Literacy and children at risk of social exclusión in urban context: a study in southern Spain

Proyectos I+D Excelencia Convocatoria 2017 Subprograma de Generación del Conocimiento Ref.: EDU2017-83967-P Literacy and children at risk of social exclusión in urban context: a study in southern Spain WERA 2018 World Congress 3-5 August, 2018, Cape Town (South Africa) Francisco Núñez-Román University of Seville (Spain) APErtURA Researchers Team University of Seville-University of Cadiz-Loyola Andalusia University (Spain) Introduction Poverty rate in Andalusia and Spain (Source: Llano, 2016) % 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Spain 24,7 26,1 26,7 27,2 27,3 29,2 28,6 Andalusia 33,3 35,0 38,4 36,9 38,3 42,3 43,2 Introduction Theoretical basis •Literacy as a social and situated practice: literacy as a uselful tool to solve practical problems in children’s daily lives (Street, 1984, 1994, 1997): •Social Semiotics (Kress, 1997) •Etnography of communication (Gee, 1999; Halliday, 1978; Hymes, 1996; Van Leeuwen, 2005) •New Literacy Studies (Barton & Hamilton, 1998, Gee, 1999) Theoretical basis •Literacy as a social and situated practice: literacy does not take place solely in the school domain, but also in their home or neighbourhood. Important concepts: •Events: observable instances in which literacy is experienced •Domains: place where a literacy event is created and is repeated in similar situations (Barton & Hamilton, 1998). This place can be physical (bookshops, rooms, libraries, parks) or virtual (Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp) Theoretical basis •Literacy as institutional or vernacular practices: •Dominant/Institutional practices: literacy practices originated and disseminated by an institution with a high social status (school, educational institution) •Vernacular practices: new forms of literacy, alien to the purposes of students’ school practices and with low social recognition (home, neighbourhood, church) (Barton & Hamilton, 1998; Camitta, 1993) Theoretical basis •Literacy and ICT: ICT has changed learners’ access to literacy, specially in the vernacular discourses of daily life (Merchant et al., 2013) •The sociocultural contexts determine the means of dissemination (printed or digital), the mode of text (linguistics, visual, etc.) and the discursive genres that schoolchildren read and write in different domains. •Literacy and families: the heterogeneity of vernacular practices at home and its relationship with the institutional literacy practices has to be investigated, specially the social values of vernacular literacy practices within the families Aims and objectives 1. Describe the literacy practices and events in which students participate in diverse domains such as home, school, neighbourhood, religious congregation or group of friends. 2. Identify and analyse the conflicts that the interaction of the different local discursive communities in which learners are immersed may generate in the institutional / school literacy processes of children. 3. Elaborate an explanatory model for the low degree of literacy achievement in deprived urban areas. 4. Design a literacy improvement programme involving teachers, families and different local communities. 5. Develop teaching guidance and support materials for teachers and families to improve student literacy in these areas. Methodological approach Ethnographic approach: the ethnographic perspective intends to go beyond the cognitive processes that underlie literacy development to focus on the role of the social context in the development of writing and reading skills: “In which contexts does variable x have an effect on y?” (Carter & Sealey, 2000) Interactional sociolinguistics and the study of identities (Rampton, 2010).