I would assume that if a child has access to good schools and has a parent or caregiver(s) with an appropriate level of education….that they have access to a source of “cultural capital”. I might also assume that ongoing cultural capital investments would act as a possible predictor of the children’s future prospects.
My kids (well they are not kids anymore) have a background (middle class, english speaking parents) and location (suburban house close to schools, bookshops and libraries) as their habitus. I also assume that Bourdieu is also correct in seeing these two factors (location and background) as useful mechanisms for building and accumulating cultural capital.
Another predictor of a child’s future is “books in the home” (Heppt, 2020). The availability of a “home library” is estimated to offer a kid “3 years more schooling than children from bookless homes” (Evans et al., 2010). Books in the home environment makes reading possible. When these materials are shared, loved, read and renewed (if there is a library), when there is the space for literary games and or imaginative play. Then there is also a “cultural toolkit” where exposure, modelling and ongoing encouragement of reading are combined with cultural capital. Perhaps this is the habitus, where children’s “reading comprehension, reading behavior, mentalizing abilities, and expressive verbal ability” (Boerma et al 2017) is nurtured.
So its not only background and location that act as a future determent. There’s also the matter of book availability at home, the access to resources, whether they have reader role models around them to socialise them further into reading. We were fortunate enough (as a family) to surround our children with books, and we had the time to model good reading habits. We could also create an environment where attitudes and activities correspond with the literacy resources. Evans (2010) argues that a book-oriented home environment gives children a toolkit for “learning vocabulary, information, comprehension skills, imagination, broad horizons of history and geography, familiarity with good writing, understanding of the importance of evidence in argument”.
It more than developing a culture of reading, its more than offering a suitable tool kit. We also need to explicitly create a book-oriented environments. Whether its a room with book shelves, a flashlight set next to a bed (with a pile of books), a donation of a comfortable corner carpet and large cushion to the library, a small mobile library box in the park. A tablet / e-reader with a choice of suitable books. It’s not only the parent’s education (or the caregivers impressive CV) or the child’s alma mater that are indicators of future educational success. The milieu (physical and social settings) is also key. This is often taken for granted in my small corner of the world.
This is where social impact publishers, (African Story Book, Book Dash Nali Bali, Storyweaver, and Vula Bula) seek to use alternative approaches (such as social impact publishing or community publishing) to address the various issues. Whether it be the absence of a “cultural toolkit”, the need for book reading milieu. They open licenses offer cultural capital and the possibility for a book friendly milieu.
If they are making use of devices for reading, they are not peddling techno-solution. Rather, they are looking at means by which ALL those who are in the literacy project can get ahead. With our devices, I think that they find routes by which books can be brought into homes, read, enjoyed and valued. These books may be print books. But they can also be community books (https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Using_Wikibooks), classics in the public domain (https://www.gutenberg.org/) or ones that are sourced from social impact publishers.
Traditional books require a middle class market who can afford them. The books that are there are frequently not available in vernacular languages and many times books cannot be accessed by children and caregivers those whose homes are beyond the periphery of a library. Offering new way to access story books (print or digital) in the vernacular languages of children who are on the periphery is the next difficult step. But if we believe that reading is essential, that we need predictable access, then we have to find ways of creating language communities.
It may odd to hear an ed techie say this. But books are the best way to shape the future development of all children. Making diverse and appropriate books, written in vernacular languages, and sharing them in schools, public libraries, and homes, and online, seems an obvious route to reading. Yet, there seems very little progress in addressing the reading crisis. Why?
Even et al, in their article, mentions another term – “elite closure”. Myers-Scotton (1993) describes “elite closure” as a “social mobilization strategy by which those persons in power establish or maintain their powers and privileges via linguistic choices”. Ruling elites have for years, had power over schools and universities. English has a long imperial history, offered a means for the accumulation of social, cultural and economic capital. I have benefited from this “elite closure”. I look back at my attitude when I was expected to help others develop their digital literacy. I remember disagreeing with my colleagues, arguing that it was the responsibility of those who wanted to enter higher education, to be digitally literate. Evans dismisses the effects of elite closure on future predictability. I’m not sure if I agree. Have teachers of reading really considered how their own dominant language, their milieu, their cultural toolkit has offered them “cultural capital” or epistemological access. Have they considered adopting strategies to address reading equity?
Elite closure is manifested in other ways. The Central Jo’burg City Library has been closed since Covid. A partial re-opening is happening on Human Rights Day (March 21, 2025). The library closure meant that young readers, who were living in the city, could not access books. For five years, caregivers, who could model reading behaviour to those around them, were unable to go to the library.
Yes, the Lit District does make it possible to get books and bookshops like Bridge Books are doing amazing work in making materials available.
As I see it, we have a compounding problem. There are not enough vernacular or local books written by mother tongue speakers. Libraries (that are open) are investing their efforts in digital capacity development (also in English). So we have lovely (and expensive) books, written in English, and available in bookshops. And we have digital literacy development, also in English. But elite closure means that current readers don’t see it as their responsibility to offer an on ramp to their milieu or (in some cases) to access to the the library . The cultural toolkit and milieu that is needed to learn vocabulary, assimilate information, develop comprehension skills, practice etc is limited.
So, I dislike criticality without agency. Perhaps this is the time for some local storytelling. A bookclub demonstration where we show young readers and (older) care givers how they might use some of these platforms and become pro-sumers. Enjoy the pleasure of doing their own book production. Those who have access and can use devices (and can see the need for children’s indigenous language) can use community publishing to address the book and reading divide.
Alternative publishers have considered how “books” might enable the teaching of basic skills, knowledge, values and practices…in a manner that respects children’s dignity and background”. These publishers are also aware of the need to enable epistemological access in schools, are comfortable with a variety of modes (eg books, mobile or open platforms) and often use Creative Commons licenses to share data, images, and text freely. Their texts are designed to be compliant and accessible. They can be used to address both formal and informal access to reading goods, and because they are “discoverable, accessible, and interoperable”, they can be accessed either by an institution or a traditional bookshop and distributed via wikipedia or digital means. We just need willing volunteers.
To sum up: We know that reading is in crisis. Location, background, access to books at home and at school can help children learn to read at age expectations. We have also know that there are other factors (language, teacher background, the school, parents and community) that influence reading development. While schools, bookshops and libraries cater to the reading needs of urban middle class children, the commercial book chain cannot cater alone for vernacular readers in the majority world.
We also know access to suitable books and a milieu can address the issue. We also have elite closure. Closures can be be addressed. You can assist by writing, illustrating, designing books! You can teach young people to create their own zine (a self published work, created because of passion for a subject). You can create an account on African Story Book Or run your own book making event .
Be interested to hear your thoughts.
References
“About us | Literacy Association of South Africa”. Literacy Association. Retrieved 2024-09-02.
Biesman-Simons, C. (2021-09-29). “Tracing the usage of the term ‘culture of reading’ in South Africa: A review of national government discourse (2000–2019)”. Reading & Writing. 12 (1). doi:10.4102/rw.v12i1.314. ISSN 2308-1422.
Boerma, I. E., Mol, S. E., & Jolles, J. (2017). The Role of Home Literacy Environment, Mentalizing, Expressive Verbal Ability, and Print Exposure in Third and Fourth Graders’ Reading Comprehension. Scientific Studies of Reading, 21(3), 179–193. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888438.2016.1277727
Evans, M. D. R.; Kelley, Jonathan; S.J.; Treiman, D.J. (2010). Family scholarly culture and educational success: Books and schooling in 27 nations. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility. 28 (2): 171–197. doi:10.1016/j.rssm.2010.01.002 . ISSN 0276-5624
Heppt, B., Olczyk, M. & Volodina, A. (2022) Number of books at home as an indicator of socioeconomic status: Examining its extensions and their incremental validity for academic achievement. Soc Psychol Educ 25, 903–928. Available doi:10.1007/s11218-022-09704-8.
Malada, B (2023-11-06). “SA needs to develop a culture of reading rather than boozing”. Daily Maverick. Retrieved 2024-09-02.
Myers-Scotton, C. (1993) Elite closure as a powerful language strategy: the African case International Journal of the Sociology of Language, vol. 1993, no. 103, 1993, pp. 149-164. https://doi.org/10.1515/ijsl.1993.103.149
Prah, K. K. (1999) The Post-colonial elite and African language policies . In. Comparative perspectives on language and literacy, p. 543-555 UNESCO Regional Office for Education in Africa (Senegal)
Shaver, L. B. (2015), Ending Book Hunger: Social Publishing and the Power of Mission-Driven Innovation (November 22, 2015). Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law Research Paper 2015-47. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2694318