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High school students’ literacy practices and identities, and the figured world of school
Author(s) -
Luttrell Wendy,
Parker Caroline
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
journal of research in reading
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.077
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1467-9817
pISSN - 0141-0423
DOI - 10.1111/1467-9817.00146
Subject(s) - ethnography , curriculum , literacy , reading (process) , pedagogy , psychology , opposition (politics) , family literacy , literacy education , mathematics education , sociology , politics , linguistics , political science , philosophy , anthropology , law
Conventional wisdom holds that American teenagers do not read or write – that they are a media‐driven group who prefer movies, television and playing video games. Ethnographic data gathered in the High School Literacy Project, a study of four North Carolina high schools, showed a far different picture of teenage literacy. This paper reports on partial findings of the larger study and argues that students use their literacy practices to form their identities within, and sometimes in opposition to, the figured worlds of school, work and family. Many students look to school to provide formal literacy experiences, but find their reading and writing passions at odds with the demands of the school curriculum.