[Reading-hall-of-fame] National Family Literacy Month in U.S.A.

[Thomas Sticht]

Colleagues: November 2020 is National Family Literacy Month, a month to
learn about the role of adult literacy education in the development of
family literacy. The Adult Education and Literacy system (AELS) of the
United States helps adults learn to read and gain the confidence to use
their reading skills for the development of their family’s literacy.

An early expression of the common sense idea that reading ability is based
on the earlier acquired ability to listen to and speak (oracy) the native
oral language is found in 1908 in Edmund Burke Huey’s classic book, “The
Psychology and Pedagogy of Reading.” In this book Huey wrote about the
relationship of oral to written language and said, “The child comes to his
first reader with his habits of spoken language fairly well formed, and
these habits grow more deeply set with every year. His meanings inhere in
this spoken language and belong but secondarily to the printed symbol.”

The use of oracy to promote interest in and the achievement of literacy has
a long history. Huey made the point that “meaning inheres in this spoken
language and belongs but secondarily to the printed symbols.” He also
commented on the importance of parents reading to their children, saying
“The secret of it all lies in the parent’s reading aloud to and with the
child".

For learning more about the relationships among oracy and literacy skills
and the contributions  of adult oracy and literacy education to family
literacy during this special month,  you can download my report entitled
“From Oracy to Literacy and Back Again: Investing in the Education of
Adults To Improve the Educability of Children.’ Available online at:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320024919_From_Oracy_to_Literacy_and_Back_Again_Investing_in_the_Education_of_Adults_To_Improve_the_Educability_of_Children

For a paper on providing adult education for improving family literacy see
Sticht (2011): ‘Getting It Right From the Start: The Case for Early
Parenthood Education” from the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) (
https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ943722). In 1908, Huey wrote, "The school of the
future will have as one of its important duties the instruction of parents
in the means of assisting the child's natural learning in the home."

Today, a substantial body of scientific evidence supports Huey's call for
the instruction of parents in the means of improving children's learning at
home, and therefore their learning at school. The results of studies of
major early childhood education programs suggest that much of the long-term
academic and social outcomes of early childhood education result not so
much from the direct education of the children, but rather from education
provided to highly disadvantaged parents. Changes in parenting help explain
why relatively short-term education programs for children could sustain
them through school, and into adulthood. Better parenting provides a
long-term educational intervention for children.

As Huey understood 112 years ago--and cognitive scientists have since
demonstrated--literacy follows oracy, so parents who foster their young
children's listening, speaking, vocabulary, and knowledge development are
also fostering success in school.  As noted earlier,  investments in the
education of adults increases the educability of their children, and that
is yet another reason to celebrate National Family Literacy Month this
November of 2020!!

Tom Sticht

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