What Can Parents Tell Us About Poverty and Literacy Learning? Listening to Parents Over Time. Issue 5 (30th October 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Compton‐Lilly, Catherine; Delbridge, Anne
• Is Part Of: Journal of adolescent & adult literacy. Volume 62:Issue 5(2019)
• Page Start: 531
• Page End: 539
• Publication Date: 2018-10-30
• Subjects: Family literacy -- Policy -- Gender/race/class/sexual orientation -- Struggling learners -- Community‐based programs -- resources < Family literacy -- Home‐school connections < Family literacy -- Socioeconomic factors < Family literacy -- Accountability < Policy -- Advocacy < Policy -- Case study < Research methodology -- At‐risk factors < Struggling learners -- Critical pedagogy < Theoretical perspectives -- Family literacy -- 2‐Childhood -- 3‐Early adolescence -- 4‐Adolescence; Reading -- Periodicals; Literacy -- Periodicals; 374.0124
• DOI: 10.1002/jaal.923
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1081-3004

Abstract

Abstract: In this article, the authors use Bourdieu's conceptualization of capital and data from two longitudinal case studies to explore how financial challenges impacted learning opportunities for two children in a high‐poverty urban community. Interview data collected from two African American families over a 10‐year period were analyzed with attention to the role of economic academic capital (resources and experiences that require financial investment and translate to school success) in children's school trajectories. Findings revealed that the families' homes, schools, and community lacked economic academic capital and that this dearth had dire consequences for the children's academic careers. However, the families could access other forms of capital, namely, embodied academic capital and social academic capital. These findings point to the important role that teachers can play when they act as advocates for students from low‐income backgrounds and their parents when they encounter educational and economic barriers.