title: Learning to Read in Suzhou: Libraries, Cultural Capital, and Inequalities in Suzhou’s Preschool Children’s Emergent Reading
Creators: name: Pan, Fuqin
Publisher: name: University of Liverpool Repository
Year: 2023

description: Since the launch of the national reading campaign in 2006, children’s reading in China has been increasingly promoted by national policy. However, the existing literature on this topic mainly centres on the correlation between school-aged children’s reading test performances and their families’ socioeconomic status or the impact of educational disadvantages on rural children’s literacy development. Little discussed is the uneven start of preschool children’s emergent reading in Chinese metropolises mixed with a large influx of rural-to-urban immigrants and non-immigrants. Social inequality arising from the complex demographic composition is partially reflected in children’s differences in accessing library resources and home reading experiences. While public libraries claim to embrace all children with free reading services and average urban families declare no significant economic challenges in book purchases, some children still have no access to quality reading resources and foster no regular reading habits. In contrast, private children’s libraries have gained impetus from market demand and provide customised reading services to families with ‘advantageous’ financial and cultural capital, which benefits privileged children with reading-focused support. Even less attention has been given to how families without the means to access library resources perceive and practise their children’s emergent reading. Suzhou’s disparate possession of cultural capital contributes to preschool children’s emergent reading inequalities across the city.
This thesis aims to fill this gap in scholarship by exploring from three aspects how preschool children in Suzhou learn to read: firstly, public libraries; secondly, private libraries that operate through paid membership schemes and guided reading classes; and thirdly, through study of children from rural-to urban migrant workers’ families. Drawing on French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu’s framework of cultural capital, the study tackles these questions by participant observation in public and private children’s libraries as well as children’s story times organised by them; analysis of reading environments, business infrastructure and programs offered; and through interview of parents and library staff, for a holistic picture of preschool children’s emergent reading life in Suzhou.
For observers of China, this thesis provides considerations for educational inequality in China from the perspective of emergent literacy acquisition. For educational and cultural policymakers in China, it provides an insight into the gaps between urban children’s reading needs and the current performances of public libraries. Some trends observed, such as the cooperation between public and private libraries to provide reading services to children, may shed light on the improvement of children’s reading socialisation towards a more inclusive and productive future.


摘要：

在苏州学习阅读
——图书馆和家庭文化资本对苏州学龄前儿童阅读启蒙的影响

潘复琴


自2006年官方开展全民阅读活动倡议以来，中国的儿童阅读越来越受到国家政策的推动。然而，现有文献主要集中在学龄儿童的阅读测试成绩与其家庭社会经济地位之间的相关性，或教育劣势对农村儿童阅读和写作能力的影响。然而，由大量涌入的农民工和本地居民混合组成的中国大型城市中，学龄前儿童阅读起步不均衡现象却研究较少。作为一个视角，儿童在获取图书馆资源和家庭阅读实践中的差异反映了复杂的人口构成背景下城市社会不平等现状。尽管公共图书馆为所有儿童提供免费阅读服务，普通城市家庭也表示购买儿童书籍并不构成重大的经济挑战，但一些儿童仍然无法获得优质的阅读资源，也没有养成规律性阅读习惯。相比之下，私营儿童图书馆从市场需求中获得了动力，为拥有优势经济和文化资本的家庭提供所需的阅读服务，让来自这些家庭的儿童在阅读启蒙中受益。无法获得图书馆资源的家庭如何看待和践行儿童阅读启蒙需要关注。大型城市中（以苏州为例）文化资本的占有差异带来的学龄前儿童阅读启蒙不平等现象值得研究。

本论文旨在从三个方面探讨苏州市学龄前儿童的阅读启蒙教育：一是公共图书馆所提供的学龄前儿童阅读服务；二是在兼具图书馆借阅功能和阅读课程的付费会员制私营图书馆中儿童如何学习阅读；三是对学龄前儿童家庭的阅读调查。该研究借鉴了法国社会学家皮埃尔.布尔迪厄的文化资本理论框架，通过以下方法来获得研究数据：一、实地观察公共和私营儿童图书馆的阅读环境、阅读资源配置和阅读活动，并以参与者身份观察这两类图书馆组织的儿童故事会；二、访谈学龄前儿童的家长，涉及三类人群：公共图书馆使用家庭，私营图书馆使用家庭和两者都不使用的农民工家庭。包括他们的家庭阅读历史、现状和相关教育投资模式，全面了解苏州市学龄前儿童的阅读启蒙教育实况。

本文从儿童阅读启蒙的角度来思考中国的教育不平等问题，为关注中国的人们提供一个新的视角。对于中国的教育和文化政策制定者来说，可以使他们深入了解当前图书馆发展现状和城市儿童阅读需求之间的差距。本文也观察到一些新兴趋势，例如公共和私营图书馆合作运营为儿童提供阅读服务，这可能有助于改善儿童阅读的社会化环境，从而实现更具包容性和创造力的未来。