Recent educational research provides evidence that literacy is one of the key competencies determining educational achievement and societal participation (e.g. Bertelsmann Stiftung & IFS, 2012). According to the OECD, literacy embodies a basic competence which enables individuals to analyse learning subjects of all types and to discover their structure, classification and regularities (Baumert et al., 2001). In Germany, literacy achievement and social factors are directly connected. Less privileged students not only perform under average in large scale studies like PIRLS, TIMSS or PISA (Ehmke & Jude, 2010; Stubbe, Tarelli & Wendt, 2012), they have significantly less chances to gain qualifications of higher education (Becker & Lauterbach, 2010). In research, this social inequality is attributed to different language socialization processes in families which steer children’s literacy development decisively (Zöller & Roos, 2009). Whereas large scale studies document this correlation clearly, research still lacks of concrete findings on which language practices low SES students experience in their family (Müller, 2012).

In order to increase educational opportunities of low SES students, this paper highlights the social dimension of language learning by taking findings of two studies into account. Based on a two-step approach we analyse students’ preconditions with respect to family literacy practices in relation to language requirements in school (taking the example of reading assessment) by determining correlations and descriptive patterns. Therefore, we present findings of two studies investigating (early) literacy learning contexts (e.g. picture book reading, rhyming, playing language games) in families with different social background.

Study A refers to the Panel Study at the Research School ‘Education and Capabilities’ in North Rhine-Westphalia (PARS) (Bos et al., 2013). The objective of PARS is to gain information on the academic development of students in secondary schools with respect to characteristics of personality, family and school. Therefore students, their parents and the entire staff at secondary schools (n= 50) in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, were surveyed from 2009 till 2012. Within this paper we focus on parents’ data and reading achievement scores of grade 5 and grade 9. The parents’ questionnaire includes issues of daily routines in families, communication practices, and early literacy issues. The data provide access for two aspects: (a.) frequencies of early literacy aspects within families, and (b.) correlations of early literacy aspects within families and student achievement.

Study B refers to a qualitative design by reconstructing family literacy practices and everyday life in low and high SES families (Müller, 2012). Data has been collected over a period of three years (2007 till 2010) combining ethnographic techniques (e.g. participant observation in the family, parental interviews) with linguistic analysis (n=6). Research grounds on the assumption that literacy related resources emerge in early years through family literacy practices (such as picture book reading or storytelling) which provide experiences with standardized, literate language (Maas, 2008). Study B illuminates three aspects: (a.) social differences of family literacy practices, (b.) parents’ motives, beliefs and resources in realizing literacy practices, and (c.) children’s narrative skills as a proxy for literacy in correlation with family literacy practices.  

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