| Summary: | The purpose of this study was to document the literacy practices of three 5-7 year old
boys who were in the formative stage of formal schooling. The study took place in the British
Virgin Islands, a group of 60 or so islands, cays, and islets located in the Caribbean. I examined
these boys’ literacy practices in three contexts — home, community and school. Through
observations, interviews and samplings of conversations at home, I found that school literacy
dominated all three contexts and was used similarly in all three contexts. Additionally, parents
were consciously reinforcing school literacy in the home. The three boys were reading, writing,
speaking and listening at their expected grade level and appeared to be steadily progressing.
Religion appeared to play an important role in supporting the children’s literacy development,
consistent with the country’s Christian heritage. As previous research in other contexts (e.g.,
Marsh, 2003) has shown, home and community literacy practices remain largely unrecognized
and untapped at school.
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