Key Concept Synthesis

Key Concept

1. Intergenerational illiteracy
Cooter, K.S. (2006). When mama cant
read: Counteracting intergenerational
illiteracy. The Reading Teacher, 59(7),
698-702.
2. Effects of socioeconomic status
Raising readers: The tremendous
potential of families. (1999). Start Early,
Finish Strong: How to Help Every Child
Become a Reader. America Reads
Challenge, U.S. Department of Education.

3. Motherese
Raeburn, P. (2015). Podcast #119: Why
Fathers Matter With Paul Raeburn
[Interview by B. McKay]. In The Art of
Manliness.
4. Role of fathers
Raeburn, P. (2014). How fathers boost
toddlers language development. Today.;
Feller, B. (2014). Book review: Do fathers
matter?, on the science of fatherhood, by
Paul Raeburn. The Washington Post.

Put the Concept in Your Own Words

A phenomenon most common among povertystricken populations in which illiterate parents

are unable to foster their childrens literacy
development, causing a cycle of illiteracy

Parents above the poverty line are significantly

more likely to be literate and to read to their
children than those below the poverty line

A term for a type of child-directed speech

commonly used by mothers, who typically spend
more time with their children than fathers

Research has demonstrated that fathers actually

play a more important role than mothers do in
childrens linguistic development

Explain Why The Concept is Important &

make Connections to Other Concepts
There is a positive correlation between
education (including literacy) and
socioeconomic status, so children whose
parents are affluent are more likely to be
educated and thus able to foster and encourage
their childrens educational development. On
the other end of the spectrum, parents who are
not literate themselvesand thus, are likely of a
lower socioeconomic statusare less able to
help their children with school work. Students
whose parents are educated can go to them for
help, which makes them more likely to succeed
in school and become educated themselves,
creating a cycle. This explains why children
from socioeconomically disadvantaged homes
often struggle more than their peers from
affluent families.
[M]others, because they spend more time with
the kids, know how to tune their language to
sort of meet what the kid knows. Fathers, who
may be a little less in tune with what words a
child knows or doesnt know, tend to use more
words simply because they dont know what
wouldnt be understood, and that stretches kids
and pulls them along, so they develop more
quickly. [Raeburn, P. (2015). Podcast #119:
Why Fathers Matter With Paul Raeburn
[Interview by B. McKay]. In The Art of
Manliness.] Thus, fathers become even more
influential in childrens language acquisition
than mothers.

5. Value placed on literacy

Raising readers: The tremendous
potential of families. (1999). Start Early,
Finish Strong: How to Help Every Child
Become a Reader. America Reads
Challenge, U.S. Department of Education.

The emphasis parents put on literacy when

modeling for and interacting with children

Literacy environment, including the amount of

reading materials available and the frequency
with which parents read to/with children as
well as demonstrate a personal interest in
reading, plays one of the most important roles
in childrens literacy development. Thus, it is
crucial that parents place sufficient value and
emphasis on literacy.