This research draws on social practices and beliefs involved in the process of developing reading and writing. In particular, this presentation explores the school and home literacy practices in economically disadvantaged settings in Chile. And given the under privileged environment of the participants, this study focused on explaining the role of literacy in disadvantaged environments and to what extent and how the context impacts on literacy practices.

The main aim of this investigation was to analyse the participant’s beliefs and practices about reading and writing from their own knowledge. This study raises the need to consider how the children’s understanding about literacy influence their involvement and learning about reading and writing. Drawing on Vigotsky’s work the social constructivist view of learning, children play an active role in their learning (Rogoff, 1990; Rogoff et al., 2007). Children’s experiences and perceptions have an important role in their learning process and in particular in how they develop their reading and writing. By acknowledging this perspective, Children are seen as agents that engage with several issues during their learning process. This perspective determines not only the way children learn, but also emphasizes the relevance of their own perspectives about the learning process.

In addition, learning from a social perspective involves being embedded in a larger ecological and cultural niche (Goldenberg, Gallimore, & Reese, 2005). This niche impacts and co-construct the way how we learn, and therefore, how we construct our understanding about reading and writing. For this study, this larger ecocultural niche is also the centre of both family and school routines.

This research approaches the study of literacy from a social perspective, therefore, it will consider social practices and beliefs related to reading and writing (Barton & Hamilton, 1998; Heath, 1983; Street, 1984). This research is situated into a particular sociocultural context: Chilean society. Chile is a developing country, and in developing countries there is a big difference between the resources available at each socioeconomic level. Chile is the country with the worst income inequality on the world (OECD, 2011). There are vast differences across different schools and families (Strasser & Lissi, 2009; Susperreguy, Strasser, Lissi, & Mendive, 2007). These differences among families became a really important issue for this study since even though the participants shared to some extent the same context, there were also noticeable difference among them.  

Family literacy practices are affected by the lack of time that the parents have to spend with their kids and the iniquity of resources that they could provide. The reality of most children in Chile is very harsh and most of them do not have computers on their homes, internet access via other means. The amount of books also tends to be small or non-existent (Strasser & Lissi, 2009; Susperreguy et al., 2007). In addition, in disadvantaged environments parents reach lower literacy levels and “an educational level is likely to influence the quality of the home literacy environment in the form of literacy practices and attitudes toward literacy” (Strasser & Lissi, 2009).

However, it is important to state that the conceptualization of disadvantaged environments is related to the social understanding from the participants and the communities where this study is set. The public and institutional discourses around these ‘disadvantaged’ communities are in general terms the origins of the participants’ views around their own environment.

Barton, D., & Hamilton, M. (1998). Local literacies. Reading and writing in context. . London, New York: Routledge. Blumenthal, D. (2011). Is Community-Based Participatory Research Possible? American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 40(3), 386–389. Goldenberg, C., Gallimore, R., & Reese, L. (2005). Using mixed methods to explore Latino children's literacy development. In T. Weisner (Ed.), Discovering successful pathways in children's development: Mixed methods in the study of childhood and family life Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Heath, S. B. (1983). Ways with words : language, life, and work in communities and classrooms. Cambridge Cambridgeshire ; New York: Cambridge University Press. Mason, J., & Hood, S. (2011). Exploring issues of children as actors in social research. Children and Youth Services Review, 33, 490-495. OECD. (2011). Society at a Glance 2011.: OECD Publishing. Rogoff, B. (1990). Apprenticeship in thinking. New York: Oxford University Press. Rogoff, B., Moore, L., Najafi, B., Dexter, A., Correa-Chávez, M., & Solís, J. (2007). Children’s development of cultural repertoires through participation in everyday routines and practices. In J. E. Grusec & P. D. Hastings (Eds.), Handbook of socialization (pp. 490-515). New York, NY: Guilford Press. Strasser, K., & Lissi, M. L. (2009). Home and Instruction Effects on Emergent Literacy in a Sample of Chilean Kindergarten Children. Scientific studies of reading, 13(2), 175-204. Street, B. (1984). Literacy in theory and practice. Cambridge Cambridgeshire ; New York: Cambridge University Press. Susperreguy, M. I., Strasser, K., Lissi, M. R., & Mendive, S. (2007). Creencias y prácticas de literacidad en familias chilenas con distintos niveles educativos [Literacy beliefs and practices in Chilean families with different educational levels]. Revista Latinoamericana de Psicología, 39(2), 239.