Focusing on the socio-cultural aspects of literacy, the book explores the home and school experiences of children through detailed case studies of six families. It highlights how cultural contexts shape literacy practices, offering insights into the diverse ways children engage with reading and writing in their lives.
The book emphasizes the importance of integrating minority beliefs into literacy education, advocating for a deeper cultural understanding. It calls for a critical analysis of conventional instructional methods to ensure they are inclusive and representative of diverse perspectives. Through this approach, the author aims to enhance educational practices and promote equity in literacy learning for all students.
Focusing on four Chinese immigrant children's intersecting worlds of home literacy, culture, and schooling, Guofang Li brings the reader into the inner worlds of these children and their families through an ethnographic lens. Centering on the meanings that these children's home literacy practices and their beliefs about literacy have brought upon their school experiences, this book documents the complex, multifaceted nature of the different literacy practices of these children in their distinct family milieus. Li highlights the role of culture and family capital in shaping home literacy practices and schooling. The illustrations of the varied, but often frustrating home experiences counteract the schooled, Eurocentric notion of literacy that may constrain and contradict immigrant children's learning outside of schools.