Adult Intermediate Readers' Identity, Agency, and Literacy
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TRAWICK, AMY R., Ph.D. Senses of Selves: Adult Intermediate Readers’ Identity, Agency, and Literacy Learning in an Adult Basic Education Setting. (2007) Directed by Heidi B. Carlone. 316 pp. The purpose of this interpretive study was to build upon research conducted with other adult learner populations to explore the perceptions of adult intermediate readers participating in an Adult Basic Education program. Of particular interest, and unique to this study, was a focus on how these readers attributed relevance to the reading-related instruction they experienced as part of the adult education and parent education components of a family literacy program. Reading-related instruction was defined as any program activity, whether inside or outside the classroom, that 1) involved reading written text and/or 2) included any communicative act (e.g., discussion, presentation, writing, drawing) about a written text. This exploratory, interpretive study drew from a practice theory of identity transformation (Holland, Lachicotte, Skinner, & Cain, 1998) and sociocultural perspectives on literacy (Street, 1984, 2003; Barton & Hamilton, 1998; Gee 1996, 2000, 2005) to investigate how three adult intermediate readers attributed relevance in terms of the identity work guiding their participation in the program and their understandings of reading and the role it played in their lives. Employing a multiple-case study design (Miles & Huberman, 1994), I studied three women in a rural community in the Appalachian foothills. Data was collected over a nine-month period and included individual interviews, group interviews, classroom observations, a Reading Diary, and program information for each learner. Key findings include: 1) pairs of current identities and pursued identities worked together to spur participation in the adult basic education program; 2) these identities were impacted most heavily by positional attributions related to being an Educated Person, which required at a minimum having a high school diploma; 3) participants’ past and current out-of-school reading practices influenced greatly their perceptions of themselves as readers prior to entering class, but once in class, their in-school practices led them to refine their self-evaluations; 4) participants’ out-of-school reading practices and associated cultural model of reading were substantively different from those related to in-school reading. The study concluded that the participants accessed four key reference points to attribute relevance to reading-related instruction: future senses of selves that had spurred enrollment in the program; “stepping stones” that were required in order to realize their pursued identities; current identities; and self-evaluations of their participation in current reading practices (and thus the felt need to improve their reading). Attributions of relevance were filtered through considerations of time, what counts, connections to specific life contexts, and cross-identity impact. This study complements intervention studies involving adult intermediate readers, offering insights into how reading instruction for adult intermediate readers might be shaped in ways that are valued by and are beneficial to learners. SENSES OF SELVES: ADULT INTERMEDIATE READERS’ IDENTITY, AGENCY, AND LITERACY LEARNING IN AN ADULT BASIC EDUCATION SETTING by Amy R. Trawick A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of The Graduate School at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy Greensboro 2007 Approved by Heidi B. Carlone Committee Chair Dedicated to Ben, Hannah, and Duncan and to Magdalene Young Tate, grandmother and champion ii APPROVAL PAGE This dissertation has been approved by the following committee of the Faculty of The Graduate School at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Committee Chair _____________________________________ Heidi B. Carlone Committee Members _____________________________________ Samuel D. Miller _____________________________________ Francine R. Johnston _____________________________________ Mary Beth Bingman ____________________________ Date of Acceptance by Committee ____________________________ Date of Final Oral Examination iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Any effort of this magnitude reflects the labor and commitment of many, regardless of the name on the title page. I am indebted to the staff and students at the Appleton Center for Family Education for welcoming me into their program and to the six women, in particular, who participated in the in-depth interviews. Shelley, Megan, Paulette, Feathers, Belle, and Star willingly and even eagerly talked me through their lives and their imaginings of the future. More than merely providing data, they inspired me with their own efforts to juggle the day-to-day demands of being mothers, partners, workers, and students. I am also grateful to the members of my dissertation committee for their guidance throughout my participation in the doctoral program. I thank Heidi Carlone for her endless enthusiasm for the study, for her expertise in qualitative research and identity theory, and for knowing what I needed every single time I sought her counsel; Sam Miller for always pointing me to the right literature and for suggesting I “take a look” at “this book by Dorothy Holland;” Francine Johnston for her appreciation of both the big picture and small picture aspects of reading; and Beth Bingman for her wealth of knowledge about adult literacy. Finally, these pages would not exist without the very tangible support of my husband, children and extended family. Thank you all for believing I would get to this point. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF TABLES...............................................................................................................x LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... xi CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................1 Orientation to the Chapter .......................................................................2 AEFLA and Adult Intermediate Readers ................................................3 Statement of the Problem ........................................................................6 Purpose of the Study................................................................................8 Research Questions .........................................................................9 Significance of the Study ..............................................................10 II. LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................11 Orientation to the Chapter .....................................................................11 Reframing Motivations for Adult Learning...........................................12 Adult Learner Goals: Current Frames..........................................12 Reframing: From Skills/Tasks to Pursued Identities....................17 Theory of Identity Transformation........................................................20 Defining “Identity”: Identities in Practice....................................20 Figurative Identities................................................................22 Positional Identities ................................................................24 Agency and Identity Transformation ............................................25 Orchestration of Voices..........................................................26 Improvisation..........................................................................27 Self-Directed Symbolization ..................................................28 Ties to the Study............................................................................31 Literacy As Practices.............................................................................33 Literacy Practices ..........................................................................34 Relevant Research on Literacy/Reading Practices .................37 Ties to the Study.....................................................................40 Cultural Models.............................................................................41 Adult Learners’ Cultural Models of Reading.........................43 Ties to the Study.....................................................................46 Learner Attributions of Relevance ........................................................47 Conceptual Framework..........................................................................54 Key Terminology...................................................................................57 v Overview of Chapter III. .......................................................................59 III. METHODOLOGY ..........................................................................................60 Orientation to the Chapter .....................................................................60 Introduction to the Design .....................................................................61 Research Context...................................................................................63 Appleton Center for Family Education ..................................64 Participants ............................................................................................67 Data Collection Procedures ...................................................................71