FUNCTIONAL USES OF READING AND SHARED LITERACY ACTIVITIES IN ICELANDIC HOMES - A MONOGRAPH IN FAMILY LITERACY

SHARED LITERACY activities and uses of reading were investigated among families in Iceland, a nation demonstrating 2 centuries of prevalent literacy. The research questions were: (1) What are the functional uses of reading in Icelandic families? (2) What shared literacy activities can be identified in Icelandic homes? (3) Do shared literacy activities demonstrate differences when urban families are compared with nonurban families? (4) Do shared literacy activities demonstrate differences when families are compared on the basis of mother's education level? Thematic analysis of naturalistic data from 12 families identified recurrent uses of reading and shared reading activities. No quantitatively significant differences were evident in comparing shared literacy activities of urban with nonurban families. However, significant relationships between shared activities and higher educational levels of mothers were demonstrated, including significantly intercorrelated activities not evident in families of less educated mothers. Further investigation of family activities in various cultural settings is warranted involving (a) extended education of parents, (b) shared activities involving cultural identity, (c) intellectual stimulation employing strategy and analysis, (d) early multilingual exposure, and (e) parental modeling of the association of pleasure with reading.