Teen Boys’ Church Related Literacy Practices: Direct and Indirect Sponsorship

• In Event: Roundtable Session 112
  In Roundtable Session: Literacies That Matter: Using Research, Writing, and Pedagogy to Engage Adolescents

Abstract

Though there has been significant research on teen boys and their in-school and out-of school literacy experiences, very little research has examined teen boys’ religious identities and the ways in which religious institutions serve as literacy sponsors to them. This presentation examines the ways in which teen boys’ experience church related literacy sponsorship. Drawing on Brandt’s (2003) concept of literacy sponsorship, this presentation discusses findings from an in-depth qualitative interview study with 21 adolescent boys. The presentation explores the ways in which churches directly sponsor ways of being religious teen boys and how they indirectly sponsor teen boys’ literacy practices.

Author

• Deborah Vriend Van Duinen, Hope College