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Students' background, literacy belief and experiences, and academic achievement : exploring possible connections
Author
Ng, Irene Siew Peng
Supervisor
Kramer-Dahl, Anneliese
Abstract
Literacy is often taken to be the underlying factor that is essential to educational, social and economic success (Comber & Hill, 2000). At the same time, research has established the complex and multifaceted nature of literacy, and argued that in studying literacy development, it is necessary for researchers to understand cognition in terms of the social systems for developing and utilizing literacy rather than in terms of the cognitive operations of children viewed in isolation. Any attempt to analyze literacy and literacy development then, must take into consideration various factors such as 'habitus' and 'cultural capital' (Bourdieu, 1990).
In this comparative study, the collective influence of literacy beliefs, literacy experiences and socio economic status in two schools sitting at different ends of the academic and socio-economic continuum - one a lowly ranked neighbourhood school in a public housing estate with working class families and the other a top-performing Special Assistance Plan (SAP) schools are investigated and an understanding about the likely influences that underpin school achievement is sought. More specifically, the study examines how teachers, parents and the children themselves in the two schools view what counts as literacy and probes into the literacy experiences of the children, both in their own homes and in their respective schools. It then proceeds to explore how these various factors come together and discusses the implications they might have on academic results - the measurement of literacy outcomes by educational standards.
Analysis of the data revealed that indeed, there is a strong link between pupils' background, parents' and pupils' literacy beliefs, pupils' home literacy experiences and parents' past literacy experiences. While parents in both schools generally believe that literacy is more than the mere acquisition of reading and writing, the middle class parents held the belief that literacy is pertinent to communication, allowing them to stay updated on global events and relevant to the world - a view that was shared by their children. In sharp contrast, the working class parents, like their children, felt that literacy would warrant the potential security of jobs. The beliefs that parents held led them to construct different pathways in preparing their children for the ways of school. Noteworthy is that middle-class parents seem to be able to capitalize on their resources and interact effectively with the education system to enhance the achievement of their children.
Where schools are concerned, teachers' literacy beliefs were found to be realized in their pedagogical choices. The deficit discourse that was pervasive in both schools prompted teachers to choose the restrictive drill and practice as their preferred methodology. The study concludes that the middle class pupils' success in the academic arena may be a result of their individual capacities and personal efforts and that family distinctiveness prevailed over the effects of schooling in influencing students' life chances.
In this comparative study, the collective influence of literacy beliefs, literacy experiences and socio economic status in two schools sitting at different ends of the academic and socio-economic continuum - one a lowly ranked neighbourhood school in a public housing estate with working class families and the other a top-performing Special Assistance Plan (SAP) schools are investigated and an understanding about the likely influences that underpin school achievement is sought. More specifically, the study examines how teachers, parents and the children themselves in the two schools view what counts as literacy and probes into the literacy experiences of the children, both in their own homes and in their respective schools. It then proceeds to explore how these various factors come together and discusses the implications they might have on academic results - the measurement of literacy outcomes by educational standards.
Analysis of the data revealed that indeed, there is a strong link between pupils' background, parents' and pupils' literacy beliefs, pupils' home literacy experiences and parents' past literacy experiences. While parents in both schools generally believe that literacy is more than the mere acquisition of reading and writing, the middle class parents held the belief that literacy is pertinent to communication, allowing them to stay updated on global events and relevant to the world - a view that was shared by their children. In sharp contrast, the working class parents, like their children, felt that literacy would warrant the potential security of jobs. The beliefs that parents held led them to construct different pathways in preparing their children for the ways of school. Noteworthy is that middle-class parents seem to be able to capitalize on their resources and interact effectively with the education system to enhance the achievement of their children.
Where schools are concerned, teachers' literacy beliefs were found to be realized in their pedagogical choices. The deficit discourse that was pervasive in both schools prompted teachers to choose the restrictive drill and practice as their preferred methodology. The study concludes that the middle class pupils' success in the academic arena may be a result of their individual capacities and personal efforts and that family distinctiveness prevailed over the effects of schooling in influencing students' life chances.
Date Issued
2009
Call Number
LC157.S55 Ng
Date Submitted
2009