Previous research on family literacy in North America has generally been conducted in English, even if the program targets English for speakers of other languages. However, the differences in English proficiency among parent participants may vary enormously in ways that are not easily predictable. In addition to the differences in parent participants’ English proficiency and their concept and experience of instruction, parents from diverse cultural backgrounds also have differences in parental beliefs, parental roles in supporting educational achievement and communicating with the school. All these differences make the provision of family literacy programs which target minority families as one group a challenging endeavor, both in program design and implementation. This study investigated the potential learning outcomes when a family literacy program with language supports were provided to Chinese immigrant families. An eight-week (two hours per week) literacy program was implemented in three Chinese community centers in Ontario, Canada. The overall objectives of the study were to provide a Chinese family literacy program in the Chinese community using Chinese as the language of instruction, and to evaluate the impact of this culturally related family literacy program in terms of children’s gains in both English and Chinese. This study has shown that a family literacy intervention, adapted for use with Chinese preschoolers and their parents, can have a significant and positive impact on children’s literacy development in both English and Chinese. This study found that children’s expressive vocabulary (both in English and in Chinese) improved as a result of the intervention. Children’s knowledge of the alphabet and their ability to produce letter-sounds improved significantly more if their parents participated in the intervention. Further, it was shown that specific home literacy environments in Chinese and in English are related to children’s literacy development in both languages. In Chinese, the number of Chinese reading materials in the home had the greatest impact on children’s Chinese receptive and expressive vocabularies. In English, the age at which the child was first read to in English had the greatest impact on children’s English expressive vocabularies, their letter-sound production knowledge, and their early reading ability. The study has shown that the provision of culturally and linguistically appropriate family literacy support goes a long way in helping diverse families to foster optimal literacy experiences for their young children at home.

Previous research on family literacy in North America has generally been conducted in English, even if the program targets English for speakers of other languages. However, the differences in English proficiency among parent participants may vary enormously in ways that are not easily predictable. In addition to the differences in parent participants’ English proficiency and their concept and experience of instruction, parents from diverse cultural backgrounds also have differences in parental beliefs, parental roles in supporting educational achievement and communicating with the school. All these differences make the provision of family literacy programs which target minority families as one group a challenging endeavor, both in program design and implementation. This study investigated the potential learning outcomes when a family literacy program with language supports were provided to Chinese immigrant families. An eight-week (two hours per week) literacy program was implemented in three Chinese community centers in Ontario, Canada. The overall objectives of the study were to provide a Chinese family literacy program in the Chinese community using Chinese as the language of instruction, and to evaluate the impact of this culturally related family literacy program in terms of children’s gains in both English and Chinese. This study has shown that a family literacy intervention, adapted for use with Chinese preschoolers and their parents, can have a significant and positive impact on children’s literacy development in both English and Chinese. This study found that children’s expressive vocabulary (both in English and in Chinese) improved as a result of the intervention. Children’s knowledge of the alphabet and their ability to produce letter-sounds improved significantly more if their parents participated in the intervention. Further, it was shown that specific home literacy environments in Chinese and in English are related to children’s literacy development in both languages. In Chinese, the number of Chinese reading materials in the home had the greatest impact on children’s Chinese receptive and expressive vocabularies. In English, the age at which the child was first read to in English had the greatest impact on children’s English expressive vocabularies, their letter-sound production knowledge, and their early reading ability. The study has shown that the provision of culturally and linguistically appropriate family literacy support goes a long way in helping diverse families to foster optimal literacy experiences for their young children at home.

The study explored factors associated with English as Second Language (ESL) and English Literacy Development (ELD) students’ performance on the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT) from three different yet interrelated aspects. These aspects were the relationship between test performance and the characteristics of ESL/ELD students; the relationship between ESL/ELD students’ aggregated school performance and their school-level socio-economic status; and a comparison of ESL/ELD and non-ESL/ELD students’ performance on three test formats in the reading component of the OSSLT (multiple-choice questions, constructed-response questions, and constructed-response questions with explanations). The study was conducted based on 4,311 ESL/ELD students’ test data, their responses to the Educational Quality and Accountability Office’s (EQAO) Student Questionnaire, and the test results of 5,003 non-ESL/ELD students. School-level socio-economic status data from the Education Quality and Indicators Program (EQUIP) were merged with the OSSLT test data. These data were analyzed using exploratory factor analysis, multiple regression and discriminant analysis. The results indicated that e-literacy activities, literature literacy activities, non-fiction literacy activities, newspaper and magazine literacy activities, and literacy hours were positive predictors of ESL/ELD students’ performance on the OSSLT. Letter reading and writing, song and poetry literacy activities were two negative predictors. In terms of home language patterns, whether English was the first language of the test-takers, and what language(s) they spoke at home were both influential variables in differentiating ESL and ELD students’ literacy performance. The results also revealed that a higher parental education index positively predicted a school’s average OSSLT performance. In ii addition, ESL/ELD students demonstrated substantial performance gaps in all of the three test formats in reading as compared to non-ESL/ELD students. Only multiple-choice questions obtained a significant discriminant coefficient with a weak discriminating function. The results of this study offered some insights about identifying and understanding factors that were associated with ESL/ELD students’ OSSLT performance from the perspective of the test-takers and the test itself. The results also provide directions for future research and instructional support in relation to ESL/ ELD students in the context of the accountability framework in Ontario.

Based on empirical qualitative data collected by interviewing eight elementary school teachers from across four different school boards in Ontario and analyzing new Ontario Ministry of Education policy and guidelines for supporting and programming for English Literacy Development (ELD) students, this research seeks to better understand how teachers’ discourses influence their perception of ELD students’ experiences in elementary schools. In particular, I look at how they view their roles as teachers, the purpose of education and schooling, their personal views on diversity, and how they program literacy for ELD students. The participants’ discourses reveal that although they prioritize having positive relationships with their students, they often struggled to relate positively with their ELD students. Reassessing how the formal school is structured and providing directed professional development on teaching ELD students could work towards creating more positive learning experiences for ELD students in Ontario elementary schools.

Based on empirical qualitative data collected by interviewing eight elementary school teachers from across four different school boards in Ontario and analyzing new Ontario Ministry of Education policy and guidelines for supporting and programming for English Literacy Development (ELD) students, this research seeks to better understand how teachers’ discourses influence their perception of ELD students’ experiences in elementary schools. In particular, I look at how they view their roles as teachers, the purpose of education and schooling, their personal views on diversity, and how they program literacy for ELD students. The participants’ discourses reveal that although they prioritize having positive relationships with their students, they often struggled to relate positively with their ELD students. Reassessing how the formal school is structured and providing directed professional development on teaching ELD students could work towards creating more positive learning experiences for ELD students in Ontario elementary schools.