Variability in Community Characteristics and Spanish-Speaking Children's Home Language and Literacy Opportunities

Abstract

Drawing on data from 14 communities in California and Texas, this paper examines the variability in language and literacy resources across communities with large numbers of Latino families. Spanish-speaking children live in communities that vary considerably with respect to language use, ethnic composition and education levels. Children's community experiences vary with respect to exposure to English and Spanish and in terms of access to print materials in one or both languages. Immigrant Spanish-speaking families residing in these communities also demonstrate variation with respect to home literacy practices. However, community-level characteristics only modestly predict a few aspects of children's language and literacy experiences. While this suggests that community characteristics can influence children's language and literacy opportunities (relative to Spanish-speaking children in other communities), the weak associations also show that educators should not presume to know children's home language and literacy experiences based on observable community characteristics. Overall, school-related literacy was the most common and frequent type of literacy activity in the home across communities. Schools provided literacy materials and activities to families in communities where they were lacking, thereby helping compensate for an overall scarcity of literacy opportunities for children in the low-income communities in which they resided.

Keywords:

• Bilingualism
• communities
• Latinos
• literacy practices
• Spanish language use

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the Institute of Education Sciences, P01 HD39521, ‘Oracy/Literacy Development in Spanish-Speaking Children’. Our deepest thanks to the families and school personnel who made this work possible. Thanks also to the members of the Project 4 research team: Bill Saunders, Elsa Cárdenas Hagen, Elizabeth Portman, Ann Adam, Liliana De La Garza, Hector Rivera and Coleen Carlson, who also created the databases and indexes used in the preparation of this paper.