Challenging Boundaries for Multimodality in School: An Adolescent Male Analyzes Access, Literacies, and Social Practices

• In Event: 66.080 - Roundtable Session 26
  In Roundtable Session: 66.080-13 - Multiliteracies and Multimodal Approaches to Young Adult Authors

Abstract

Multimodal research and understandings related to tensions among traditional school-based literacy practices and adolescents’ multimodal practices and preferences continue to emerge. Colin (pseudonym), a high school senior, believed school had little value; he lacked motivation to participate in many classes. Colin’s qualitative case study uses ethnographic and multimodal methods to explore the complexities among his literacies across contexts, multimodal preferences, and his struggle for access in school. I describe the participant-responsive design that interested Colin, specifically his role as a knowing collaborator to lead discussions, create and select artifacts, and review and interpret data. Findings inform adolescent socialization, cross-contextual literacy research, teacher education and professional development, adolescents as empowered learners, and adolescent responses to school curriculum and adult relationships.

Author

• Julie Frear Schappe, The Pennsylvania State University