Gateway Moments to Literate Identities

Drawing from theories of identity, language, and race, we conceptualize gateway moments to literate identities in high school English language arts classrooms enrolling language-minoritized youth. Gateways were interactions that afforded particular kinds of literate identities for youth. Deficit literate identities often invoked racialized language and literacy ideologies; authoritative literate identities engaged youths’ full cultural and linguistic repertoires to create and critique knowledge. Occasionally, youth enacted authoritative classroom literate identities alongside or in response to dominant deficit frames of their literate abilities during planned and spontaneous classroom interaction. We note in each type of gateway opportunities for teachers to open space for youths’ authoritative knowledge-producing literate identities. We aim to illustrate how a single instructional choice or classroom interaction ranges in effect from maintaining and reinforcing oppressive legacies and deficit literate identities to centering youth and their language and literacy repertoires in learning experiences for more socially just interactions and learning.

“I don’t really have a reason to read children’s literature”: Enquiring into Primary Student Teachers’ Knowledge of Children’s Literature

Research into in-service teachers’ knowledge of children’s literature indicates there is a powerfully symbiotic relationship between teachers’ perceptions and projections of themselves as readers and students’ engagement with reading as a pleasurable activity (Commeyras et al., 2003; Cremin et al 2014). Less is known about pre-service teachers’ knowledge of children’s literature or their attitudes towards reading and the Scottish context is unexplored in this regard. Inspired by and aligned with the work of Cremin et al (2008) with in-service primary teachers in England, this project investigated the personal reading habits of more than 150 student teachers over a two-year period by capturing snapshots of their knowledge of children’s literature and perceptions of themselves as not only readers, but as readers of children’s literature, at various stages of their initial teacher education. Framed by understandings of literacy practices as socially and locally constructed (Barton & Hamilton, 1998) and of literate identities as fluid, contingent and plural (Moje et al., 2009), this paper also outlines how project findings linked to knowledge of texts for children and reader identity have informed the teaching and learning of children’s literature at university level.

WHAT NO “RUG TIME” SHARING MEANS: REVISIONING CHILDREN’S OPPORTUNITY TO ENACT LITERATE IDENTITIES THROUGH THE LENS OF POSITIONING THEORY

ABSTRACT This paper provides a telling case account of how a child called Charlie was positioned and (re)positioned himself within and across different situational types of classroom literacy encounters in his first-grade classroom. This telling case is based on a re-analysis of an originating study conducted by the author (HARRIS, 1989); and is founded on a history of research based on revisioning archived data records as new theories develop. Providing a profile of different ways in which a child positions self and is positioned by the teacher, the system and peers, this telling case presents a research approach for understanding positioning processes and their consequences for children as they develop literacy processes and identities. To make transparent how the telling case study led to new theoretical insights, this paper makes visible multiple levels of analytic scale and angles of analysis of positioning (ANDERSON, 2009) that were undertaken to make visible the dynamic nature of positioning as understood through Positioning Theory (HARRÉ & LANGENHOVE, 1999; HARRÉ, 2012). This telling case study, therefore, builds a foundation for developing theoretical understandings of the fluid and dynamic nature of positioning in classrooms, and influences of positioning on children’s opportunities to enact and demonstrate their literate identities and capabilities.

“I had to get tougher”: An African Immigrant's (Counter)narrative of Language, Race, and Resistance

Background/Context With the incessant wave of anti-Black and anti-immigrant sentiments, the extant political situation in the contemporary United States presents an ideal space, place, and time to investigate Black immigrant students’ experiences and examine the ways in which dominant racial and linguistic ideologies shape their literate identities and position them in schools and society. While the Black immigrant population overall continues to increase, the Black immigrant student population in United States K–12 schools has experienced a steady upward trend. This student population shares some of the racialized experiences of Black American students but also refects distinctive cultural, linguistic, and literate identities, and experiences that we, as educators, must acknowledge and embrace if we are to help them effectively navigate the educational and social terrain of the U.S. Purpose/Research Questions The purpose of this article is to amplify (counter)narratives that highlight one adolescent African immigrant's (Noemi) identities and languages within and beyond school spaces, to exemplify the ways in which she utilizes alternative literacies to accommodate, and/or resist racial and immigration status-based microaggressions. The study was guided by the following questions: 1) What are Noemi's literacy, language, and identity practices in and beyond school spaces? 2) What are the ways in which she utilizes these practices to resist stereotypes and other forms of marginalization? Research Design Utilizing a narrative case study approach, the article highlights the lived experiences of a single participant–Noemi. Narrative case study allowed me to intentionally give life to Noemi's stories regarding her home and school experiences, the ways in which she has been positioned due to her unique identity, language, and literacy practices, and her methods of resistance. Data Collection and Analysis Data sources included two semistructured interviews and a Venn diagram that consisted of a comparison of the focal participant's home and school literacies. A relational content analysis was conducted using the information provided in the Venn diagram, and interview data were transcribed and analyzed using the constant comparative method. Critical race theory, a raciolinguistic perspective, and resistance theory were considered in the analysis and framing of the resulting counternarratives. Findings/Results Noemi's counternarratives were characterized by three emergent themes: (a) being raised African in America, (b) racial literacies, music, and social media, and (c) race, language, and the sociopolitical climate. Each of the themes and their corresponding subthemes were supported by elements of critical race theory and a raciolinguistic perspective. In addition, Noemi's counternarratives consisted of numerous “clapbacks” (effective responses to criticisms, stereotypes, and dominant ideologies) that served as indicators of resistance. Conclusions/Recommendations Noemi's counternarratives suggest three acknowledgments to be made. First, educators must acknowledge identity practices beyond those seen in academic spaces and tap into the vast metaknowledge of their immigrant populations. Second, we must not lose sight that dominant, hegemonic messages with regard to languages, literacies, and cultures are not only produced by the dominant group, but that they are also (re)produced by the media and nonwhite people to marginalize and maintain structural hierarchies. Therefore, critical conversations are needed with native nonwhite groups to prevent discriminatory practices and maltreatment of immigrant students. Finally, if we are to create equitable and socially just academic environments, educators must acknowledge manifestations of resistance (in its many forms) and use this knowledge to help transform schooling environments in which immigrants, like Noemi, are expected to thrive. They must also identify the ways in which they function as part of institutional norms, to create situations that require students to leverage “clapbacks” in schools.

Examining African American Girls’ Literate Intersectional Identities Through Journal Entries and Discussions About STEM

This article examines how three African American girls, ages 10 to 18, used journaling and interviews to better understand science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) as part of their literate identities. Drawing on prior work about literate identities, the authors introduce the concept of literate intersectional identities, which describes how participants’ diverse histories, literacies, and identities traverse categories, communities, genres, and modes of meaning within the context of a STEAM workshop. The authors employed open and thematic coding to analyze the girls’ journal entries in an effort to answer a question: In what ways do African American girls’ journal writings and interviews about STEM reflect and influence their literate identities in a digital app coding workshop? Findings reveal how their writings about race, access, and the underrepresentation of women of color in STEM helped them make sense of their self-assurance, self-awareness, and agency as girls of color interested in STEM careers.

Identity, Agency and Imagination in Literacy Acquisition Narratives of Northern Cape Teachers

In South Africa and internationally, studies using post-structuralist frameworks and social theory have thrown light on the roles played by identity and the imagination and by school and the broader society in literacy acquisition. This article contributes to research on these themes, analysing extracts from literacy acquisition narratives written by language teachers in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. It explores the development of identity and agency that occurred through teachers’ experiential and imaginative engagement in communities of literate practice and concludes that the findings have pedagogical implications. Against the background of themes identified across 25 essays, extracts from four narratives are examined in detail, using concepts such as identity and community of practice. The analysis suggests that strong literate identities are rooted in literacy events and practices of home and neighbourhood communities, and in agency born out of experiences of difference encountered in society and through the imagination. It argues that such findings can be used to move teaching away from sterile and authoritative methods into more critical and participative pedagogies.