This article explores the ways "gamification" can play a role in adolescents' development of vocabulary. Gamification involves the application of game-design thinking and play elements to non-game activities, such as routine homework or classroom lessons. Drawing upon data from in-school and after-school settings, the authors…

This commentary addresses the complexities of reading comprehension with an explicit focus on reading in the disciplines. The author proposes reading as entailing multi-dimensional demands of the reader and posing complex challenges for teachers. These challenges are intensified by restrictive conceptions of relevant prior knowledge and experience…

Although immigrant youth make up more than 20 percent of school-age children in the U.S., little is known about how they manage school assignments and texts. In this paper the author presents Tara (pseudonym) as a telling case of a first-generation immigrant youth who is encountering and grappling with academic literacy--defined as not only the…

Meeting today's challenges in education requires more than adopting new standards. We must ask ourselves if our schools are intellectual communities, places where students are challenged to become the creative, collaborative, questioning thinkers we need them to be.

Although the study of place in the fields of composition and education has a long and compelling history, the concept has taken on increased importance in today's digital landscape. As perceptions of places shift, we're challenged to understand how and which places shape who we are. Due to its potential power to leverage student choice,…

This column examines a case study focusing on web design as an example of interest-driven learning and the acquisition of (digital media) literacies. A summer workshop was offered at a working-class public library, led by a self-taught seventeen year old girl. Nine students (ages 8-16) learned basic HTML and CSS and designed their own websites in…

Thousands and thousands of middle school students around the world participate in reading intervention programs, many that are very expensive with limited effectiveness. We wanted to know if an after-school intervention focused on close reading procedures could improve student achievement. Close reading of complex text involves annotations,…

The recent call for secondary reading instruction to move away from a focus on generic literacy strategies to discipline-specific language and literacy practices presents new challenges for secondary teacher preparation. This column identifies some of the roles literacy teacher educators can play in helping address these challenges.

Tour Across America is an interdisciplinary, project-based, multimodal (IPM) activity where students get the opportunity to apply what they learn to a real-life situation while illustrating the interdisciplinary nature of literacy. It provides students with a high-interest, creative platform to review, reinforce, and integrate learned literacy…

This study explored how adults used a self-selected online forum to advance their own and others' literacy practices. The study was a discourse-centered online ethnography using triangulated methods, including analysis of list archives, semi-structured and informal interviews, and document collection. These data were analyzed by discourse…

Increasing recreational reading is a priority in a climate of growing adolescent aliteracy. Raising the social appeal of books has been identified as one potential avenue for arresting this trend. An understanding of the current social acceptability of book reading amongst contemporary adolescents is important in informing an effective approach to…

This article responds to the need for more student voices in digital literacies research by discussing the results of interviews with two college students concerning the roles that their non-academic digital literacy practices can play in first-year college writing courses. The author reviews recent literature that has indicated that value of…

Contemporary views of literacy, and of English and Language Arts curriculum recognise the importance of digital culture and communication forms in many young people's lives and the multiple forms of literacy students engage with as they work, interact and play. Amongst these, videogames, whether played on PCs, laptops, wiis, or on mobile…

A case study approach was used to examine the potential knowledge-transforming role of writing with 27, Year 12 chemistry students'. The study was prompted by changes to external chemistry examinations that required students to write connected discourse, and supported by the chemistry teacher's belief in the instructional value of…

This case study narrative examines the circumstances underlying problems of residency in an affluent Midwest suburb experiencing an unexpected influx of working class African American students. Dilemmas engender a cultural mismatch between teachers and students and discomfort with African-American males. In a controversial climate where students…