Family Literacy Programs

Paper Summary:

This research paper discusses a study to identify best practices for the effective delivery of educational services to English literacy learning students using a family literacy program approach. The paper comments that the challenges of educating students who do not speak a societal language are enormous and that educating such students is not just a question of teaching English: It is rather a question of providing large numbers of students with access to the curriculum at the same time that they are learning English. The paper uses a five-chapter format to discuss questions related to the topic with the fifth chapter providing a summary of the research, salient conclusions and recommendations.

Outline:
Introduction
Review of Literature
Design of the Study
Summary And Recapitulation Of Main Themes

From the Paper:

"The day when a third of America was plagued by apartheid is long gone of course, and "white-only" waiting rooms and drinking fountains are a nasty thing of the past. Today, a black man and a white woman are candidates for the presidency of the United States, and it is clear that although much remains to be done, much has been accomplished in the last five decades to advance the rights of women and African Americans. In fact, there may come a day when blacks and white find themselves at a distinct disadvantage because of shifting demographic patterns in the U.S., and sharing a common language and a common - albeit shameful in some cases -- legacy will bring them closer together in the face of these multicultural trends. Even together, though, blacks and whites may be faced with a new United States in the mid-20th century where Spanish is the predominate language in a majority of the states of the union, and they will be seeking out family literacy programs to help them survive in this new environment just as ELL learners are doing today. Given these trends, it is clearly in the best interests of an increasingly polyglot nation to ensure that everyone can communicate, and the English-only initiatives springing up across the country will not solve the problem. What is needed is a more informed view of the problem by mainstream Americans, particularly since they or their children may well find themselves in the ELL predicament sooner than they might think. All in all, family literacy programs were shown to just be good business. These programs provide an enormous return on their investment, and because the investment is in the nation's future, they are also the right thing to do today to help ensure the viability of a different America in the coming years."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Abedi, J., & Dietel, R. (2004). Challenges in the No Child Left Behind Act for English-language learners. Phi Delta Kappan, 85(10), 782.
• Babbie, E. (1992). The practice of social research. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing.
• Eakle, A. J. (2003). A content analysis of second-language research in the Reading Teacher and Language Arts, 1990-2001. The Reading Teacher, 56(8), 828.
• Escamilla, K., Chavez, L., & Vigil, P. (2005). Rethinking the 'gap': High-stakes testing and Spanish-speaking students in Colorado. Journal of Teacher Education, 56(2), 132.
• Farr, M. (2004). Latino language and literacy in ethnolinguistic Chicago. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

More papers on Family Literacy Programs:

• Research Proposal # 106070 : "Family Literacy Programs to Help ELL Students"
• Research Proposal # 106517 : "Literacy Program Study"
• Research Paper # 143117 : "Literacy Inquiry"

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