This qualitative study examines the consequential evasive discourse moves 23 PSTs made during critical conversations about a young adult novel. Findings illustrated how PSTs engaged in a constellation of discourse moves--what we've theorized as "shielding"--that disrupted PSTs' critical engagement with sociopolitical content and…

Promising approaches to transforming English language arts classrooms into dialogic, democratic, and critical spaces for literature discussions involve the selection of compelling young adult literature (YAL) and the use of student-centered discussion strategies (e.g., literature circles). Scholars have demonstrated, however, the shortcomings of…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine youth literacy and writing practices in select, contemporary young adult literature (YAL), especially how and why literate activity is sponsored, negotiated or occluded by teachers and schools. Design/methodology/approach: The authors position young adult fiction as case studies of youth composing…

The authors present research findings from a collective case study (n=5) conducted in a multimodal composition course for pre-service English teachers. Researchers studied how a course focused on how multimodal composition influenced pre-service teachers' identities as writers and their stances on literacy instruction. Data consisted of students'…

Few empirical studies have been conducted to investigate the educational uses of graphic novels. Because of this, misconceptions and stereotypes exist. This article presents findings from a study examining the effects of graphic novels on high school students' (N = 217) reading comprehension. A graphic adaptation of a traditionally taught text…