UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI Date:___________________ I, _________________________________________________________, hereby submit this work as part of the requirements for the degree of: in: It is entitled: This work and its defense approved by: Chair: _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ “Getting it Right” and “Keeping it Real”: Using Narrative Soundtracks As a Transmediatory Activity in a Secondary School A Dissertation submitted to the Division of Graduate Studies and Research Of the University of Cincinnati In partial fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in the Division of Teacher Education Literacy Program College of Education 2007 Angela Maria Miller B. S. Xavier University, 1987 M. Ed. Xavier University, 1992 Committee: Dr. Robert Burroughs (chair) Dr. Keith Barton Dr. Holly Johnson Dr. Eric Paulson 1 ABSTRACT There are many learners who find it difficult to navigate in strictly verbocentric classrooms where reading and writing are the central, and sometimes only, means by which students can explore and construct meaning, as well as express their understanding of literary texts. This qualitative study focused on two English classrooms in a secondary school where students were encouraged to utilize alternative response activities in order to make connections to literary texts. One class consisted of advanced placement eleventh grade students; the other class included eleventh and twelfth grade students who had been identified as “struggling” readers, based on their inability to pass the State Graduation Test. The study’s purpose was to establish and compare the types of connections the two classes of secondary students made with literary texts when they were asked to create a musical soundtrack and accompanying narrative for an assigned literary text. It also investigated how other alternative reader response activities (e.g., drawing visual texts, creating dramatizations) were received by the students as part of the ongoing curricular conversations in the classrooms. The data were collected, organized, and analyzed using a case study approach to qualitative research. The data included a teacher interview, individual student and focus group interviews, observational field notes, and student artifacts. The main objective of the analyses was to assemble comprehensive, organized, and thorough accounts of each class. Data from the interviews and observational field notes were initially analyzed using analytic induction (Bogdan & Biklen, 2003; Strauss & Corbin, 1990). The data gathered from the students’ musical response activities were analyzed based on categories that emerged through open coding (Strauss & Corbin, 1990) during a pilot study. All data 2 were later analyzed deductively in order to consider and confirm the patterns and themes that resulted from the first two phases of data analysis. Findings suggested there were significant differences between the advanced placement class and the State Graduation Test recovery class. First, the curricular organization of the two classes differed. While the advanced placement class had five consistent classroom episodes, these were flexible and included a variety of alternative response activities. The State Graduation Test recovery class, however, had only four classroom episodes that were more rigid in both content and timing, allowing only limited opportunities for the implementation of response activities. As a result of the differences in the planned and enacted curriculum for both classes, the students’ understandings of the received curriculum, including the response activity, were also dissimilar. The advanced placement students were primarily interested in creating a soundtrack product that reflected a literary analysis of the text consistent with the types of curricular conversations that occurred in the classroom. The State Graduation Test recovery students, however, were more concerned with the collaborative process, resulting in soundtracks that included more personal responses and aesthetic commentary on both the text and the music. 3 [blank page] 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to begin by thanking the chair of my committee, Dr. Robert Burroughs. Bob has provided constant support as not only my academic advisor and mentor, but also as a sounding board and friend. Without our many discussions, both the scheduled office visits and the impromptu meetings, this project would have been impossible. I would also like to thank the members of my committee: Dr. Keith Barton, Dr. Holly Johnson, and Dr. Eric Paulson. Their expert advice on various aspects of my dissertation study has provided me with a forum for thinking more critically and carefully. They have been very generous with their time and resources, both individually and collectively. I want to recognize my fellow doctoral students: Sonya Armstrong, Delane Bender-Slack, and Mary Pat Raupach. Due in great part to the academic collaboration and enduring friendship we have built, these three years of doctoral study were a time of great personal and professional growth. I will miss our “working lunches” and our dissertation-writing group. I am honored to have had the opportunity to know these incredible, intelligent women. I also wish to acknowledge the entire faculty and staff in the Education Department at the College of Mount Saint Joseph for their patience and guidance during my three years of doctoral study. I am most appreciative of the kindness, support, and understanding extended over the years. I thank my friend, Dr. John DeFoor, for his willingness to read multiple drafts of my work and discuss it ad nauseum. I am grateful in a most powerful way for my parents, Larry and Marie Ashford, and my sister, Andrea Ashford, who were steady sources of encouragement. Their unwavering faith in my ability to complete my doctoral studies humbles me. Though I dare to reach for the stars, their love grounds me always. Last, and most importantly, I want to thank my husband, Tim. His willingness to sustain, encourage, and uplift me throughout this process knew no bounds. I also wish to acknowledge in a most significant way my bright and beautiful children—Anamarie, Alex, and Alivia. They are the center of my world, the joy of my heart, and the music in my life. I am blessed each and every day by their presence in my life. I thank them for providing me with the most important role of my life—being their mom, now and always. 5 LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1………………………………………………………………………………. 74 Table 3.2………………………………………………………………………………. 82 Table 5.1………………………………………………………………………………142 Table 5.2………………………………………………………………………………161 Table 5.3………………………………………………………………………………174 6 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 4.1 …………………………………………………………………………… 90 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………… 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………………………… 5 LIST OF TABLES ………………………………………………………………………. 6 LIST OF FIGURES……………………………………………………………………… 7 CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION …………………………………………………………………… 12 Shifting Definitions of Literacy………………………………………………… 14 Purpose of the Study……………………………………………………………. 19 Research Questions………………………………………………........... 20 Defining the Terms……………………………………………………... 21 Shifting Modes of Literacy Instruction…………………………………………. 25 Significance of the Study……………………………………………………….. 28 Theoretical Framework…………………………………………………………. 29 Reader Response Theory……………………………………………….. 29 Alternative Reader Response Activities…………………………........... 31 Considering Curricula……………………………………........... 33 Choosing Activities………………………………………........... 34 II. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE………………………………………………….. 37 Reader Response Research……………………………………………………... 37 Reader Response Instruction…………………………………………….40 Transmediation…………………………………………………………. 42 Transmediation in Alternative Reader Response Research…………….. 43 Studies that focus on the process of transmediation……………. 44 Studies that focus on the products of transmediation…………... 51 Summary and Discussion………………………………………………………. 58 8 III. METHODOLOGY…………………………………………………………………. 61 Design of the Study………………………………………………………………62 Gaining Access…………………………………………………………………. 62 Context of the Study……………………………………………………………. 65 The District……………………………………………………………... 65 The School……………………………………………………………… 66 Methodology……………………………………………………………………. 66 Pilot Study………………………………………………………………. 67 Data Sources……………………………………………………………. 69 Observations……………………………………………………. 69 Interviews………………………………………………………. 71 Artifacts………………………………………………………… 73 Data Management and Analysis…………………………………………........... 75 Data Management………………………………………………………. 75 Data Analysis: Unique Case Orientation……………………………….. 76 Content Analysis………………………………………………... 77 Creating Categories…………………………………………….. 78 Confirming Patterns……………………………………………. 79 Curriculum Theory in Data Analysis……………………………........... 80 Study Timeline…………………………………………………………………. 81 Trustworthiness………………………………………………………………… 82 Credibility………………………………………………………………. 83 Transferability…………………………………………………………... 84 Dependability…………………………………………………………… 84 Confirmability…………………………………………………………... 85 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………… 86 IV. THE CURRICULAR CONTEXTS…………………………………………………87 Introduction………………………………………………………………………87 The School Structure……………………………………………………………. 87 The Classroom Context…………………………………………………………. 88 Classroom Description………………………………………………….. 89 9 Holding a Curricular Conversation…………………………………………….. 91 Planned Curriculum: Honors Class.…………………………………….