This presentation describes a descriptive study of literacy practices in Singapore and proposes utilising a similar model to examine and document the diverse ways families use and develop literacy in communities in international contexts. This would help educators align their own practices to meet their students’ varied ways of practicing literacy.

Literacy is most often understood to be a set of skills required for reading and writing (Keefe & Copeland, 2011). However, Knoblauch (1990) argued that literacy goes beyond reading and writing skills, and that defining it as such encodes sociocultural judgements. This is well demonstrated in Heath’s (1982) ethnographic study of the literacy practices of three communities– Middle-income white families, working-class white families, and working-class black families. Because the literacy practices of the working-class families differed from those in their mainstream schools, these children quickly fall behind in their grades with no way to keep up.

As such, Heath (1982) cautions against “a unilinear model of development in the acquisition of language structures” (p. 73) because when schools are not culturally responsive, they risk perpetuating socioeconomic inequalities. There are diverse ways of using and developing literacy, making it vital for educators to, firstly, understand the literacy practices of their communities and in their own sociocultural contexts, and, secondly, to align their own literacy practices with that of their communities’ to stem the reproduction of systemic disadvantages.

Singapore is perhaps best known worldwide for its economic prosperity and multi-ethnic population. These socioeconomic successes have been attributed to its meritocratic system that promises equality of opportunity. Consequently, educational achievement is highly sought after, with parents striving to give their children a head start through each stage of the educational system, from as early as preschool, to primary, secondary, and tertiary levels. Unfortunately, unequal socioeconomic and academic outcomes expose the systemic inequalities in Singapore, especially along ethnic and socioeconomic lines. This further emphasises the need for models of development to meet the needs of diverse contexts.

However, few studies have described literacy practices in the Singaporean context. Most of the reviewed studies have taken correlational approaches, examining the relationships between specific practices and literary outcomes. Fewer still have examined the complex interplay between ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and literacy practices. The literacy practices of the minority populations of Malays and Indians have received little to no research attention, while it remains unclear if literacy practices are ethnically (Dixon, 2011) or socioeconomically (Aman et al., 2009) determined. There is a need for more descriptive studies of literacy practices in the Singaporean context, especially in the ethnic minority populations.

The study presented sought to describe and explain the literacy practices of six low-income earning, ethnic minority families of preschool-aged children in Singapore. The questions that guided this study were:

1. What are the literacy practices of low-income earning minority parents of preschool children in Singapore?
2. Why do parents choose these literacy practices?

The study utilised the Social Theory of Literacy (Barton, 2007; Barton & Hamilton, 2000, 2012) as its theoretical framework. This theory defines literacy as a set of social practices, and exists simultaneously in the relationships between people and within individuals. Literacy practices, which include observable activities and intangible attitudes and values, are “the general cultural ways of utilizing literacy which people draw upon in a literacy event” (Barton, 2007, p. 37). These practices exist within domains, structured contexts, most common of which are homes and schools. Literacy practices are also shaped by cultural and historical factors.

The study used the descriptive phenomenological psychological method introduced by Giorgi (2012). It is a phenomenological approach that examines lived experiences and identifies essences. It is also human scientific in its use of empirical, scientific, data gathering and analysis through a theoretical framework. This method allowed the study to present its findings through rich descriptions, and to explain the literacy practices of the participants through an essential structure. Participants were recruited through two preschools in Singapore. Low-income earning parents were identified by their qualification for financial assistance. A total of five Malay and five Indian parents who were legally married, 2-parent families, with both parents in the household being Singaporean by birth, and of Malay or Indian ethnicity were selected for the study. Participants provided informed consent and were assured that their confidentiality and anonymity would be protected. Data was collected through two semi-structured interviews, video recordings and a demographic questionnaire. The aim of the first interview was to gather participants’ descriptions of lived experienced of literacy events and the second interview aimed to gather detailed descriptions of participants’ experiences of a literacy event they were involved in with their child, which they had made a video recording of. The demographic questionnaire gathered information about the members of the participants’ households which provided context for their descriptions of their experiences and ensured holistic analysis. Transcripts of the interviews were analysed by first putting aside theoretical knowledge, assumptions, and information not presented by the participants. Meaning units were transformed into generalised third person descriptions, and then into expressions that described the meanings of the participants’ experiences according to the Social Theory of Literacy. Finally these social descriptions were coded using descriptive phrases and grouped into themes that described their essences. Trustworthiness was ensured using five strategies - variation, bracketing, member checking, peer checking and thick descriptions.

Participants defined literacy as the ability to read, write and comprehend, positioning it as a necessary skill for formal education and future careers. Surprisingly, given the literatures differing description of the practices of each ethnic group, participants from both ethnicities in this study shared nearly identical literacy events and practices, differing only slightly in how they integrated other developmental domains into their literacy practices. Participants’ literacy practices were largely shaped by personal experiences, their children’s preschool syllabus, and the constraints of their time, energy, and home environments. Fundamentally, their goals indicated a conflict between the demands of a competitive education system and personal values. The similarities between the literacy practices of the Indian and Malay participants suggest that literacy practices in Singapore are not ethnically defined. Their literacy practices may be informed by common experiences of the Singaporean education system instead of their ethnic cultures. Their shared socioeconomic status may also explain the congruence, and further study is being conducted to explore how so literacy practices might compare across multiple income groups. It would be useful to use the presented study as a model for examining the literacy practices of communities in different international contexts. It would provide practitioners with more current knowledge of the diversity of literacy events, practices, values, and attitudes in their communities, better allowing them to align their own practices.

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