An Examination of the Social and Cultural Influences on Adolescent Literacy Development Elizabeth Birr Moje Jacquelynne Eccles Pamela Davis-Kean Helen Watt Paul Richardson University of Michigan

Overall Purpose of the Study To produce developmental profiles of “types” of readers and writers in different contexts To produce developmental profiles of “types” of readers and writers in different contexts To produce profiles of types of contexts that support or constrain adolescent literacy development and transfer of skills To produce profiles of types of contexts that support or constrain adolescent literacy development and transfer of skills To offer classroom instructional strategies/interventions based on the observed strengths and designed to meet the needs of different types of adolescent readers and writers To offer classroom instructional strategies/interventions based on the observed strengths and designed to meet the needs of different types of adolescent readers and writers

Specific Tasks To examine the influence of peer, family, community, and cultural factors on the development of literacy skills in both struggling and successful adolescent readers and writers. To examine the influence of peer, family, community, and cultural factors on the development of literacy skills in both struggling and successful adolescent readers and writers. To analyze youths’ motivations and expectancies for literate achievement in different contexts To analyze youths’ motivations and expectancies for literate achievement in different contexts To examine youths’ literacy skills with a variety of texts across a variety of contexts To examine youths’ literacy skills with a variety of texts across a variety of contexts To examine how, when, and why youth transfer literacy skills from one literate task to another and from one context to another To examine how, when, and why youth transfer literacy skills from one literate task to another and from one context to another

Examination of Social and Cultural Influences on Adolescent Literacy Development Literacy Skills in Context Motivations & Expectancies Out-of-School Engagements Transfer Across Contexts Assessments Observation Surveys Interviews Diary studies Observation Textual Analyses Interviews Assessments Observation Interviews Experimental Tasks

A Few Words about Our Design Interdisciplinary Interdisciplinary –Anthropology, linguistics, psychology, literacy, education, statistics Integrated methods Integrated methods –Data Sources/Measures: Surveys, interviews (formal and informal; semi-structured and ethnographic), ethnographic observation, comprehension/production assessments, multiple/expert raters, experiments –Analytic techniques: Bivariate, multivariate; content, comparative, discursive analyses Iterative Iterative

Part 1: Literacy Skills in Context Document adolescents’ literacy skills across various contexts (in and out of school; across content areas) Document adolescents’ literacy skills across various contexts (in and out of school; across content areas) Examine how peer, family, community, and cultural relationships Examine how peer, family, community, and cultural relationships –(a) motivate students to develop particular kinds of reading and writing skills and –(b) shape students’ abilities to navigate different school and social tasks via reading and writing

Part 2: Motivations & Expectancies in Context Test expectancy value model that posits a relationship between familiarity of format, contextualization of activity, motivation, interest, and literacy achievement. Test expectancy value model that posits a relationship between familiarity of format, contextualization of activity, motivation, interest, and literacy achievement. Analyze how contexts, texts, and relationships support or constrain adolescents’ motivations to engage in literacy. Analyze how contexts, texts, and relationships support or constrain adolescents’ motivations to engage in literacy.

Part 3: Out-of-School Engagements Document students’ common uses of literacy outside of school and time spent on such activity. Document students’ common uses of literacy outside of school and time spent on such activity. Analyze the level of cognitive and linguistic complexity offered in each activity. Analyze the level of cognitive and linguistic complexity offered in each activity. Test the level of proficiency with which adolescents comprehend and produce out-of- school texts and compare to proficiency levels documented on standard measures of academic literacy (e.g., NAEP, state assessments) Test the level of proficiency with which adolescents comprehend and produce out-of- school texts and compare to proficiency levels documented on standard measures of academic literacy (e.g., NAEP, state assessments)

Part 4: Transfer Across Contexts Test the amount of skill and knowledge transfer by young people from out-of-school literacy practices to in-school literacy- based activities and vice versa. Test the amount of skill and knowledge transfer by young people from out-of-school literacy practices to in-school literacy- based activities and vice versa. Document patterns in, amount of, and nature of transfer across contexts. Document patterns in, amount of, and nature of transfer across contexts.