Enabling Texts, Pedagogies, and Contexts: A Review of the Literature for Urban Adolescent African American Males

• In Event: Roundtable Session 19
  In Roundtable Session: Fandom, TV, Transmedia, and Enabling Texts: New Media and Learning

Abstract

Although a useful framework has been established for examining reading comprehension (RAND, 2002) more work needs to be done to examine how these factors relate to urban adolescent African American males. In this paper I extend traditional definitions of literacy to include a multiliteracies perspective (New London Group, 1996). The aim of this paper is two-fold. First, it examines what we know about adolescent literacy in general and in relation to African American students. Next, it juxtaposes the research that focuses on the interplay of factors that affect literacy for urban adolescent African American males. The research question used to guide this review is: What do we know about the adolescent literacies of urban African American males?

Author

• Yolanda Stewart, The Ohio State University - Columbus