Guiding young children's participation in early literacy development: A family literacy program for adolescent mothers

Much literature has focused on the tragic consequences of adolescent parenting. This. paper describes an intervention approach designed to enhance intersubjectivity between adolescent mothers and children. It proposes that a model based on the theory of guided participation (Rogoff, 1990) may enhance mothers' sensitivity to their child's learning processes. Further, as mothers become more adept in their communicative interactions with their children, their guidance varies according to the context of the activity. Videotape analyses of mothers' exchanges with their children over 12 one-hour sessions in three contexts (reading stories, teaching a goal-directed task, and playing with children) in the day-care center indicated that maternal interactions tended to emphasize different facets of the learning process. On the basis of these findings, it is argued that engaging parents and children in mutual activities that include book reading, but are not limited to it, may constitute the richest potential for supporting children's early literacy development.