City Literacies: Learning to read across generations and cultures (Literacies)

253 Pages·2000·3.61 MB·English

by  Eve Gregory

CITY LITERACIES

‘This is a remarkably timed, different, humane and richly detailed
study. The epilogue is moving and very neatly summarises the
present state of things. The whole book should be widely read.’
Margaret Meek Spencer, Institute of Education, University of London

‘…an illuminating interweaving of social, historical, educational
and personal literacy histories. It is well written, clear and focused.’
Dinah Volk, College of Education, Cleveland State University

City Literacies explores the lives and literacies of different generations of people
living in two contrasting areas of London, Spitalfields and The City, at the
end of the twentieth century. It contrasts these two ‘square miles’ of London,
which outwardly symbolise the huge difference between poverty and wealth
existing in Britain at this time. The book presents a study of living, learning
and reading as it has taken place in public settings— including the school
classroom, clubs, places of worship, theatres—and in the home. Over fifty
people recount their memories of learning to read in different contexts and
circumstances.
Eve Gregory and Ann Williams contextualise the participants’ stories and
go far to dispel the deep-seated myths surrounding the teaching and learning of
reading and writing in urban, multicultural areas. The result is both poignant
and highly significant to the study of literacy.
Eve Gregory is Professor of Language and Culture in Education at
Goldsmiths College, University of London and Ann Williams is Research
Fellow at Goldsmiths College and King’s College, London.
LITERACIES
Series Editor: David Barton
Lancaster University
Literacy practices are changing rapidly in contemporary society in response to
broad social, economic and technological changes: in education, the
workplace, the media and in everyday life. This series reflects the burgeoning
research and scholarship in the field of literacy studies and its increasingly
interdisciplinary nature. The series aims to provide a home for books on
reading and writing which consider literacy as a social practice and which
situate it within broader institutional contexts. The books develop and draw
together work in this field; they aim to be accessible, interdisciplinary and
international in scope, and to cover a wide range of social and institutional
contexts.
Titles in the series:
SITUATED LITERACIES
Reading and writing in context
Edited by David Barton, Mary Hamilton and Roz Ivani(cid:1)
GLOBAL LITERACIES AND THE WORLD WIDE WEB
Edited by Gail E.Hawisher and Cynthia L.Selfe
MULTILITERACIES
Literacy learning and the design of social futures
Edited by Bill Cope and Mary Kalantzis
Editorial Board:
Elsa Auerbach Boston University Roz Ivanic Lancaster University
Mike Baynham University of Gunther Kress University of London
Technology, Sydney Jane Mace Southbank University
David Bloome Vanderbilt University Janet Maybin Open University
Norman Fairclough Lancaster Greg Myers Lancaster University
University Mastin Prinsloo University of
James Gee University of Wisconsin Cape Town
Nigel Hall Manchester Metropolitan Brian Street University of London
University Michael Stubbs University of Trier
Mary Hamilton Lancaster University Denny Taylor Hofstra University
Peter Hannon Sheffield University Daniel Wagner University of
Shirley Brice Heath Stanford Pennsylvania
University
CITY LITERACIES

Learning to read across generations
and cultures

Eve Gregory and Ann Williams

London and New York
First published 2000
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2002.
© 2000 Eve Gregory and Ann Williams
The rights of Eve Gregory and Ann Williams to be identified as the
Authors of this Work have been asserted by them in accordance
with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Gregory, Eve.
City literacies: learning to read across generations and cultures/
Eve Gregory & Ann Williams.
p. cm. —(Literacies)
ISBN 0-415-19115-7 —ISBN 0-415-19116-5 (pbk.)
1. Literacy—Social aspects—England—London—Case studies. 2. Multicultural
education—England—London—Case studies. I. Williams, Ann. II. Title. III. Series.
LC156.G72 L654 2000
302.2'244'094212–dc21 00–024989

ISBN 0-415-19115-7 (hbk)
ISBN 0-415-19116-5 (pbk)
ISBN 0-203-13806-6 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-18244-8 (Glassbook Format)
To our parents, who taught us to value the past

CONTENTS

List of figures ix
List of tables x
List of plates xi
Acknowledgements xiii
Prologue xv
Introduction: poverty and illiteracy—the deficit myth 1
PART I
Living and learning east of the Aldgate pump 17
1 Places and peoples 19
2 Schooling the City 41
PART II
Childhood memories of literacy and learning 67
Introduction 69
3 Literacy for survival 72
4 Literacy for equality 101
5 Literacy for choice 120
Looking back 146
vii
CONTENTS
PART III
Looking ahead: young literacies, lives and learning 149
Introduction 151
6 Living literacies in homes and communities 158
7 Learning the literacy of school 180
Epilogue 203
Notes 206
Bibliography 218
Index 225
viii
FIGURES

Map of the Spitalfields Area of London xix
1 Proportion of bilingual pupils in Tower Hamlets schools 155
2 Number of schools with proportions of bilingual pupils 155
3 Teachers’ reading strategies 190
4 Mrs Kelly reading with group 191
5 Nadia reading with Aisha 191
6 Reading strategies used by siblings 196
ix