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Full-Text Articles in Education
“They Always Make It Right. We Can Do That For Everybody”: Young Adolescents Considering (In)Justice When Reading, Caleb Chandler, Kaitlin Wegrzyn
“They Always Make It Right. We Can Do That For Everybody”: Young Adolescents Considering (In)Justice When Reading, Caleb Chandler, Kaitlin Wegrzyn
Middle Grades Review
This paper draws on Bakhtin’s (1981) notions of discourse and ideological becoming to investigate how adolescents’ experiences with young adult literature and other texts might inform their thinking around issues of social justice. We engaged in a number of activities with the young adolescent participants: thought maps, illustrations of poignant scenes, written accounts of personal experiences, and focus group interviews. Using these activities as our data for this paper, we explain how the young adolescent participants called upon discourses of social justice to engage in the process of ideological becoming. Thus, the paper concludes that texts have the potential to …
Critical Representation: Mattering & Belonging For Students Of The Global Majority, Rebecca E. Haslam
Critical Representation: Mattering & Belonging For Students Of The Global Majority, Rebecca E. Haslam
Middle Grades Review
Critical representation in literature and curricula requires an emancipatory agenda and examination of the ways in which people of diverse racial, cultural, linguistic, and other socially marginalized identities are portrayed, an assessment of how relevant, affirming, and accurate those representations are, and a consideration of the impact on a child’s sense of self and ‘other.’ This essay includes sample audit criteria for critical representation highlighting five sections: Storyline & Sense of Justice; Affirmation & Self-Worth; Relationships Among People; Author/Illustrator Background; and Language & Terminology, all with a focus on ‘mattering’ and holistic wellbeing of students of the global majority. Audit …
Mediators Of Inequity: Online Literate Activity In Two Eighth Grade English Language Arts Classes, Sonia M. Kline, Sarah J. Mccarthey
Mediators Of Inequity: Online Literate Activity In Two Eighth Grade English Language Arts Classes, Sonia M. Kline, Sarah J. Mccarthey
Middle Grades Review
This comparative case study, framed by Cultural Historical Activity Theory and sociocultural understandings of literacy, investigated students’ online literate activity in two eighth grade English Language Arts classes taught by the same teacher - one with a scripted literacy curriculum and the other without. During a year-long research project, we used ethnographic methods to explore the nature of middle school students’ literate activity in each of these classes, with particular attention to the mediators evident as students engaged in online literate activity. Specifically, this article addresses the following research question: What mediators were evident within and across each of the …
Cultural Capital, Agency, And Voice: Literacy Practices Of Middle School English Language Learners, Bogum Yoon
Cultural Capital, Agency, And Voice: Literacy Practices Of Middle School English Language Learners, Bogum Yoon
Middle Grades Review
Grounded in cultural capital and agency theory, this study examines two middle school English language learners’ (ELLs) participatory behaviors in literacy practices in the U.S. classroom. A closer examination of the ELLs’ participatory behaviors through their authentic voices is important to understand for their literacy development. The purpose of this article is to discuss the interconnection among ELLs’ agency, identity, and classroom dynamics for their language and literacy learning. The data sources include formal and informal interviews, classroom observations, and artifacts, including reading and writing projects. Findings suggest that, despite the students’ similar background of race, native language, age, gender, …