Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy最新文献

In this manuscript, the authors contend that today's concerns about declining college reading skills reveal a longstanding need to reframe and valorize the “productive struggle” inherent in postsecondary academic reading development. Drawing on historical and contemporary evidence—including the persistent need of college-level reading supports and the impacts of recent policy shifts and AI anxieties—the authors problematize deficit-based narratives in media and policy. By unpacking “productive struggle” within a theory-driven framework and offering practical recommendations, the manuscript invites educators to meet students with purposeful challenge and support.

This discussion-based article provides secondary English Language Arts teachers with strategies using cognitive load theory (Sweller, 1988) by encouraging the use of picture books in the classroom to reduce cognitive load and scaffold literary analysis. Framed as a research-to-practice piece, the article begins by describing the challenge teachers face with teaching analytical writing to high school students. Using cognitivist principles and cognitive load theory as theoretical frameworks, a step-by-step approach with a 9th-grade classroom example is provided for teachers. The provided outline walks teachers through the process of planning and implementing a unit that incorporates picture books to scaffold the process of teaching literary analysis in any secondary classroom while reducing students' cognitive loads. A brief discussion on using picture books as critical literacy levers for equity is also included.

Social media platforms have become central spaces for young people to engage with a vast array of digital content, significantly influencing their identities, beliefs, and behaviors. By examining think-aloud and interview data, this study investigated how adolescents conceptualize social media as sources of news, political information, and tools for identity negotiation. The results informed the creation of a conceptual map outlining how the process of information-seeking occurs through social media texts. Findings revealed a nuanced relationship between young people and social media, with participants conceptualizing social media texts as poor quality, but engaging frequently. While young people demonstrated some awareness of the need to verify content and awareness of algorithmic influences shaping their feeds, they often failed to critically engage with the content, which limited their ability to form a comprehensive understanding of complex issues, potentially hindering their capacity for informed discourse. Data revealed that young people passively interacted with social media texts through the algorithm, though they engaged in reciprocal algorithmic manipulation, where they consciously curated their algorithmic output. This research offers critical insights for educators, policymakers, and social media platforms aiming to foster media literacy and promote informed, responsible digital citizenship amongst youth. Ultimately, the findings emphasize the need for media literacy education to support critical thinking and lateral reading skills, empowering youth to navigate the digital information landscape effectively.

This qualitative case study investigated students' perceptions, expectations, and reflections on drama-based activities conducted in a higher education institution in China. An intact class of 20 English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners participated in a 5-week drama project. Data were collected from a student needs analysis survey, students' dramatic works, reflective writing, focus group discussion, and post-project feedback survey. Findings of the study shed light on drama-based teaching strategies. Regarding teaching content, students' needs revealed expectations of teacher guidance on contextual backgrounds of the work and the author, literary knowledge, language instruction, and comprehension scaffolding. Students' perceptions of performative activities indicate that opportunities for collaboration and creativity facilitated learners' immersion in dramatic activities. The immersion further influenced cognitive, affective, and linguistic capacities, together with enhancement in interpersonal relationships and social skills. Implications of the findings for literacy teaching were translated into a model for a comprehensive approach to drama-based pedagogy.

Research on newcomers' language and literacy (L&L) skills has expanded recently in response to the growth of this population. To inform teachers and researchers, this paper reviewed 41 empirical studies (2010–2022) on high-school newcomers' L&L. Most studies used qualitative methods, working with few participants for short time periods. Four themes emerged. First, studies highlighted affordances of leveraging students' home languages but also identified cases when home language use hindered students' learning. Second, researchers described language scaffolding practices that promoted content-area learning. Third, studies examined the potential of L&L to connect to newcomers' identities and develop a sense of belonging in the classroom, though some studies documented cases of marginalization and isolation. Fourth, researchers found peers offered language support, but successful peer interactions hinged on certain conditions. Altogether, this review offers preliminary implications for practice and calls for research that investigates with increased nuance the potential of specific L&L practices.