Resourcing parents of infants to support literacy learning and development: an examination of textual networks and information pathways Helen Nixon School of Education Hawke Research Institute for Sustainable Societies University of South Australia 1

Conceptual resources Network theory (Law, 2003; Malecki, 2002) Text-based critical discourse analysis (Fairclough, 2003; Rogers, 2003) Social semiotics: –geo-semiotics (Scollon & Scollon, 2003) –visual and multimodal semiotics (Kress & van Leeuwen, 1996, 2001) –semiotics of advertising (e.g. Kline, 1993; Leiss et al, 1990; Seiter, 1995) 2

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CLLD texts in Bounty Bag 1 4

CLLD texts in Bounty Bag 2 5

CLLD texts in Bounty Bag 3 Babycare Book 6

CLLD texts in Bounty Bag 3 7

CLLD ads in Mother&Baby 8

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Emerging, multiple and networked information sources 10

Recurring themes Education is costly, long-term and gives positional advantage Educational success can be facilitated and accelerated with fun educational toys Parents should learn what makes such toys educational Its never too early to become an informed parent Its never too early begin to foster reading- and school-readiness 11

CYWHS Government Health Department Home visit in first weeks Free books at first contact Parenting courses Health checks at 6, 18 and 24 months Website with resources and dedicated expert writers Parent telephone helpline 12

Free health clinic book 1 FRONT COVER BACK COVER 13

Free health clinic book 2 14 FRONT COVERINTRODUCTORY PAGES

Right from the start … loving reading with your baby 15

Parent as pedagogic subject in relation to early reading The pictures in the book have been chosen from what research says about what babies like to look at. They have also been tried out with a group of babies. The text for parents tells you a little about why the pictures and words have been chosen. Reading with babies brings together many of the things they need most to grow and develop–closeness, safety, touch, seeing, hearing and learning about sounds as well as gradually learning what they mean. …. They start to learn about the world and develop their thinking skills from looking at pictures and hearing words with you. Right from the start … loving reading with your baby. Free book issued to parents at first contact with CYWHS clinics. 16

17 hospital Bounty Bag Mother&Baby voucher Target Textual networks and information pathways Publisher Website & other publications/media mother products

Network analysis from situated texts: some trails CYWHS Health Clinic FREE BOOKS PAMPHLETS Parent help-line CYWHS & Parenting SA web-sites 2. Local Library 3. Little Big Book Club 1. Parent Easy Guides

1. Parent Easy Guides: on display; given out at health checks; recommended by CYWHS nurses and Parent Helpline staff 19

2. Local library CLLD resources and story time sessions promoted in CYWHS clinics. Site of access to Little Book Club resources 20

21 Parent guides on how to read to children from birth to pre-school

3. Little Big Book Club: advertised in clinics, accessed via libraries, states daily newspaper & Kraft/vegemite website 22

Little Big Book Club: Its Rhyme Time book and DVD 23

Little Big Book Club: Its Rhyme Time bilingual texts 24

Little Book Club: Little Aussie Reader Scrapbook 0-2 years parent guide & personalised record of rhymes, games & reading 25

Summary disparities 26