A Study of Reading Identities and Reading Ideologies Among Adolescents

• In Event: Poster Session 4
  In Poster Session: Language Instruction and Assessment

Abstract

Researchers are increasingly examining the relationship between identity and literate practice (e.g., Jimenez, 2000; Lewis & del Valle, 2009). Evidence suggests that readers can be positioned to enact good or struggling reader identities (Alvermann, 2001), and struggling reader identities can limit literacy development (Franzak, 2006). Little research has explored adolescents’ perspectives of literacy identity. Using mixed methods, I examined what counted as ‘being a reader’ among youths with largely below-average reading scores on state assessments. Drawing on data from waves 3 and 4 (N~790) of the Adolescent Literacy Development Project conducted from 2004-2008 (Moje et al., 2008), I found that youths have 5 criteria for ‘being a reader.’ I discuss these criteria and their implications for literacy learning and teaching.

Author

• Julie E. Learned, University of Michigan