English Language Arts Classroom Research Articles

Teaching literature following loss: teachers’ adherence to emotional rules

PurposeThis study aims to explore how teachers changed literature instruction in English language arts (ELA) classrooms following personal loss, and identifies factors influencing those changes. The author argues teachers regulated their responses to literature according to emotional rules they perceived to be associated with the teaching profession. Understanding teachers’ responses helps educators, teacher educators and educational researchers consider what conditions and supports may be required for teachers and students to share emotions related to loss in authentic ways in ELA classrooms.Design/methodology/approachTo examine changes teachers made in literature instruction following personal loss, the author conducted a thematic analysis of 80 questionnaire responses.FindingsThe author found teachers changed literature instruction related to three areas: teachers’ relationship to students, teachers’ instruction surrounding texts and teachers’ reader responses. Responses highlighted how teachers adhered to emotional rules, including a perception of teachers as authorities and caretakers of children. Teachers considered literature instruction to require maintaining focus on texts, and avoided emotional response unless it aided textual comprehension.Originality/valueScholars have argued for literature instruction inclusive of both loss experiences and also emotional response, with particular focus on students’ loss experiences. This study focuses on teachers’ experiences and responses to literature following loss, highlighting factors that influence, and at times inhibit, teachers’ authentic sharing of experiences and emotions. The author argues teachers require support to bring loss experiences into literature instruction as they navigate emotional response within the relational dynamics of the classroom.

“It Made Me Think in a Different Way”: Bilingual Students’ Perspectives on Multimodal Composing in the English Language Arts Classroom

AbstractThis study examined 94 bilingual and emergent bilingual 10th grade students’ perspectives on multimodal composing for academic purposes in their English Language Arts class. A social semiotics theoretical framework was employed to understand students’ views of the affordances and constraints when composing three digital multimodal projects—a hypertext poetry analysis, a persuasive podcast, and a video literary analysis. Qualitative analysis of interviews and written reflections revealed how students overwhelmingly held a positive view of composing with multiple modes for academic purposes. Students detailed the unique semiotic resources of nonlinguistic modes for supporting their understanding of the content and innovative meaning‐making. A majority of students described how communicating through multiple modes offered impactful opportunities to express their bilingual/bicultural identities as well as explore the affective dimensions of the English Language Arts content. Additionally, students explained how the process of multimodal composing fostered peer collaboration and creating meaningful connections to other works and their lives. Along with affordances, students also described a variety of challenges when designing their digital projects, including technical difficulties, uncertainty of expectations, and sufficiently representing their ideas multimodally. This study concludes with implications for how educators can learn from listening to emergent bilingual students’ perspectives when integrating technology in the classroom.

Using Graphic Novels in the English Language Arts Classroom. WilliamBoerman‐Cornell and JungKim. Bloomsbury Academic, 2020. 224 pp. $29.95 paper.

Using Graphic Novels in the English Language Arts Classroom. WilliamBoerman‐Cornell and JungKim. Bloomsbury Academic, 2020. 224 pp. $29.95 paper.

Toward a Bidirectional and Co-Constructed Mentorship: Rethinking the Mentor and Student–Teacher Relationship

Cooperating teachers are vital in the professional development of teacher candidates. Yet, little research has been done to explore the generative and bidirectional nature of mentoring in the context of a student teaching-mentoring dyad—including the ways that teacher candidates are vital to the professional development of cooperating teachers. This case study addresses this gap by exploring the realized potential of adopting a transformative activist stance in relation to the mentoring of a preservice teacher candidate. The strategic partnering of a veteran teacher (Rick) and undergraduate teacher candidate (Daniel)—both committed to culturally sustaining pedagogies—created an opportunity to reimagine the student teaching experience in one English language arts classroom. Through collaborative reflection and artifact analysis, we examine our roles in contributing to bidirectional mentorship that stressed innovative collaboration rather than adaptation to existing power differentials.

Research: An Interconnected Framework for Assessment of Digital Multimodal Composition

Drawing from the Beliefs for Integrating Technology into the English Language Arts Classroom, as well as prior scholarship on digitally mediated communication, rhetorical studies and composition, assessment, and digital literacies, this theoretical article presents a framework for creating and assessing digital multimodal compositions. The Interconnected Framework for Assessment of Digital Multimodal Composition conceptualizes digital multimodal composing through three interconnected and layered domains: audience, mode and meaning, and originality. Though the three domains are defined individually, they are inextricably linked within the recursive processes and products of digital multimodal composing to contribute to intended meaning. The authors describe and justify the domains, present assessment considerations, and conclude with implications for practice and suggestions for designing assessments relevant to context and task.

A Case Study of One Youth’s Stance toward the Discourse of Literary Analysis in a Secondary English Classroom

The discourse of literary analysis is dynamic and ideological, shifting as writers navigate conventions and practices to meet their rhetorical purposes in particular contexts. While scholars have engaged ideological analyses of students learning to write literary analysis essays in university contexts, few studies have documented student writers’ experiences of disciplinary enculturation in secondary English language arts classrooms. In this case study, we address this absence by using the concept of stance to examine how the identity of one student—Katarina—informed her interactions with the discourse of literary analysis as it was understood and instantiated by her teacher. In our analysis of essay drafts, field notes, artifacts, and interview transcripts, we found that the convergence of Katarina’s identity as a creative and emotional person and writer with the possibilities for selfhood afforded to her in this context contributed to her stance toward the discourse. We examine points of tension across two of Katarina’s essays that illuminate her ideological struggles as she navigated the discourse of her classroom. Our findings point to the utility of stance as a conceptual tool for researchers and educators to take a critical perspective on students’ writing processes in the context of the ideologically laden, authoritative demands of secondary classrooms.

“Death of the Author” in the Literature Classroom and John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars

Students in the English Language Arts classroom have access to more author commentary than ever. While following authors on social media may deepen students’ engagement with their assigned reading, it also threatens to subdue students’ own interpretations of the authors’ texts. This essay explains how educators can introduce basic aspects of Roland Barthes’s the Death of the Author manifesto to their students. Barthes’s concept helps students to recalibrate the value of an author’s biography and the author’s interpretation when analyzing a text. Just such a power recalibration takes place for teen characters in Green’s The Fault in Our Stars. Hazel, the protagonist, demonstrates sharp literary critique informed by Barthes’s theory when she engages with most texts. However, she initially rejects the Death of the Author approach when it comes to interpreting one idolized piece of literature: her favorite novel. During the novel’s emotional climax, Hazel repositions herself in the author-reader relationship and takes a more empowered position. She then discovers a new parallel text that helps her to find solace and to reclaim authority from the Author-god.

Controversies, Rivalries, and Representation: Sports Culture as a Site for Research and Inquiry

AbstractFraming sports culture as a viable site for research and inquiry in the English language arts classroom, this article documents an investigation into the opportunities for research and inquiry teachers provided for students in selected secondary sports literature classes. Data collection involved gathering teacher‐ and student‐generated artifacts, observing classroom instruction, and conducting interviews with teachers and students. Data analysis produced findings that account for three distinct research opportunities: (1) contemporary issues research calling for students to explore “controversial topics" in sports culture; (2) a historical synthesis positioning students to investigate historic sports rivalries; and (3) a media analysis requiring students to replicate published research into the representation of female athletes in media. The study contributes to recent efforts scholars have made to advance the study of sports culture and related texts as a viable approach to teaching English language arts in ways that honor students’ interests and experiences.

From New York City to the World: Examining Critical Global Literacies in an English Language Arts Classroom

ABSTRACT In this article, we examine one teacher’s enactment of critical literacy pedagogy in a 7th-grade English language arts classroom in a New York City public school. By conceptualizing critical global literacies in relation to preservice and in-service teaching practices that reflect neoliberal interests, we attend to pedagogy inclusive of culturally, linguistically, and socially diverse learners intended to create equitable and globally contextualized learning opportunities. Through a qualitative case study, we analyzed one teacher’s pedagogical enactment of critical global literacies. Our analysis led to four overarching themes: 1) critically understanding that literacies are always globally situated, 2) demonstrating global relevance to students’ lives and curricula, 3) incorporating multimodal literacies for multidimensional student engagement, and 4) cultivating socially responsive dispositions through critical reflection and action. These interrelated themes demonstrate pedagogical choices that affirmed students’ local lives and experiences in relation to global, international social issues, which are always connected to one another. Findings provide teacher educators nuanced insight into how critical global literacies are extended through critical understandings of literacies, the multimodal nature of literacies, and opportunities for social response, each of which are particularly illuminating for English language arts teachers.

(Re)Active Praxis: What’s in a Name? Language, Identity, and Power in English Education

This article discusses activities and actions for English language arts (ELA) educators to engage in antiracist praxis and humanizing pedagogy through unpacking the common activity of classroom name introductions. The author highlights how learning students’ names can involve honoring nondominant histories of racially minoritized communities. Implications of this (re)active praxis include the potential to sustain marginalized students in ELA classrooms by promoting broader racial and linguistic justice.

Writing as a Minecrafter: Exploring how Children Blur Worlds of Play in the Elementary English Language Arts Classroom

Background/ContextEducators have considered how Minecraft supports language and literacy practices in the game and in the spaces and circumstances immediately surrounding gameplay. However, it is still necessary to develop additional conceptualizations of how children and youth's online and offline worlds and experiences are blurred by and through the games. In this study, I take up this call and examine how the boundaries of the digital were blurred by one child as he wrote in response to a standardized writing prompt within his urban fourth-grade classroom.Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of StudyThrough snapshots of Jairo's writing, I illuminate how he muddled the lines between his physical play experiences and those he had in the virtual world of Minecraft. In doing so, I argue that he carried over his personal interest as a fan of Minecraft into the writing curriculum through creative language play. As Jairo “borrowed” his physical play experiences in the virtual world of Minecraft to complete an assigned writing task, he exemplified how children blur playworlds of physical and digital play in the elementary ELA classroom.Research DesignDrawing on data generated in an 18-week case study, I examine how one child, Jairo, playfully incorporated his lived experiences in the virtual world of Minecraft into mandated writing tasks.Conclusions/RecommendationsMy examination of his writing is meant to challenge writing scholars, scholars of play, and those engaged in rethinking media's relation to literacy. I encourage a rethinking of what it means for adults to maintain clear lines of what is digital play and what is not. I suggest adults might have too heavy a hand in bringing play into classrooms. Children already have experiences with play—both physical and digital. We must cultivate a space for children to build on what was previously familiar to them by offering scaffolds to bridge these experiences between what we, as adults, understand as binaries. Children do not necessarily see distinctions between “reality” and play worlds, or between digital and physical play. For children, play worlds and digital worlds are perhaps simply worlds; it is we as adults who harbor a desire for clear boundaries.

A “Good Game” of Readers Responding

AbstractIn this article, the authors describe the impact of a reader response game in an English language arts classroom. They explore the theoretical intersection of game‐based learning and “good games” and transactional theory as a framework for this practice. After incorporating a “good game” of reader response in classes, the authors found that the students increased both their volume of texts read and their engagement across text format/type and genre. The authors conclude by discussing the theoretical and instructional implications of using a reader response style game in the English language arts classroom and beyond.

How Feedback From an Online Video Game Teaches Argument Writing for Environmental Action

Literacy researchers have explored how video games might be used as supplementary texts in secondary English language arts (ELA) classrooms to support reading instruction. However, less attention has been focused on how video games, particularly online educational games designed to teach argumentation, might enhance secondary ELA students’ writing development. In this article, we describe how the pedagogical feedback provided by one such game, Quandary, influenced two seventh graders’ written arguments in advocacy letters addressed to the state governor regarding a local environmental disaster. We compare these two embedded cases to data from 10 focal students, as well as patterns from 114 seventh graders (in five ELA classes). Based on our analysis of screen-capture video of students’ gameplay, drafts of their advocacy letters, and video-stimulated recall interviews, we conclude that game feedback rewarding or penalizing predetermined right or wrong player moves may encourage students to develop argumentation strategies that are less effective in more complex rhetorical situations and may foster a false sense of competence.

Research: Viral Loads and Downward Spirals: English, Citizenship, and a Context of Crises

This study examines five novice teachers’ perceptions of their preparation, interests, and abilities to integrate citizenship education into their secondary English language arts classrooms. The English teachers in this study highlight the difficulty in promoting progressive, social justice curricula without first grounding that pursuit in personal and participatory citizenship. Thus, as the United States awaits its return to normalcy after COVID-19, this study considers how English teacher educators may anchor courses in ideas of personal, participatory, and justice-oriented citizenship.

Axiological constellations in literary response writing: Critical SFL praxis in an ELA classroom

To engage in critical praxis, teachers of literary response writing need concepts and methods for understanding the efficacy of teaching practices in helping students develop particular dispositions towards texts and the social issues they represent. In this article, the author uses concepts from Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) and Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) to reveal the value positions constructed by 8th grade English language arts (ELA) students in essays produced in a critical literary analysis unit. After reading excerpts from two Harry Potter novels, students compared the main characters’ views on elvish enslavement as evidenced by the passages. This study uses axiological constellation analysis to explore the language choices in essays that constructed contrasting stances towards Harry’s character and the representation of elvish enslavement in the texts. The study contributes to understanding how values are constructed in literary response writing and how these relate to broader sociopolitical discourses, with implications for critical praxis in subject English education.

Critical talk moves in critical conversations: examining power and privilege in an English Language Arts classroom

ABSTRACT Critical conversations take on heightened importance with current tensions about issues involving race, income inequality, sexual orientation, and gender identity, both locally and globally. These tensions demonstrate a dire need for classroom discussions about literature to serve as a space where youth engage in rigorous, critical conversations about institutionalised forms of privilege and oppression and learn how to act as agents of change. To address that need, this study explored how teacher talk moves shaped critical conversations in one U.S. secondary English Language Arts (ELA) classroom. Findings illustrate that the teacher engaged in the following four families of critical talk moves to foster critical conversations: inquiry, inclusion, disruption, and action. Implications remind teachers that using critical talk moves to foster critical conversations involves the consistent practice of critical self-reflection, vulnerability, and knowledge about critical theories and pedagogies.

Critical content knowledges in the English language arts classroom: examining practicing teachers' nuanced perspectives

ABSTRACT Manifest in research, national policy, and instructional standards, the United States has a long-documented interest in teachers as ‘content experts.’ Yet, research offers limited empirical examinations of teachers’ discipline-specific critical content knowledges—their curricular agility in noticing and disrupting power and oppression, and working to promote empowerment, joy, and liberation. Accordingly, this study asks: what critical content knowledges are most prominent among social justice-oriented secondary English language arts (ELA) teachers, and how do teachers understand and describe these knowledges? Using collective case study methodologies, this study investigates interview data from five ELA teachers to understand participants’ critical content knowledges and their descriptions of these knowledges. Data were interpreted through deductive and inductive coding and analysis. Findings reveal that teachers’ most prominent critical content knowledges include a) knowledge of disciplinary critique; b) knowledge of marginalized identities; and c) knowledge of supplementary content. Limitations to teachers’ critical content knowledges include a narrow race and gender foci, and discursive avoidance of explicitly naming marginalized identities. Implications for future research aimed at better understanding, supporting, and expanding teachers’ critical content knowledges are discussed.

The English Language Arts Classroom as a Multilingual Literacy Community

Literacy educators have long understood the importance of designing multicultural instruction for students. However, in an educational context that is both increasingly multilingual, literacy educators are not realizing that multiculturalism isn’t enough. This article focuses on practitioner friendly recommendations for understanding linguistic diversity in the middle grades, designing physical spaces that support multilingual literacy communities, and designing affective spaces that support multilingual literacy communities. The recommendations in this article rely on data from a qualitative multiple case study to describe the approaches that middle schools recognized as Texas Schools to Watch were used to meet the needs language and literacy needs of their specific English Learner (EL) populations.

“My English Is Its Own Rule”: Voicing a Translingual Sensibility through Poetry

ABSTRACT As part of an ethnographic study of a secondary English Language Arts classroom, one teacher took a critical translingual approach to curriculum and instruction, encouraging students to engage in translanguaging and to explore the intersections of language with power and identity. The larger study’s central question was, what does participation in a critical translingual English curriculum bring up about students’ identities and ideologies in relation to language? Guided by this question, this article details a series of lessons that featured a spoken word poem in which the author used English to reflect on her relationship to Spanish and asked students to explore their language practices in their own writing. This article illustrates that while students’ poems expressed an apparent internalization of deficit language ideologies, they also expressed resistance to those very ideologies through the voicing of a translingual sensibility.

Sex and Sexuality in the English Language Arts Classroom

Sex (sexual acts) and sexuality (sexual orientation and gender identity) have become common topics in the news and public discourse. Although sex and sexuality influence adolescents’ experiences with school and schooling conversely shapes youth sexualities, research shows that schools do little to help adolescents make sense of their developing sexual identities. We believe that ELA classrooms are a natural fit for addressing this shortfall. Using the journey of one ELA teacher, we illustrate the ways that issues of sex and sexuality influenced and shaped students’ and their teacher’s classroom experiences. We seek to encourage ELA teachers to rethink the implications of sidestepping issues of sex and sexuality in their classrooms.