Bookstart Around the World 1
Bookstart Around the World The fact that literacy
development begins early on also means that the role the family plays becomes vital in the literacy development of young children (Fast, 2007; Bonci, 2011; Eurydice, 2011; Nickel, 2013; Berg, 2015). From this understanding stems research on family literacy. The concept was coined by Taylor in an ethnographic study that examined young children’s daytoday activities that were connected to language (Taylor via Fast, 2007). At around the same time, Heath identified the socalled textoriented activities that occur in the home (Heath via Fast, 2007). Family literacy can be described as the writtenlanguage activities that occur in the home (Rydsjö, 2012 & Bonci, 2011). Of all places where early language development takes place, the home is highlighted as the most important (Nickel, 2013). Activities such as reading picture books, reading aloud, singing, rhyming, chanting and playing are the kind that characterise the home literacy environment that influences a child’s school results later on (Ibid.). One research review confirms that the parents’ involvement in a child’s reading is fundamental for early literacy development (Eurydice, 2011). Based on these arguments, socalled family literacy programmes have been initiated all around the world. A family literacy programme is characterised by initiatives directed towards families of children to promote reading for the children. Of course, there is a great variety of such programmes; some are aimed at the entire family whilst others are specifically intended for the child’s language development, or the parents’ language development respectively. Some focus on increasing parents’ awareness of their role in their child’s literacy development (Bonci, 2011). The latter is largely what Bookstart involves. The goal of such programmes could be concisely described as to increase the amount of literacy activities in the home (Nickel, 2013). It should be emphasised that a written language activity is not primarily a pedagogical activity that involves plodding through letters and words. The purpose is to create a social interaction between the child and the adults through the use of written, verbal, visual and body language. A literacy activity is understood in this overview to be a collective term for reading aloud, singing, chanting, rhyming, playing and talking etc. Bookstart involves fomenting a desire for and gaining joy from various literacy activities within families, thus allowing the child’s language roots to grow so that the literacy tree can begin to grow too. Before taking a closer look at how Bookstart began, we can establish that the concept of literacy encompasses a great many different elements and can be defined in many ways. In this overview, we do not seek to apply any clearcut definition or translation. What is most important is the essential insight that literacy development begins early on in a child’s life and is aided by means of literacy activities in the home. There is therefore also great reason to more closely consider the way in which such initiatives and efforts can be expressed around the world, the impact they have, and things that interested parties should keep in mind when implementing a bookgifting programme. 10/52