Rethinking normative literacy practices, behaviors, and interactions: Learning from young immigrant boys

Abstract

In light of the historical failure of boys of color in US schools, this article sheds light onto the ways in which normative discourses of literacy and learning shape the experiences of immigrant boys and how they are perceived and defined as un/successful students. Findings indicate that although these boys—deemed to be “at-risk” or “struggling readers”—were not knowledgeable of prevalent school discourses and interactional sequences, they had sophisticated linguistic understandings and knowledgeable communicative practices. Yet, “good” and “successful” literate subjects were defined according to how well a child’s literacy behaviors aligned with school norms and expectations. Implications highlight the need to recognize and challenge gender-specific and behavioral norms that continue to disadvantage boys whose literacy practices do not mirror normative expectations.

Multilingual Literacies: Invisible Representation of Literacy in a Rural Classroom

“…Those not engaged in formal literacy activities are consequently labeled illiterate, poor, and below average. Similar trends have been noted in U.S. classrooms (Dyson, ; Souto‐Manning et al., ). Dyson argued that normative views of literacy erase children's resources and strengths.…”

“…Educational standardizations, especially around the skills of writing and reading, continue to be privileged over other language functions, such as storytelling, singing, and drawing (Kiramba, ; Razfar & Rumenapp, ). Souto‐Manning, Dernikos, and Yu (), for instance, described how normative discourses of literacy and learning framed U.S. immigrant boys of color as unsuccessful because their behaviors did not mirror the expected literacy norm at school.…”

“…Scholars have questioned the adequacy of normative literacy practices (Dyson, ; Heath, ; Orellana, ; Souto‐Manning et al., ), especially those that are monolingual (Bakhtin, ). Meyer and Benavot () observed that most learning takes place outside of formal educational establishments and advised educators and researchers to identify and build on less visible literacies.…”

Ideas in dialogue: Leveraging the power of child-led storytelling in the multicultural preschool classroom

“…Centering primarily White, middle-class discourse patterns as normal and ideal ways of construing experience marginalizes the ways of saying, doing, and being that many lower socioeconomic status (SES), multilingual children bring to early schooling (Souto-Manning, Dernikos, & Yu 2016). The aim of this study is to make visible the sophistication of young children's engagement in an ongoing storytelling activity, overturning deficit conceptions of lower SES, multilingual children by showing how children's complex contributions navigate the tension between expectation and invention when children are given the space to story their experiences.…”

Translanguaging through story: Empowering children to use their full language repertoire

“…Languages other than English are often considered an obstacle to skilful reading and writing in the U.S.: ‘Educational practices overwhelmingly favor compartmentalized, monolingual, written, decontextualized language and literacy practices’ (Hornberger and Link, 2012: 245). ‘Good readers’ are often defined in terms of their ability to behave and display knowledge in ways valued by the dominant culture (Souto-Manning, 2016), which overwhelmingly favours monolingual, English displays.…”