Navigating Discourses of Literacy and Identities in Reading Groups

• In Event: 26.059 - Critical Sociocultural Studies of Classroom Discourse

Abstract

Purpose

A sociocultural lens is used in two studies of student reading groups to consider how students’ identities as readers are constructed. We apply discourse analysis to examine what students bring to the reading group, how the structure and discourse of the group influences the students’ involvement, and the impact of discourse on their identities as readers.

Theoretical Framework

Both studies apply a sociocultural view of literacy, acknowledging that literacy “develops within social practices, across locations, and is expressed and refined through participants’ references to specific social histories” (Enciso & Ryan, 2013, p. 133). The studies focus on how the social interactions of the group influence the identities of the readers. One study uses mediated discourse analysis (Jones & Norris, 2005; Scollon & Scollon, 2004) and Van Leeuwen’s (2007) theory of legitimation to examine the discourse of a reading group, and the other study applies Bakhtin’s (1981) concept of dialogical meaning making and Rosenblatt’s transactional theory (Rosenblatt, 1938, 1978) to examine the multiple perspectives generated by the group members.

Methods, Data Sources and Results

Study One

Study One focuses on a four-month study of a third grade reading group using digital resources in a diverse, K-8 school in a large, urban school district. Data sources include video and audio recordings, field notes, transcribed interviews with students, students’ co-created texts, and student logs.

Using Scollon and Scollon’s (2004) nexus of practice, transcripts were compared to identify how students’ histories of participation, discourses of reading practices, and group social processes influence language use in the group. Key findings show two patterns of discourse identified around students’ understanding of those reading practices and their identities as readers: 1.) Students discuss the process of reading by focusing on individual, specific skills for reading, and 2.) Students discuss their experience with the reading group by sharing personal connections and acknowledging a collaborative experience.

Study Two

Data for Study Two focused on a book club comprised of five diverse 6th grade students attending a Midwestern, suburban K-6 elementary school. Key findings include evidence that students came to the group with knowledge of their identities as learners, the knowledge of how to converse about text, and the openness to take up new perspectives. Students demonstrated more interest in the discussion when they generated the questions they discussed.

The primary sources of data were the students’ written responses to the text, transcribed audio recordings of student conversations about their reading, interviews with students, and survey data using the revised Motivations for Reading Questionnaire (Malloy, et.al. 2013). This tool provided insight into the students’ perceived value of reading and their self-efficacy as readers.

Significance of Studies

These studies demonstrate how the discourses and practices used in reading classrooms become the discourses and practices students apply to reading. This points to the importance of continually exploring dominant discourses around reading practices, the impacts of those discourses, and spaces where students’ take up agency through their participation in classroom discourse.

Authors

• Stephanie Rollag, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

• Kay Rosheim, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities