Table Of ContentReconceptualizing
the Literacies in
Adolescents’ Lives
Second Edition
Edited by
Donna E. Alvermann • Kathleen A. Hinchman
David W. Moore • Stephen F. Phelps • Diane R. Waff
Reconceptualizing the Literacies
in Adolescents’ Lives
Second Edition
Reconceptualizing the Literacies
in Adolescents’ Lives
Second Edition
Edited by
Donna E. Alvermann
University of Georgia
Kathleen A. Hinchman
Syracuse University
David W. Moore
Arizona State University
Stephen F. Phelps
Buffalo State College
Diane R. Waff
WestEd, Oakland, CA
LAWRENCE ERLBAUM ASSOCIATES, PUBLISHERS
2006 Mahwah, New Jersey London
Copyright © 2006 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by
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written permission of the publisher.
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers
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Cover design by Tomai Maridou
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Reconceptualizing the literacies in adolescent’s lives / edited by Donna E.
Alvermann ... [et al.]. — 2nd ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8058-5385-5 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 0-8058-5386-3 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Language arts (Secondary)—Social aspects—United States. 2. Literacy—Social
aspects—United States. 3. Critical pedagogy—United States. I. Alvermann,
Donna E.
LB1631.R296 2006
428'.0071'2—dc22
2005054715
CIP
Books published by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates are printed on
acid-free paper, and their bindings are chosen for strength and durability.
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Foreword vii
Richard T. Vacca
Preface ix
Contributors xi
Introduction xxi
Donna E. Alvermann, Sarah Jonas, Ariel Steele, and Eric Washington
PART I: SITUATING ADOLESCENTS’ LITERACIES
Introduction to Part I 3
Stephen F. Phelps
1 Playing for Real: Texts and the Performance of Identity 5
Lorri Neilsen
2 “Struggling” Adolescents’ Engagement in Multimediating: 29
Countering the Institutional Construction of Incompetence
David O’Brien
3 Re/constructing Identities: A Tale of Two Adolescents 47
Josephine Peyton Marsh and Elizabeth Petroelje Stolle
4 Adolescents’ Multiple Identities and Teacher Professional 65
Development
Alfred W. Tatum
PART II: POSITIONING YOUTH AS READERS AND WRITERS
Introduction to Part II 83
David W. Moore
5 Adolescent Identities as Demanded by Science Classroom Discourse 85
Communities
Elizabeth Birr Moje and Deborah R. Dillon
v
vi CONTENTS
6 Utilizing Student’s Cultural Capital in the Teaching and Learning Process: 107
“As If” Learning Communities and African American Students’
Literate Currency
Jennifer E. Obidah and Tyson E. J. Marsh
7 Adolescent Agency and Literacy 129
David W. Moore and James W. Cunningham
8 Fallen Angels: Finding Adolescents and Adolescent Literacy 147
in a Renewed Project of Democratic Citizenship
Helen J. Harper and Thomas W. Bean
PART III: MEDIATING PRACTICES IN YOUNG PEOPLE’S LITERACIES
Introduction to Part III 163
Kathleen A. Hinchman
9 Self-Fashioning and Shape-Shifting: Language, Identity, and Social Class 165
James Paul Gee
10 Exploring Race, Language, and Culture in Critical Literacy Classrooms 187
Bob Fecho, Bette Davis, and Renee Moore
11 New Literacies, Enduring Challenges? The Influence of Capital 205
on Adolescent Readers’ Internet Practices
Phillip Wilder and Mark Dressman
12 Literacies Through Youth’s Eyes: Lessons in Representation 231
and Hybridity
Kathleen A. Hinchman and Kelly Chandler-Olcott
PART IV: CHANGING TEACHERS, TEACHING CHANGES
Introduction to Part IV 255
Diane R. Waff
13 The Literacies of Teaching Urban Adolescents in These Times 257
Susan L. Lytle
14 Learning from Learners: Student Voices and Action Research 279
Jody Cohen, Cambria Allen, Heather Davis, Bruce Bowers, Elena Darling-Hammond,
and Li Huan Lai
15 Reconceptualizing Adolescent Literacy Policy’s Role: 297
Productive Ambiguity
Lisa Patel Stevens
Author Index 311
Subject Index 317
Foreword
The second edition of Reconceptualizing the Literacies in Adolescents’ Lives is more
powerful—and will probably have a greater impact on what happens in middle and
high schools under the guise of literacy instruction—than the first edition, which
was published nearly a decade ago. The first edition was timely and remarkable in
its own right, making a strong case to view adolescent literacy within a broader con-
text that encompassed a “multiple literacies” perspective. But when the first edition
was published in 1998, other than a diehard circle of adolescent literacy educators,
who was listening or joining in on the conversation?
Just 8 years ago, most adolescent literacy educators were deeply perplexed over
the lack of attention paid to the academic and nonacademic literacies of adolescents.
The emphasis placed on the development of “reading and writing skills” by politi-
cal leaders, state and local school boards of education, and policymakers focused al-
most exclusively on literacy learning and teaching in the early grades and in
elementary school. It was about then that the International Reading Association es-
tablished the Commission on Adolescent Literacy. Through its position statements,
outreach, and advocacy efforts, the Commission positioned itself to create a na-
tional consciousness—an identity, if you will—for adolescent literacy. The Commis-
sion, along with groundbreaking books such as the first edition of Reconceptualizing
the Literacies in Adolescents’ Lives, argued that educators and policymakers must ad-
vocate for curricula, instructional programs, and educational policies that take into
consideration the academic and nonacademic literacies that function in the lives of
adolescents.
What a difference 8 years make! Today the surge of support for adolescent liter-
acy is felt everywhere. As the editors of this edition note in their preface, interest in
adolescent literacy has “skyrocketed,” due in no small part to single-minded efforts
at the national level to hold schools accountable for meeting standards of excellence
for all students, especially for older readers who struggle with a wide range of texts
in various content areas. However, it is my belief that “accountability” alone will
not create permanent or profound differences in the literate lives of adolescents.
Knowledgeable educators, curriculum planners, and policymakers will.
And this is why the second edition of Reconceptualizing the Literacies in Adoles-
cents’ Lives is in a powerful position to impact adolescent literacy instruction for the
next decade or two. The chapter authors tackle head-on the important issues of ado-
lescents’ personal identities, their social experiences, and their cultural capital in re-
lation to literacy learning and literacy use. They provide critical insights into why
adolescents do what they do as readers and writers and how teachers can best sup-
port their literacy learning in and out of school.
For example, personal identities—the self-understandings and perceptions we
have of ourselves as readers and writers in various contexts—are inextricably tied
to literacy learning and the varied ways we engage in literate activity. Allow me to
vii
viii FOREWORD
illustrate this point from my own life experience. Thirty-something years ago at the
age of 23, I began full-time doctoral studies at Syracuse University. I had just com-
pleted my third year as a high school English teacher. Throughout my brief tenure
as a public school teacher, I was continually perplexed as to why my students, many
of whom were at risk of school failure, were “helpless” in the face of school-related
reading assignments. Many of these students, the yong men in particular, could
read Popular Mechanics without batting an eyelash. But just try assigning them a
Hemingway novel!
My concern for these students led me to doctoral studies in the field of reading,
focusing mainly on adolescent learners. My initial motivation for studying reading
was to better understand why older students who struggled with text found it diffi-
cult to view themselves as readers and to use reading to learn. Soon into the doctoral
program, however, I found myself struggling with learning—and doubting my-
self—in ways that my students did. Although I could read a best-selling novel with
ease in 5 or 6 hours, I found myself taking similar amounts of time to read chapter
assignments from my statistics and research methods textbooks—only to come up
short in understanding what I had read. I soon eschewed reading these “incompre-
hensible” texts altogether in favor of taking copious notes and participating in
study groups.
During my first year of doctoral study, I often wondered why I had ever left the
classroom. Six years earlier, I was Richie Vacca, point guard on my high school bas-
ketball team. In college, I was Richie, the “frat boy” and future teacher. At age 23, my
identity was wrapped in that of “teacher”—not scholar, not researcher. I was a doc-
toral student in name only. My mom and dad were impressed. But I was depressed.
Was I out of my league? Not as smart or as wise as my fellow doctoral students, who
in many cases were a decade or two older than I? On more than one occasion, I
thought about quitting and returning to classroom teaching where I had been suc-
cessful.
What I know now that I didn’t know then is that personal identity, what one
chooses to read, how one reads, and why, are inextricably tied to one another. That
first year as a doctoral student, I had experienced an “identity crisis” and lacked the
self-perceptions and confidence to read difficult technical material that for all in-
tents and purposes may as well have been written in a foreign language. Over time,
however, I began to identify myself, not as a former point guard who was out of his
league, but as a teacher/scholar/researcher, and that made all the difference in the
way I approached and read technical texts and research reports.
The second edition of Reconceptualizing the Literacies in Adolescents’Lives is a book
that you will read and reread several times. It’s not Hemingway. But the ideas and
issues encountered are powerful ones that will help educators and policy makers to
understand what it takes to make lasting differences in the literate lives of
adolescents.
—Richard T. Vacca,
Professor Emeritus
Kent State University
Preface
In the nearly 8 years since Reconceptualizing the Literacies in Adolescents’Lives first ap-
peared, interest in improving young people’s reading achievement has skyrock-
eted. This interest, which shows no signs of abating, is being fueled by coordinated
efforts at the national level to hold schools accountable for meeting standards of ex-
cellence for all students, and especially for older readers and writers who struggle
to comprehend a wide range of materials their teachers assign in the various disci-
plinary areas (e.g., the English language arts, social studies, mathematics, and the
natural sciences). Advocacy groups representing a broad spectrum of public and
private interests are getting behind what some leaders in the field are calling the
“adolescent literacy movement” to bring about change through increased funding
for research and professional development. Not surprisingly, policymakers are
finding it increasingly difficult to ignore these groups’ concerted call for improved
literacy teaching and learning in the upper grades. Finally, not to be outdone and in
an effort to claim their own ground in the push to spotlight adolescent literacy, pro-
fessional organizations (e.g., the International Reading Association, the National
Reading Conference, and the National Council of Teachers of English, to name but a
few) are commissioning and adopting position statements that spell out what their
memberships believe should be the objectives of effective literacy instruction at the
middle and high school levels.
As editors of the second edition of Reconceptualizing the Literacies in Adolescents’
Lives, we appreciate the attention being showered on youth and their multiple
literacies, for it is the case in this age of information communication technologies
and increasing global awareness that young people’s learning from and with texts
can no longer be confined to print alone. Many of our colleagues both in North
America and elsewhere would say that it’s about time literacy professionals and
policymakers acknowledge that reading and writing instruction doesn’t end with
elementary school. At the same time, we question the degree to which this new-
found advocacy takes into consideration issues concerning young people’s per-
sonal, social, and cultural experiences in relation to literacy learning.
We submit in this second edition that unless such issues are acknowledged in
terms of their impact on youth’s identity-making practices, much of what will pass
in the name of adolescent literacy reform may miss its mark, or worse yet, harm the
very individuals for whom it holds the greatest potential. To prevent this from hap-
pening and to increase the chances that literacy reform efforts will take hold in ways
that respect youth’s multiple literacies, we invited chapter authors to explore the
impact of young people’s identity-making practices in mediating their perceptions
of themselves as readers and writers. Specifically, we asked the authors to draw ex-
amples from their own research that illustrate the importance of valuing adoles-
cents’ perspectives in an era of externally mandated reforms and accountability
measures that have the potential to change young people’s literate identities.
ix
