Adolescent Identity of Failure: Perspectives of Student Stakeholders in a Rural Title I Reading Program

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 22
  In Roundtable Session: Examining the Role of Identity and Emotion in the Experience of Literacy

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to share the tentative results of a qualitative study of rural adolescent struggling readers and their perceptions of literacy, their literate identities, and their experiences in a federally funded Title I Reading program using a photo elicitation interview (PEI) method. Ten participants each brought photos with them to aide in exploring their concepts of literacy and their perceptions of their own literate identities and self-efficacy during four semi-structured individual interviews. The discourse of school, to these struggling readers, has little connection with their literate lives. As stakeholders in a Title I Reading program, these students provide unique insights that shed light on their in and out of school literacy practices, experiences, and personal beliefs.

Authors

• Zoe A Cassady, Northern Illinois University

• Corrine M. Wickens, Northern Illinois University