Interactive Literacy Activities. Practitioner's Guide #1

Interactive Literacy Activities, or ILAs, broadly refer to activities that facilitate interaction between adults and children for the purpose of promoting literacy and language development. It is essential to make ILAs developmentally and culturally appropriate for children and to use an approach that integrates various activities in order to foster literacy and language development. Family literacy programs should incorporate explicit training for parents and provide opportunities for practice and feedback. With the proper supports, parents can play an important role in nurturing their children's oral language and literacy abilities and their love of learning. The purpose of this guide is to provide a broad overview of ILAs and to suggest ways to implement ILAs more effectively. After summarizing the research basis for ILAs, the brief describes what ILAs entail and the ways in which they are being used in family literacy, provides examples of ILA activities with a solid research base, and offers suggestions for designing culturally appropriate ILAs.