Teenagers, Literacy and School - Researching in Multilingual Contexts (Hardcover)

This unique and timely book follows the experiences of students form ethic minority backgrounds, focusing on the role of literacy in daily life and the differences between the home and school. The author looks at the conflict between expectations and practices at school and in the home, arguing that problems are inevitable where class and cultural differences exist.
The book follows the cases of four Arabic teenagers, their families and community to explore the roles of literacy in their daily lives. Emerging themes are:
- how literacy practices in the community are undergoing rapid change due to global developments in technology;
- how the patterns of written and spoken language in English and Arabic in the homes are linked with social practices in logical and coherent ways;
- how many of the family practices, that differ from schools' culture and language, become marginalized.
With its accessible style and theoretical grounding, this book will be highly relevant to teachers working in multicultural contexts, students and lecturers in language/literacy or on TESOL courses and academics and researchers.