Minda Berbeco
76-100m Argument
Sauer
12/6/96
Literacy and Social Class
One of the more controversial causes of lower academic achievement within the American educational system is social class. David Harris et. al in their article "Race, Social Class, Expectation and Achievement" argued that "the biggest differences, with regard to academic achievement, have been and will probably continue to be caused by class differences." (Harris 215). Better instruction and smaller classes are just two of the advantages wealthier students have over their less fortunate peers (Harris 215). It is true that money has an effect on literacy in the amount of resources parents can afford to accommodate their children with. Wealthier families are bound to spend more money on computers, paper, writing implements, "books, newspapers, magazines and experiences that enrich literacy such as travel" (Chaney 390). It should be noted, though, that there are other causes. The two that will be discussed in this paper are social environment and race as they affect the development of literacy.
It was recognized by researchers Susan Smith and Rhonda Dixon that children from economically poor families were failing to acquire literacy skills comparable to those of their middle-class peers (Smith and Dixon 243). They set out to test 64 preschoolers on the differences between the academic abilities of middle-class and low-income children. The abilities tested were as follows: recognizing environmental print, identifying literacy artifacts, describing the functions of literacy objects, and recognizing readable print (244). The research also included a questionnaire to be filled out by the primary care-giver. This questionnaire included questions that were meant to reflect the amount and quality of the "literacy experiences" in the home (247). The results showed that the majority of the low-income preschoolers fell below the average in almost all forms of literacy tested, whereas their middle-class counterparts rarely did as poorly (248-9). The questionnaire results explained the poor test scores of the low-income children. "During the first 4 years of life, young children of poor parents are generally read to less often and have fewer meaningful interactions with printed materials than middle-class children do" (248). In the questionnaires, 74% of the middle-class parents said that they read to their children daily, "whereas an almost equal number of low-income parents reported reading no more than once a week to their children" (247). Most of the low-income parents said they did not read a daily newspaper or magazine (247). Books that could be found in the low-income houses generally consisted of adult matter, such as the bible (247). The parents' low emphasis on early literacy skills combined with a lack of child-intriguing books is suggested by this study to be one of the major causes of the low literacy rate found in low-income homes.
There were eight children in this study, whose scores did not match those of their peers within their social class. These children enabled Chaney to further prove the correlation between literacy encouragement in the home and academic ability. In this study five middle-class children were found to score poorly on the test. After studying the parent questionnaires, it was evident why: Smith and Dixon found that these children all lacked frequent storybook reading, and had limited interactions with their parents during story time. Similar to the low-income families, these middle-class homes lacked books that would interest children. There were also three low-income children who were found to have extremely high academic ability; the questionnaires filled out by the parents of these preschoolers "revealed homes with impressive literacy practices." (Smith and Dixon 248). The parents reported that they read to their children daily from eleven to thirty minutes or more. Even more fascinating was the philosophy shared by these parents; all three parents believed that literacy did not start in school, but rather in the home. Just because children could not read letters, did not mean they could not recognize them and conceptualize other ideas (248). This study shows the importance of parents promoting literacy to their preschoolers. Literacy activities and parent interaction help in supporting the growth of literacy skills before a child even reaches elementary school.
A second study done by Carolyn Chaney, came up with similar results. Chaney, though similarly interested with literacy development and economic class, focused her study more strongly on "metalinguistic awareness" as literacy developed in young children. Chaney defines metalinguistic awareness as the "ability to think explicitly about structural features of language and to focus on the forms of the language separately from the meanings" (Chaney 372). She believed there are "three domains of metalinguistic awareness: phonological awareness, word awareness, and structural (syntactic) awareness" (372). Chaney was in agreement with Smith as to the effects of the primary care-giver's literacy on a child's developing literacy skills, but took the concept further. In Smith's study, it was found that of the low-income mothers questioned, 56% had earned a high school diploma or the equivalent, but none had earned a college degree (Smith and Dixon 244). In Chaney's study, she found that the primary care-giver's educational level was directly related to their child's metalinguistic scores at age 4. She also found that social background accounted for a large portion of the variance in the children's reading and spelling at age 6. Chaney notes that not only has "reading achievement ... been associated with oral vocabulary, grammatical knowledge and phonological processing", but "metalinguistic awareness ...(is also)... positively correlated with reading achievement" (Chaney 372). Family interviews were also taken in this study; these revealed that family literacy not only affects the literacy skills of the children, but is also strongly related to oral language development and print awareness. We can conclude from these studies that without practice, a child's literacy development will move at a much slower pace than that of a child who is exposed to literacy daily.
Such literacy matters are often more than just an issue of economic class. Often class and race combine to create a new literacy issue. A specific combined minority race and social class that encounters literacy problems are Hispanic Americans within the lower-class. Though the Hispanic American population is both economically and educationally diverse, a majority of this population remains poorly educated (Ascher 1). It should be noted that Spanish dominance in the home is neither the focus of this paper, nor the cause of low academic achievement (Ascher 2). Low academic achievement can be more readily attributed to the lower social class many Hispanics live in: "The lower socioeconomic and educational level ...has been shown to correlate with low test performance regardless of ethnicity" (Ascher 3).
It should be noted that a large percentage of Hispanic high school seniors are enrolled in vocational or general programs (Ascher1). This has been credited to many things, including lack of interest in courses offered, alienation, poor teaching and differences in family life (Ascher 1). Carol Ascher surveyed several lower-class Hispanic students to research why many tend to fail academically. Ascher's research found that students with low academic achievement had no place to study in the home and lacked parental interest in their education (Ascher 2). These two factors create an atmosphere in the home where literacy is not emphasized, and as a result is not as readily learned by the children.
The largest issue confronting minority students seems to be conscious or unconscious racism created in the classroom by the teachers (Harris 216). Although racism from any source will affect a student, "it is the covert low expectations of the educator who has direct contact with the student that are more influential" (Harris 216). Studies have shown that teachers' negative attitudes and lower expectations of minority students all contribute to a lower-quality classroom experience for Hispanic students (Ascher 2). These low expectations result in "watered down curriculum" which neither motivates nor interests the students (Ascher 2). Teachers who do not expect minorities to perform as well as their white peers, create obstructions in the literacy process of these students. Often, one of the major results of teachers' racism, is a "self-fulfilling prophesy" students create for themselves (Ascher 2). This "self-fulfilling prophesy" is one of the major causes of minority failure in literacy. When tested, students often portray this self-fulfilled prophesy rather than their true academic talents. We can not improve the "quality and accessibility (of education) for one ethnic group without doing so for all" (Harris 215). It is suggested that in order for change to occur within the school system, it has to be started as early as in nursery school.
David Harris et al. bring up the important concepts of internal vs. external control, as two ways students react to racism found in the classroom. "Internal control" is when a student feels in control of his or her fate, in this case education (Harris 216-217). "External control" is when a student does not feel in control of their destiny, and allows for racism to conduct their education, obstructing their ability to learn. Internally controlled people consider themselves as strong, motivated, and independent, while externally controlled individuals often consider themselves as incompetent and useless (Harris 216). Studies have shown that minorities and low-income students who fail in literacy are more externally controlled than the middle-class and whites (Harris 216-217).
In a study performed by Julian Rotter, it was found that subjects who believed their success was based on skill (internally controlled), worked harder than externally controlled individuals in order to improve (Rotter in Gray 597). Subjects who believed their success was based on luck (externally controlled), did not work as hard and as a result did not improve (597). Rotter based his definitions on a reward system rather than a psychological theory. He believed that externally controlled individuals relied too much on outside forces for rewards, rather than relying on themselves (598). To prove his theory further, Rotter developed a questionnaire to compare externally controlled subjects to their internally controlled peers. He found that in general, internally controlled individuals were less anxious and more content with their lives (598). This can be attributed mainly to their ability to believe in their own skills and capabilities.
There are several solutions to these many issues surrounding literacy and social class. The most obvious solution is for parents to promote literacy in the home. As research has shown, economic class is secondary to the emphasis a family puts on literacy. Playing word and rhyming games before entering school can be one of the many ways to encourage a child's literacy. Other solutions include making writing implements (paper and markers) more accessible to children; parent-child interaction during story time; and having the child witness her or his parents taking part in literacy activities. Parents who take responsibility for their children's early literacy by promoting it in the home, will have highly literate children. A second solution is for schools to be more efficient in spotting the literacy problem areas of its students. "In our society school is supposed to be the great homogenizer" (Gray 469). Unfortunately varying literacy backgrounds result in the separation of students by social class. The school's responsibility is to give extra support to those students who have been denied early literacy activities by their parents (Chaney 390). The sooner students coming from poor literacy backgrounds are spotted, the more help a school can supply. The last solution is for children, when older, to create a positive self-concept and resist the external controls racism and classism have on their education. The studies have shown that though inequalities between race and economic class exist, supported students with strong literary backgrounds in the home are the ones most likely to succeed.
Work Cited
Ascher, Carol. Helping Hispanics Students to Complete High School and Enter College. National Institute of Education, 1984. ERIC ED252637.
Chaney, Carolyn. "Language Development, Metalinguistic Awareness, and Emergent Literacy Skills of 3-year-old Children in Relation to Social Class." Applied Psycholinguistics, No. 15 (1994), pp. 371-394.
Gray, Peter. Psychology. New York: Worth Publishers, 1994.
Harris, David T. and Joseph L Amphrey Jr. "Race, Social Class, Expectation and Achievement." The Rise and Fall of National Test Scores. Ed. Gilbert R. Austin and Herbert Garber. New York: Academic Press Inc., 1982, pp. 215-221.
Smith, Susan S. and Rhonda Dixon. "Literacy Concepts of Low- and Middle-class 4-year-olds Entering Preschool." Journal of Educational Research, No. 88 (1995), pp. 243-253.