ERIC Number: EJ1058888
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2014-Dec
Pages: 28
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1086-296X
EISSN: N/A
The "Youth Lens": Analyzing Adolescence/ts in Literary Texts
Petrone, Robert; Sarigianides, Sophia Tatiana; Lewis, Mark A.
Journal of Literacy Research, v46 n4 p506-533 Dec 2014
Drawing from interdisciplinary scholarship that re-conceptualizes adolescence as a cultural construct, this article introduces a "Youth Lens." A "Youth Lens" comprises an approach to textual analysis that examines how ideas about adolescence and youth get formed, circulated, critiqued, and revised. Focused specifically on its application to young adult literature, a genre of writing that explicitly names it audience, this article explores how a "Youth Lens" provides a much needed critical approach to interpreting and teaching young adult literature within literacy education, especially given the problematic representations of youth in many of these literary texts. Specifically, this article a) discusses the central assumptions that govern a "Youth Lens"; b) provides an explanation of the lens, including published and new examples and guiding questions; c) presents an in-depth case of how a "Youth Lens" illuminates new possibilities for understanding "The Hunger Games"; and, d) offers specific implications a "Youth Lens" has for the analysis of young adult and other literary texts,approaches to teaching young adult literature courses for pre-service literacy teachers, and secondary literacy pedagogy involving young adult literature and media texts.
Descriptors: Adolescents, Youth, Adolescent Literature, Literacy Education, Teaching Methods, Relevance (Education), Preservice Teachers, Secondary Education, Adults, Age Differences, Social Influences, Cultural Influences, Figurative Language, Social Attitudes
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A