Influence of Social and Cultural Factors on Adolescent Literacy Development

1. An Examination of the Social and Cultural Influences on Adolescent Literacy Development Elizabeth Birr Moje Jacquelynne Eccles Helen Watt Paul Richardson Oksana Malunchuk Melanie Overby Tehani Collazo University of Michigan

2. Literacy Model Word knowledge, vocabulary knowledge, background knowledge, linguistic/textual knowledge,strategy use, inference-making abilities, motivation, identity Text structure, vocabulary, print style and font, discourse, genre, register Text Reader Broader Context Broader Context comprehension Cultural models, institutional practices, sociopolitical regimes, etc. Context Environment, purpose, social relations, cultural norms (e.g., schools, families, peer groups, academic content areas)

3. Surveys, SS Interviews, Ethnographic Interviews, Observations, Time Diaries, Artifacts, Text Analyses Surveys, SS Interviews, Observations, Time Diaries Motivation in Contexts Literacy Practices In Contexts Examination of Social and Cultural Influences on Adolescent Literacy Development Literacy Skills in Contexts Transfer Across Contexts Assessments, Interviews, Observations, Text Analyses Experimental tasks, observations, interviews, artifacts

4. Samples • Secondary Analyses • Michigan Study of Adolescent and Adult Life Transitions (MSALT) • Childhood and Beyond (CAB) • Maryland Adolescent Development in Context Study (MADICS) • Panel Study on Income Dynamics-Child Development Supplement (PSID-CDS) • Primary Analyses • Southwest Detroit Study (SDS) • Approx. 750 6, 8, and 9th grade students (followed each year for 4 years) in 3 public schools and 1 private school** • Subsamples (from 30-100 youth) studied via daily diaries, semi-structured interviews, reading and writing process interviews, and on-going ethnography

5. Data collection/analyses to date • Surveyed ~200 6th & 8th –graders; ~100 9th –graders in southwest Detroit • Ethnographic primary data collection in and out of schools • Mixed-methods secondary data analyses of the stability and role of voluntary reading through adolescence in relation to post-secondary educational participation (MADICS data) • Quantitative analysis of relationship between literate activity and postsecondary achievement, civic engagement, and psychological adjustment (MADICS data) • Initial analyses of southwest Detroit data • Cluster analyses of activity engagement out of school • Factor analyses of types of texts read • Qualitative content analyses of nominated texts • Cluster analyses of ethnic identity and relation to text choices • Initial coding of reading diagnostic data • Quantitative analysis of PSID-CDS data on relationship between time spent reading, value of reading in school, and reading achievement

6. Findings PGC: Voluntary Reading and Post-Secondary Educational Participation • Voluntary reading in early adolescence has benefits (over and above reading ability) for level of postsecondary educational participation 7 years later • Girls read more than boys in early adolescence (but not later) • European Americans read more than African Americans in this sample, although this difference was fully mediated by higher reading scores for EA (as measured by CAT reading in grade 5) • Voluntary reading serves a variety of purposes and has affects on identity development beyond those documented in survey and achievement measures

7. Findings: Detroit Survey and Ethnographic Analyses • Participants’ responses to reading reflect an intersection of ethnicity, experiences as urban dwellers, and relationships • When asked explicitly about their reading choices, the youth talk overwhelmingly about the books being “real” or “teaching you things.” • The young women in the sample tend to read books, particularly literary texts, and the young men tend to read informational text, particularly Internet texts and/or print magazines. 77% of survey respondents nominated a favorite book by name (n = 251) • The young women have increased book reading over time/development.

8. Findings: Ethnographic Primary Analyses

9. Exemplar: Popular cultural texts The Homies are a group of tightly knit Chicano buddies who have grown up in the Mexican American barrio (neighborhood ) of "Quien Sabe,” (who knows ) located in East Los Angeles. The four main characters are Hollywood, Smiley, Pelon, and Bobby Loco. Their separate and distinct personalities and characteristics together make up a single, composite entity that is the "HOMIES." In an inner-city world plagued by poverty, oppression, violence, and drugs, the Homies have formed a strong and binding cultural support system that enables them to overcome the surrounding negativity and allows for laughter and good times as an anecdote for reality. The word "Homies" itself is a popular street term that refers to someone from your hometown or, in a broader sense, anyone that you would acknowledge as your friend. In use in the West Coast Latino community for decades, the word "Homies" has crossed over into the now mainstream Hip-Hop street culture that has taken America's young people by storm. -Dave Gonzales [creator of Homies]

13. Conclusions and On-Going Analyses: • Young people in the community are reading, but how much, how often, in what depth? • Increased book reading among girls needs to be studied in a normative sample: Is this a trend among a small number of girls? • Boys reading informational texts; again, is this normative? • How difficult are these texts? (e.g., vocabulary load, linguistic structures, etc.) • What do they “get” from what they read? • What are students learning from these texts? • How are texts shaping identities as readers, writers, students?