Literacy in the Home Language

Reading and writing in the home language can be a very complex question, especially if the home language is a low status or a minority language in the given society. Parents' attitudes to mother tongue literacy vary between two extremes: (1) there is no need to learn to read and write in the home language at all on one end and (2) wanting to reach academic literacy on the other.

In order to have a better understanding of the complexity of the issue it is important to establish three different goals in connection with all the languages a child speaks:

• Conversational goal: the person can speak and understand the language, but not literate in it
• Basic literacy goal: the person can read and write simple texts as well as speaking the language
• Academic literacy goal: the person can even study at high school or at university level in this language

When it comes to home language, research is really clear about how literacy skills ensure avoiding language loss. Reading helps develop vocabulary, which is essential to sound like an age-appropriate speaker of the language, not like a 5 year old trying to have an adult conversation. Reading also helps in staying connected to a different culture. Basic writing skills provide an opportunity to stay in touch with relatives and friends.

This, however, doesn’t mean that academic literacy is needed to maintain a (home) language. In my opinion, the academic literacy goal should only be set in the home language if there is a realistic chance that the child will attend school in the mother tongue. If the chance is greater that the child will study in another language or languages, the basic literacy goal should be targeted.

Another question parents often wonder about is in what order they should introduce literacy in the child’s life. The answer depends on the circumstances, but in general I would recommend that they start learning and writing in one language (most probably the school language). Then I would wait with introducing reading in the other language (most probably the home language). There is no need to push the children to learn to read and write in two languages parallel to one another. Reading and writing skills can be transferred easily from one language to the other, especially if the two use the same.

My advice is by and large in line with the Swedish curriculum. Most preschools start teaching pre-reading and pre-writing skills in preschool (förskola) and they officially start learning literacy skills in Förlskolaklass (the first year of school before Grade 1). There are exceptions to this, as there is no set academic goals until Grade 3. Most local governments offer the opportunity to learn home language from Grade 1. This means that by the time home language literacy education starts, children will have learned the basics of Swedish reading and writing skills.

Some tips on how parents can support their children’s reading and writing in the home language:

• Focus on reading and writing in the school language first.
• Choose well-written, linguistically rich and fun books to read in the home language. (I prefer original books over translations.)
• Find literacy based activities and games in the home language (e.g. Dixit, Story cubes, etc.).
• Have a plan about when and how home language literacy will be introduced, but don’t feel that this has to happen when the child is in Grade 1 or before that.