If asked to identify which children rank lowest in relation to
national educational norms, have higher school dropout and absence
rates, and more commonly experience learning problems, few of us
would know the answer: white, urban Appalachian children. These are
the children and grandchildren of Appalachian families who migrated
to northern cities in the 1950s to look for work. They make up this
largely "invisible" urban group, a minority that represents a
significant portion of the urban poor. Literacy researchers have
rarely studied urban Appalachians, yet, as Victoria Purcell-Gates
demonstrates in "Other People's Words," their often severe literacy
problems provide a unique perspective on literacy and the
relationship between print and culture.
A compelling case study details the author's work with one such
family. The parents, who attended school off and on through the
seventh grade, are unable to use public transportation, shop
easily, or understand the homework their elementary-school-age son
brings home because neither of them can read. But the family is not
so much illiterate as low literate--the world they inhabit is an
oral one, their heritage one where print had no inherent use and no
inherent meaning. They have as much to learn about the culture of
literacy as about written language itself.
Purcell-Gates shows how access to literacy has been blocked by
a confluence of factors: negative cultural stereotypes, cultural
and linguistic elitism, and pedagogical obtuseness. She calls for
the recruitment and training of "proactive" teachers who can assess
and encourage children's progress and outlines specific
intervention strategies.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!