Research Agenda
Literacy Instruction for the iGeneration. What are the language and literacy practices of adolescents as they use new literacies such as instant messaging, “MySpace,” blogs, and participatory applications not yet known? How can our understandings of new literacies inform in-school literacy instruction? What should literacy instruction look like for members of the iGeneration, and how can we better prepare students for participation in a global information economy?
Research
Selected Publications:
Selected Publications
(2008) “We Learn What We Do: Developing a Repertoire of Writing Practices in an Instant Messaging World.” Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy 52 (3). 203-211. LINK
Abstract: A case study of an adolescent girl provides a framework to understand what factors contribute to the development of a strong writer within an instant messaging world. The study shows instant messaging is one of a larger repertoire of practices. Facility in school-based writing was developed through a school culture that supported writing in the content areas, authentic purposes for writing, modeling by teachers who are members of the writing and arts community, and metacognitive awareness of authorial choices in lexicon, diction, voice, conventions, and mechanics when writing. The author uses the participant's educational experience to develop recommendations to help teachers address the concern of nonstandard conventions appearing in student writing.
(2008). Saying Something or Having Something to Say: Attention Seeking, the Breakdown of Privacy, and the Promise of Discourse in the Blogosphere. Fast capitalism, 4(1). LINK
(2008) “People, Purposes, and Practices: Insights from Cross-disciplinary Research into Instant Messaging.” In Lankshear, C., Knobel, M., Leu, D. & Coiro, J. Handbook of New Literacies.
(2007) “Locating the Local: Developing Methodology for Problematizing the Construction of Context.” In Clark, C. & Blackburn, M. (Eds). Working with/in the Local: New Directions in Literacy Research for Political Action and Social Change.
(2006). “Fast Times and Digital Literacy: Participation Roles and Portfolio Construction within Instant Messaging.” Journal of Literacy Research, 38(2). 171-196. LINK
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to develop an understanding of adolescent use of instant messaging. Grounded in the New Literacy Studies stance that literacy is a social practice embedded in local contexts and informed by global ideologies (Street, 1995), I argue that participation in digital literacies such as instant messaging has implications for how wired youth are being prepared for participation in today's society. By using cultural historical activity theory and the activity system (Engestrom, 1987a; Engestrom & Middleton, 1996; University of Helsinki Center for Activity Theory and Developmental Work Research, n.d.) as the unit of analysis, I posit that instant messaging provides a space for participation in the roles of text producer, consumer, and distributor. Drawing on Gee's (2000a, 2000c, 2000d) descriptions of fast capitalism and shape-shifting portfolio people, I suggest that the 3 text roles contribute to the participant's portfolio or collection of attributes, achievements, and skills that can be rearranged to meet the demands of changing contexts.
(2004). “Complicating contexts: Issues of methodology in researching the language and literacies of instant messaging.” Reading Research Quarterly, 39(4), 394-407. LINK
Abstract: This commentary discusses the methodological challenges of researching the intersection of online and offline activities of an adolescent girl engaged in instant messaging. If the New Literacy Studies stance that literacy practices are locally situated is accepted, a methodology for interrogating the multiple online and offline contexts that overlap in an activity, such as instant messaging, needs to be developed. Specifically, this commentary discusses the challenges of collecting data from overlapping physical and virtual worlds and transcribing those data in ways that show how multiple contexts inform each other. Although the methodological issues remain open, the author suggests that addressing these issues can provide insight into how young people negotiate multiple, simultaneous contexts and activities.
Selected Papers
Behind the Methodological Curtain: Theoretically Driven Decision Making in Research Across Virtual and Physical Contexts presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Diego, CA, April 2009
Invited Speaker: Writing Instruction for Generation 2.0. 12th Annual Xerox Center for Multicultural Education Conference, SUNY Geneseo, NY. March 2009.
Invited panelist to session on Bridging In and Out of School Literacies in an Era of Gaming, Instant Messaging, and Other Digital Technologies, National Reading Conference. Orlando, FL. December, 2008.
Same Activity/Different Outcomes: Using Cultural Historical Activity Theory to Re-Vision Literacy Instruction and Assessment presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New York City, NY, March 2008.
Space, Race, and Social Class: An Autoethnographic Analysis of Readings of Race and Social Class across Two Communities. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New York City, NY, March 2008.
People, Purposes, and Practices: Insights from Cross-disciplinary Research Into Instant Messaging. Part of Symposium “A Framework for advancing New Literacies research: Beginning the conversation” presented at the annual meeting of the National Reading Conference, Los Angeles, CA, November 2006.
Tactical (Re)Design of Cyberspace and Self within IM Profiles. Paper for Symposium on "Redesigning Design: Looking at mediating activities between new literacies and technology tools" presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, CA, April 2006.
The Language of Instant Messaging and the Construction of Middle-class White Adolescence. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, CA, April 2006.
Researching Technology Across Time/Space/Place. NCTE Assembly for Research Pre-conference Workshop with K. Leander, Vanderbilt University; C. Kinzer, Columbia University; D. Cammack, Columbia University; K. Squire, University of Wisconsin, Madison; C. Steinkuehler, University of Wisconsin, Madison. February, 2005, Columbus, OH.
How do we study literacies across time, space, and place? New methodologies for researching online literacy practices. NCTE Workshop with K. Leander, Vanderbilt University; C. Kinzer, Columbia University; D. Cammack, Columbia University; K. Squire, University of Wisconsin, Madison; C. Steinkuehler, University of Wisconsin, Madison. November, 2004, Indianapolis, IN.
Adolescents Negotiating the Tensions Between Instant Messaging Practices and In-School Essay Writing, Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Diego, CA, April 2004.