Literacy Resources: How Preschoolers Interact with Written Communication. Final Report (original) (raw)

This ethnographic, longitudinal study investigates .the home literacy experiences of-low income children to gain insight into why such children generally do not learn to readand write as well as middle clasi children. Participating were 24 children, approximately 2.5 to 3.5 years of age, in groups equally divided by sex.-Subjects were from three ethnic groups: Anglo-, Black-, and-Mexican-American. identify the sources of those life experiences leading-to the development of literacy, extensi'Va_naturalistic home observations were made for periods ranging/ from 3 to 18 months. Observer-participants taking field notes described literacy events; specifically focusing-on actions, the contexts of events, par cipants, co-occurring/alternating. events, reasons events ended, and subsequent activities. Over 1,400 literacy events were recorded and analyzed; both qualitative and quantitative analyses were made. In the quantitative analysis, the independent variable was ethnicity. The literacy' event, the original dependent variable, was differentiated into two quantitative and three qualitative components. Quantitative components included duration and frequency of,literacy events; qualitative components were participant-structure, lesson content, and context. Manytranscriptions of literacy events are provided in the text, anc results and their impliCations are extensively disdussed. A coding manual, the Literacy Event Observation System, is appended. (RH)