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2 - Sociocultural Variation in Literacy Development in Canada and the United States

from Part I - Regional Variations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 November 2023

By
Michael J. Kieffer  and
Rose Vuković
Edited by
Ludo Verhoeven ,
Sonali Nag ,
Charles Perfetti  and
Kenneth Pugh
Ludo Verhoeven
Affiliation:
Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen
Sonali Nag
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
Charles Perfetti
Affiliation:
University of Pittsburgh
Kenneth Pugh
Affiliation:
Yale University, Connecticut
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Summary

This chapter aims to synthesize evidence from large-scale studies on the magnitude of disparities in students’ literacy development between students from low socioeconomic and language minority backgrounds and their more advantaged counterparts in the United States and Canada, particularly on reading skills. Among various structural inequalities that are relevant to reading, the focus is on socioeconomic status (SES) differences and linguistic diversity (and their inter-relationships). It is explicitly acknowledged that extensive structural inequalities also exist for indigenous peoples in both countries across a range of education, health, and social outcomes. The focus is on language minority learners in this chapter primarily because the large-scale research that has examined disparities in reading development has provided valuable insight regarding students from immigrant backgrounds. By focusing the lens on reading development in language minority learners, we do not intend to minimize or obscure the very real barriers to equitable education in indigenous communities, nor do we intend to convey that structural forces that affect immigrant students can generalize to indigenous communities. Instead, we echo calls to address the sociocultural context of reading development and education more broadly in indigenous communities in both countries.

Keywords

literacydevelopmentlow-SESCanadaUnited Statesminorities
Type
Chapter
Information
Global Variation in Literacy Development , pp. 33 - 55
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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