L.: 1995, Developing Partnerships: The Home, School and Community Interface (Volumes 1–3), DEET, Canberra.
Cazden, C.: 1988, Classroom Discourse, Heinemann, Portsmouth (NH).
Clammer, J.: 1976, Literacy and Social Change: A Case Study of Fiji, Leiden, Brill.
Clay, M.: 1966, Emergent Reading Behaviour, Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Auckland.
Cope, B. and Kalantzis, M. (eds.): 2000, Multiliteracies: Literacy Learning and the Design of Social Futures, Macmillan Publishers Australia Pty Ltd., Melbourne.
Cook‐Gumperz, J.: 1986, The Social Construction of Literacy, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Crawford, P.: 1995, ‘Early literacy: Emerging perspectives’, Journal of Research in Childhood Education 10(1), 71–86.
Cummins, J.: 1986, ‘Empowering minority students: A framework for intervention’, Harvard Educational Review 56, 18–36.
Department of Education and Science: 1967, Children and heir Primary Schools: A Report of the Central Advisory Council for Education (England) Vol. 1: Report & Vol 2: Research and Surveys (Plowden Report), HMSO, London.
Department of Education, Science & Training: 2000, The National Indigenous English Literacy and Numeracy Strategy, Department of Science, Education & Training, Canberra.
Deyhle, D. and LeCompte, M.: 1994, ‘Cultural differences in child development: Navajo adolescents in middle schools’, Theory into Practice 33, 3, 156–166.
Duranti, A. and Ochs, E.: 1986, ‘Literacy instruction in a Samoan village’, in B. Schieffelin P. Gilmore (eds.), The Acquisition of Literacy: Ethnographic Perspectives, Volume 21, Ablex Publishing Corporation, Norwood (NJ), 213–232.
Dyson, A.H.: 1997, Writing Superheroes: Contemporary Childhood, Popular Culture and Classroom Literacy, Teachers College Press, New York.
Foster, M.: 1992, ‘Sociolinguistics and the African‐American Community: Implications for Literacy’, Theory into Practice 31, 4.
Freebody, P., Ludwig, C., and Gunn, S.: 1995, Everyday Literacy Practices in and Out of Schools in Low Socio‐Economic Status Urban Communities: A Descriptive and Interpretive Research Program, DEETYA, Canberra.
Freire, P. and Macedo, D.: 1987, Literacy: Reading the Word and the World, Bergin & Garvey; Massachusetts.
Gee, J.: 1990, Social Linguistics and Literacies: Ideology in Discourses, The Falmer Press, London.
Goldman, R.: 2005, Father's Involvement in their Education: A Review of Research and Practice, National Family and Parenting Institute, London.
Gray, B.: 1985, ‘Teaching oral English’, in M. Christie (ed.), Aboriginal Perspectives on Experience and Learning, Deakin University Press, Geelong.
Gray, B.: 1990, ‘Natural language learning in Aboriginal classrooms: Reflections on teaching and learning style for empowerment in English’, in C. Walton W. Eggington (eds.), Language Maintenance, Power and Education in Australian Aboriginal Contexts, NTU Press, Darwin.
Gumperz, J.: 1986, Discourse Strategies, Cambridge University Press, New York.
Halliday, M.A.K.: 1975, Learning How to Mean: Explorations in the Development of Language, Edward Arnold, London.
Hall, N.: 1987, The Emergence of Literacy, Hodder & Stoughton, London.
Harris, S.: 1980, Culture and Learning: Tradition and Education in Northern Arnhem Land, Professional Services Branch, Northern Territory Education Department, Darwin.
Harris, S.: 1984, ‘Aboriginal learning styles and formal schooling’, Aboriginal Child at School 12, 4, 3–22.
Harste, J., Woodward, V., and Burke, C.: 1984, Language Stories and Literacy Lessons, Heinemann, Portsmouth (NH).
Heath, S.B.: 1983, Ways with Words: Language, Life and Work in Community and Classrooms. Cambridge (UK): Cambridge University Press.
Hill, S, Comber, B, Louden, W., Rivalland, J., and Reid, J.: 1998, 100 Children Go to School, Volume 2, Department of Employment, Education, Training & Youth Affairs, Canberra.
Holdaway, D.: 1979, The Foundations of Literacy, Ashton Scholastic, Sydney.
Hull, G. and Schultz, K. (eds.): 2002, School's Out: Bridging Out‐of‐School Literacies with Classroom Practice, Teachers College Press, New York.
Hymes, D.: 1974, The Foundations of Sociolinguistics: Sociolinguistic Ethnography, University of Philadelphia Press, Philadelphia.
Kress, G.: 2003, Literacy in the New Media, London, Routledge.
Kress, G. and van Leeuwen, T.: 2001, Multimodal Discourse, London, Arnold.
Kress, G., Jewitt, C., Ogborn, J., and Tsatsarelis, C.: 2001, Multimodal Teaching and Learning. The Rhetorics of the Science Classroom, London, Continuum.
Lareau, A.: 1989, Home Advantage: Social Class and Parental Intervention in Elementary Education, The Falmer Press, London.
Locust, C.: 1988, Wounding the spirit: Discrimination and traditional American belief systems. Harvard Educational Review, 55, 3, 315–330.
Lemke, J.: 2002, ‘Travels in hypermodality’, Visual Communication 1, 3, 229–325.
Louden, W. and Rivalland, J.: 1995, Literacy at a Distance, Department of Education Training & Employment, Canberra.
Luke, A.: 1988, Literacy, Textbooks and Ideology, Falmer Press, Brighton, UK.
Maguire, M., Beer, A., Attarian, H., Baygin, D., Curdt‐Christiansen, X.L., and Yoshida, R.: 1995, ‘The chameleon character of multilingual literacy portraits: Re‐searching in “Heritage” language places and spaces’, in J. Anderson, M. Kendrick, T. Rogers, S. Smythe (eds.), Portraits of Literacy across Families, Communities and Schools, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, NJ, 141–170.
McCarty, T.L.: 1987, ‘School as Community: The Rough Rock Demonstration’, Harvard Educational Review 59, 4, 484–503.
McNaughton, S.: 1995, Patterns of Emergent Literacy, Oxford University Press, Melbourne.
Malin, M.: 1990, ‘The visibility and invisibility of Aboriginal students in an urban classroom’, Australian Journal of Education 34, 3, 312–329.
Mason, J.M. and Allen, J.: 1986, A Review of Emergent Literacy with Implications for Research and Practice in Reading, Center for the Study of Reading, Champaign, IL.Technical Report No. 379,
Mattingley, C.: 1992, ‘The authenticity of aboriginal English’, in D. Myers (ed.), The Great Literacy Debate, Australian Scholarly Publishing, Kew.
Moll, L.: 1992, ‘Literacy research in community and classrooms: A sociocultural approach’, in R. Beach, J.L. Green, M.L. Kamil, T. Shanahan (eds.), Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Literacy Research, National Council of Teachers of English, Urbana, IL, 179–207.
Moll, L.: 1993, ‘Community‐mediated educational practices’, paper presented at the American Educational Research Association Annual Conference.
Moll, L., Amanti, C., Neff, D., and Gonzalez, N.: 1992, ‘Funds of knowledge for teaching: Using a qualitative approach to connect homes and classrooms’, Theory into Practice 31, 2, 132–141.
Munns, G., Simpson, L., Connelly, J., and Townsend, T.: 1999, ‘ “ Baiyai ‘… meeting place of two parties…' ” (Wiradjuri)’: The Pedagogical Literacy Relationship’, in Australian Journal of Language and Literacy 22, 2, 147–164.
Nickse, R.: 1993, ‘A typology of family and intergenerational literacy programmes; Implications for evaluation’, Viewpoints 15, 34–40.
Phillips, S.: 1983, The Invisible Culture: communication in classroom and community on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation, Longman, New York.
Quigley, B.A.: 2005, ‘ “First we must dream. Nothing is harder”: Toward a discourse on literacy across the life span’, in J. Anderson, M. Kendrick, T. Rogers, S. Smythe (eds.), Portraits of Literacy across Families, Communities and Schools, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, NJ, 321–337.
Rogoff, B.: 1990, Apprenticeship in Thinking: Cognitive Development in Social Context, Oxford University Press, New York.
Scribner, S. and Cole, M.: 1981, The Psychology of Literacy, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.
Solsken, J.W.: 1993, Literacy, Gender and Work: In Families and in Schools, Ablex Publishing Corporation, Norwood, NJ.
Street, B.: 1984, Literacy in Theory and Practice, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Street, B. (ed.): 1993, Cross‐cultural Approaches to Literacy, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Street, B.: 1995, Social Literacies: Critical Approaches to Literacy Development, Ethnography and Education, Longman, London.
Street, B., Baker, D., and Tomlin, A.: 2005, Navigating Numeracies: Home/School Numeracy Practices, Kluwer, Dordrecht.
Taylor, D.: 1983, Family Literacy: Young Children Learning to Read and Write, Heinemann, Portsmouth (NH).
Taylor, D. and Dorsey‐Gaines, C.: 1988, Growing Up Literate: Learning from Inner City Families, Heinemann, Portsmouth (NH).
Teale, W. and Sulzby, E.: 1986, Emergent Literacy: Writing and Reading, Ablex, Norwood (NJ).
Tizard, J., Schofield, W., and Hewison, J.: 1982, ‘Collaboration between teachers and parents in assisting children's reading’, British Journal of Educational Psychology 52, 1–15.
Vygotsky, L.: 1978, Mind and society: The Development of Higher Mental Processes, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.
Wells, C.G.: 1982, ‘Some antecedents of early educational attainment’, British Journal of Sociology of Education 2, 181–200.
Wells, G.: 1986, The Meaning Makers, Heinemann, Portsmouth (NH).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2008 Springer Science+Business Media LLC
About this entry
Cite this entry
Cairney, T.H. (2008). Community Literacy Practices and Education: Australia. In: Hornberger, N.H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Language and Education. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-30424-3_46
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-30424-3_46
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-0-387-32875-1
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-30424-3
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and Law