Early literacy kindergarten practices in underprivileged communities: when parents come to class
This article presents a study conducted with families and teachers of kindergarten children in underprivileged communities. The objective of this project was to support the families in pursuing early-learning reading and writing (early literacy: EL) activities with their five-year-old children. Scholarly research would appear to indicate that parents’ educational practices and attitudes toward literacy predict their children’s success at school. Several authors suggest that the early literacy practices observed both at school and at home contribute to the development of language skills. However, parents from underprivileged backgrounds may initiate fewer EL activities. The results presented in this paper shed light on parental EL practices, on the nature of the workshops offered to parents in this project, and on the teachers’ point of view regarding the initiative in general.