Reading Matters Winter 2019

The Importance of Identity: Integrating Adolescent Students’ Identity in the Classroom through Literacy-Based Practices and Student Choice

By Leslie D. Roberts, Clemson University

Reading Matters Choice Matters

The Importance of Identity McCarthy and Moje (2002) suggest that “[i]dentity shapes the way individuals make sense of world and their experiences in it, including their experiences with texts” (p. 228). Identity is the way that we are perceived by others and it outlines the ways that others interact with us, depending on our understanding of our own identity. Students may treat one another in a certain way depending upon the perceived identity of their peers. Adolescent students’ identity, however, is complex and ever-changing because it is heavily influenced by their social interactions with others, or by their exposure to various spaces (Black, 2009; Faircloth, 2012; Gutiérrez, 2008; Hall, Johnson, Juzwik, Wortham, & Mosley, 2010; McCarthy & Moje, 2002). Adolescent students’ identity can be fluid as they move from space to space and interact with a variety of people. Research and teaching experience suggest the positive effects of integrating a student’s’ identity in the classroom (Bakhtin, 1981; Holland, Skinner, Lachicotte, & Cain, 1998; McCarthey & Moje, 2002; Vygotsky, 1978). When students are able to personally identify and make a connection with classroom instruction and learning, they are more likely to participate, appreciate the relevance to their everyday lives, and possess a higher value of learning (Ivey, 1999; Wigfield & Eccles, 2000). Students often express their identity through literate practices both in and outside the classroom. Therefore, the integration of students’ identity in the classroom could afford teachers the opportunity to support their students’ literary practices and instill a greater value of learning. The Relationship between Identity and Literacy Researchers describe literacy as a social phenomenon, something that individuals cannot participate in nor practice in isolation (Bakhtin, 1981; New London Group, 1996; Street, 1984). Further, the general idea of literacy and literate practices has advanced from the language modes of reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Literacy and literate practices, known as the ‘new literacies’, encapsulate areas such as digital literacy, computer literacy, media literacy, information literacy, technology literacy, visual literacy, multimodal literacy, and multicultural literacy (Gee, 1996; Hall et al., 2010; Lankshear & Knobel, 2011; Leu, Everett-Cacopardo, Zawilinski, McVerry, & O’Byrne, 2007; New London Group, 1996; Williams, 2008). It is important to note that this list of new literacies is not all-encompassing. Just as technology improves and is refined, the definitions of literacy and literate practices are also improved and refined: “The

new literacies are not just new today, they will be even newer tomorrow and even newer next week” (Leu et al., 2007, p. 38).

Adolescent students often voluntarily participate in various literate practices both in and outside of school on a daily basis. These literate practices, which often accompany informal social interactions, are often the vehicle adolescent students choose to represent their identity (Bartlett, 2007; Gee, 1996, Knobel & Lankshear, 2014; McCarthy & Moje, 2002; Moje, 2000). Because there is such a wide milieu of socially-based, multimodal literate practices, students often use these practices as a way to construct their identities in relation or opposition to the constraints of gender, race, culture, and social class (McCarthy & Moje, 2002). As adolescent students mature and refine their literacy skills, so too does their identity shift in refinement as well. Therefore, in order to support adolescent students’ growth in literacy, it is advantageous to integrate their identity within literary practices and literacy instruction in the classroom. Integrating Students’ Identity through Literacy-Based Practices Adolescent students often undergo numerous shifts in their identity development. This creates the perfect opportunity for teachers to help mediate the process of students’ identity development through the implementation of literacy-based practices in the classroom. Using texts to integrate student’s identity in the classroom. A commonly known practice that teachers use to incorporate students’ identity in the classroom is to choose texts based on their supposed perception of their students’ identities. However, some teachers may find this to be a difficult task considering how multifaceted many of their students are. For reluctant readers who are hesitant to choose their own books, teachers could choose books for their middle/secondary students that portray a more general theme, plot, or protagonist that many students could relate to (McCarthy & Moje, 2002). For example, the theme of the struggle of finding one’s self is a generalized theme that many adolescent students could connect. Common themes found in middle school literature such as acceptance, family, courage, perseverance, friendship, loyalty, compassion, etc. could inspire students to connect these themes to an instance in their own life for a future writing project or other extension. Considering the fluctuating nature of adolescent students’ identity, introducing students to books they cannot personally identify with at the current time does not necessarily mean

| 14 | Reading Matters | Volume 19 • Winter 2019 | scira.org

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