taking the pulse of adolescent literacy research 

Jennifer WilsonClayton Leishman

John RobertsonThe University of South Carolina

What are the pedagogical/research recent trends in early adolescent literacy as reported/documented in NCTE, IRA, and NMSA professional journals?

◦ What type of research is most prominent?

◦ How is early adolescent literacy defined?

◦ What gaps exist?

◦ How is our work situated within the literature?

Heurmenetics Phenonomology (Moustaks, date?)

Grounded Theory (Glaser & Straus, date)

Early Adolescence (Turning Points, 2000)

Literature Reviews of Adolescent Literacy (Cassidy, Garret, Bareer, 2006; Roe, 2008)

Journal Selection Article Selection Data Collection Form Inter-reliabity Data Analysis

MethodologyMethodology

Journal selection

Middle School Journal Research in Middle Level

Education Online Middle Ground Voices from the Middle Journal of Adolescent and Adult

Literacy Language Arts English Journal Reading and Research Quarterly Research in the Teaching of

English

MethodologyMethodology

Parameters for article selection

Featured articles Grades 5-9 418 articles Definition literacy:

(New London group)

MethodologyMethodology

Data Collection tool Rubric/Checklist Bibliographic

information Type of research Grade Level Demographic data Categories Summary General Review

MethodologyMethodology

Inter-relalibity (cite) Initial trial form Monthly on

anomolies/outliers/vague

MethodologyMethodology

Data Analysis Checklist data entered into SPSS

Frequency charts created

Collapse data

“What’s Hot”◦ Comprehension (12.2)◦ ELL (13.9)◦ Content Literacy (11)◦ Vocabulary (9.3)

“What’s not Hot, but should be Hot”◦ Critical Literacy (14.6)◦ Diversity (14.4)◦ Writing (28)◦ Technology (13.2)◦ Motivation (8.1)

Fairbanks, C.M. (2006). The role of social and cultural resources in literacy and schooling: Three contrasting cases. Research in the Teaching of English, 40(3), 310-354.

Campano, G. (2005). The second class: Providing space in the margins. Language Arts, 82(3), 186-194.

Frank, C., Arroyo, M., & Land, R. (2004).The ethnography book. Language Arts, 81(5), 368-376.

We agree with Roe, the dearth of empirical on early adolescent literacy

Deepen our of diversity

Rethink how we define early adolescent literacy-move beyond content area literacy and vocabulary and create a more comprehensive understanding

Pilot Study Clear Timelines Consistent Tracking Methods Data Collection (Collecting more quality

data than you think you need) Questions are going to change as the study

evolves Using technology from the beginning and

more consistently