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Binding: PaperbackDewey Decimal Number: 302 EAN: 9780674645110 ISBN: 0674645111 Label: Harvard University Press Manufacturer: Harvard University Press Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 256 Publication Date: March 25, 1997 Publisher: Harvard University Press Studio: Harvard University Press Related Items:
Browse for similar items by category: Click to Display Editorial Review: Product Description: If asked to identify which children rank lowest in relation to national educational norms, have higher school dropout and absence rates, and more commonly experience learning problems, few of us would know the answer: white, urban Appalachian children. These are the children and grandchildren of Appalachian families who migrated to northern cities in the 1950s to look for work. They make up this largely "invisible" urban group, a minority that represents a significant portion of the urban poor. Literacy researchers have rarely studied urban Appalachians, yet, as Victoria Purcell-Gates demonstrates in Other People's Words, their often severe literacy problems provide a unique perspective on literacy and the relationship between print and culture. A compelling case study details the author's work with one such family. The parents, who attended school off and on through the seventh grade, are unable to use public transportation, shop easily, or understand the homework their elementary-school-age son brings home because neither of them can read. But the family is not so much illiterate as low literate--the world they inhabit is an oral one, their heritage one where print had no inherent use and no inherent meaning. They have as much to learn about the culture of literacy as about written language itself. Purcell-Gates shows how access to literacy has been blocked by a confluence of factors: negative cultural stereotypes, cultural and linguistic elitism, and pedagogical obtuseness. She calls for the recruitment and training of "proactive" teachers who can assess and encourage children's progress and outlines specific intervention strategies. Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Really eye-opening! An amazing book.This book is fabulous- it lays out all of the problems with teaching children and adults how to read, and stresses the importance of surrounding children with books at a young age. I learned a lot from this book! Rating:  - an introduction into low-literacy in americaHaving just finished the book for my Foundations of Literacy class in college I must say it gives a very good view of the life and struggles a family goes thorugh when in their world print does not exist. Jenny and Donny, a mother and son have struggle for a few years on gaining literacy. Jenny, an urban Applalacian wants to learn to read so she can help her son with his schoolwork. She wants Donny to be retained a year so he can "catch up" on what he is missing. Together they embark on a quest ... Read More Rating: - Informative and Thought Provoking ResearchPurcell-Gates opens up the important issue of literacy in America through the lens of an Appalachian mother and son, who have a non-literary background. Through the son and mother's attempts to learn how to read and write, we get a glimpse into the cultural background of the Appalachian people. Perhaps the book's most compelling findings are the stereotypical attitudes people have towards this white minority people. It is clear that many people need to spend time and understand the cultural background ... Read More Rating: - Accessible Study of IlliteracyPurcell-Gates avoids the weighty conventions of academic writing and thus opens her studies and insights to the larger world. The book recounts her experiences over two years tutoring a completely illiterate mother and her nearly equally illiterate son. Purcell-Gates, who at the time worked at the local university and literacy center, tells their story with compassion and a strong effort to get at the causes and perpetuation of illiteracy in 20th century American cities, schools, and families. ... Read More 
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