Heightened attention to the importance of equitable educational practices in today's schools reveals a growing number of emergent bilingual students who have not received consistent formal education and may be struggling with overall literacy. Labeled as Students with Interrupted Formal Education (SIFE), these learners require novel educational…

We present an audience reception study of participant reactions to gender-based violence in Issa López' 2008 film, "Casi Divas," chosen for its nuanced depiction of women grappling with several violences. Over three focus groups with 15 adult participants, we used Galtung's conflict theory to explore what participants identified as…

This paper explores the social media literacies of Dakari, a 16-year-old Black teen reader, writer, and activist, within a broader 3-month multi-case study on diverse teens' online literacies. The focus is on Dakari's multimodal literacy practices related to social justice activism and civic engagement. The study highlights how social media…

This paper explores the possible negative implications of teacher selected whole-class reads rooted within the traditional canon of English Language Arts instruction and possible solutions for re-engaging the disengaged adolescent reader through choice reading and the implementation of more culturally relevant texts. Historically, English Language…

This paper describes how the literacy achievement of low socioeconomic status 17 Black male middle school students in one classroom was influenced by culturally responsive teaching. The study employed a concurrent transformative mixed-methods approach. Quantitative data consisted of pretest and posttest reading scores from the computer adaptive…

The authors showcase critical, participatory literacy as a motivator for English learners' literacy development. The urban middle school English learners reported in this narrative metamorphosed from reluctant to empowered writers when they inserted themselves into the local politics of school district zoning. Their investment in the zoning issue…

In this case study, the author showcases a Mexican teen's "testimonios," crossing borders through poetry and art. The author grounds this work within Anzaldúa's "nepantla" (in-between space) and "nepantlera" border artist notions and draws from Sepúlveda's pedagogy of "acompañamiento" (accompaniment). During…

The author explores the experiences of adolescent youths (ages 13-21) through their participation in the Youth Writing Collective (YWC), a free creative writing program sponsored by the local university. For one week, youths attended YWC workshops, where they were invited to write, share, and perform stories from their lived realities. Situated in…

Contemporary school contexts present challenges for novice teachers seeking to support students' literacy development by bringing content into dialogue with students' lives. These challenges, framed as wobble moments, often contribute to high rates of teacher attrition. However, dialogue with peers, colleagues, and mentors can help teachers learn…

Much of the special education research on writing has focused on skill acquisition and remediation. However, a significant problem with this approach is that it does not account for the sociocultural nature of writing or the importance of culturally sustaining pedagogies in writing instruction. In this article, the author uses practitioner…

How can social change become possible when secondary teachers approach argument as participation in ongoing conversations? The authors illustrate how--through writing, speaking, and reading to develop a letter to their principal arguing for a school policy change--secondary students participated in multiple conversational spheres across time and…

The author draws on the ideas of counter-storytelling and critical race methodology to examine the ways that urban, racially minoritized middle school girls create hope in sports and physical activity contexts. Although the passage of Title IX has brought more equal opportunities for many women and girls in sports, racially minoritized female…

This empirical study examines the virtual exchanges between an African American mother and son's engagement in a blog. Using literacy as social practices as a framework, this study describes how blogging was developed and used to create affinity spaces, encouraged apprenticeship models, and shaped agentic roles within their family. Attention…

This article explores the ways in which females who identify with hip-hop often develop and construct their identities in relation to media representations of blackness and femininity in hip-hop music and culture. In order for educators to support female students in constructing identities of empowerment and agency, they should be willing and able…

This article, the first column for this issue's Policy and Advocacy department, features a discussion about a recent experience in a graduate program in Medellín, Colombia introducing students to critical literacy. Graduate students used ideas from critical literacy to engage in an in-depth analysis of textbooks they had used in their practice.…