The Complex World of Adolescent Literacy: Myths, Motivations, and Mysteries

Abstract

In this article, Elizabeth Birr Moje, Melanie Overby, Nicole Tysvaer, and Karen Morris challenge some of the prevailing myths about adolescents and their choices related to reading. The reading practices of youth from one urban community are examined using mixed methods in an effort to define what, how often, and why adolescents choose to read. By focusing on what features of texts youth find motivating, the authors find that reading and writing frequently occur in a range of literacy contexts outside school. However, only reading novels on a regular basis outside of school is shown to have a positive relationship to academic achievement as measured by school grades. This article describes how adolescents read texts that are embedded in social networks, allowing them to build social capital. Conclusions are framed in terms of the mysteries that remain -namely, how to build on what motivates adolescents' literacy practices in order to both promote the building of their social selves and improve their academic outcomes.It is popular these days to raise concerns about the adolescent literacy crisis. But what does it mean, really, to talk about adolescent literacy? Who are adolescents? What is literacy? What is a crisis? In our work with young people across a variety of spaces, contexts, and social, racial, and ethnic groups, we have noted both vastly different and remarkably similar approaches to skills in reading and writing a range of different texts. We find, in fact, that even within a tightly defined population of young people in one neighborhood, a predominantly Latino/a community in a large midwestern city, many different ways of and reasons for reading and writing can be discerned. We posed specific questions to the youth participants of our study, which are discussed throughout this article. Consider, for example, their responses to the interview question, "Why do you read what you read?"• My uncle wants to take me to hunting classes so he gave me his hunting books, so I could start reading them. I just started reading them yesterday … It's 'cause I never went hunting before so I can just do something for fun that I could do with my uncle, instead of just feeling left out 'cause he always talks about hunting, and he likes to go hunting and he likes to hunt for deers and stuff, so now I can, like, talk to him about that too.• Mysteries, because I like -it's so fun how they investigate and then, like, you try to guess who it is, and then sometimes you're right, and at the end it tells if you were right. And then you get so excited, like, "Oh yeah, I was right," you know.• For fun, see, 'cause my dad sometimes brings in magazines -newspapers, I mean. The Latin newspapers, like maybe once a month or something … I would just go to the sports section and see what's up and that's it … NIH Public Access NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript• Well, one, just Bill Clinton's book is real big, so I figure, "Hey, I could tackle that one." A Lesson Before Dying (Gaines, 1997)...

“I'd Still Prefer to Read the Hard Copy”: Adolescents’ Print and Digital Reading Habits

“…The reading habits of children also change as they mature into adolescents, with preferences for different kinds of books and different approaches to reading (Appleyard, 1991). However, pleasure remains an important motivation for adolescents, and students are motivated to read when they have a wide variety of books to choose from and see value in reading (Moje et al, 2008).…”

“…Research has shown that reading is also very much a social activity for adolescents. Adolescents are motivated to read when they have good reasons to, which includes reading to interact with others in their social networks (Moje et al, 2008). Adolescents are also more likely to talk about books when they have been frequently exposed to books and have peers who are similarly interested in reading (Merga, McRae, & Rutherford, 2018).…”

“…Reading in print refers to reading on paper, whereas reading in digital formats refers to online reading, whether on a smartphone, tablet, or computer. We limit our focus to the reading of continuously linear texts, whether in the form of fiction or nonfiction, as the reading of these texts correlates to academic achievement (Moje, Overby, Tysvaer, & Morris, 2008). More importantly, we are interested in engaged reading because it correlates with improved reading proficiency, academic achievement, and learning, This is because engaged readers are motivated to read independently, spend more time reading for pleasure, and are diversified in their reading, whether in print or online (Kirsch et al, 2002).…”

Connected Reading: A Framework for Understanding How Adolescents Encounter, Evaluate, and Engage With Texts in the Digital Age

“…The line of inquiry into students' out-of-school reading has helped the field more fully and authentically understand teens' reading lives. For example, Moje, Overby, Tysvaer, and Morris (2008) Smith and Wilhelm's (2002) and Moje et al 's (2008) work revealed that in-depth, mixed-methods approaches, including talking to teens about their reading, can yield rich data about their authentic reading practices.…”

High School Content-Area Teachers’ Responces to an Exploratory, Investigative, and Experimental Professional Development Program for Content Area Literacy

“…In the past 10 years, this push has been especially strong in the field of adolescent content area literacy as evidenced by the proliferation of research, commentaries and national attention on the topic (e.g., Alvermann, 2002;Birr Moje, Overby, Tysvaer, & Morris, 2008;Edmonds et al, 2009;Ehren, 2009;Hasselbring, 2007;Jacobs, 2008;Moore, Bean, Birdyshaw, & Rycik, 1999;Polkinghorne, Hagler, & Anderson, 2010;Shanahan & Shanahan, 2012;Vaughn et al, 2011).…”