Location
Session 2 Presentations - Literacy Education I
Proposal Track
Research Project
Session Format
Presentation
Abstract
Educational responsibility requires that culturally relevant curriculum be taught to students. Unfortunately, in many secondary ELA classrooms, content continues to revolve around canonical texts written mostly by white males. With increasing negative reading attitudes and poor reading skills among adolescents, the authors sought to investigate how text-relatability may affect students’ reading enthusiasm and comprehension. They asked: Would students relate to or have higher reading enthusiasm for a contemporary adolescent text that reflected their teen culture? In this study, 16 students from a Title I school read a contemporary adolescent text and a classical text over a 6 week period. Students were divided into two groups, alternating the text sequence. Reading enthusiasm, comprehension, and text relatability were measured after each text reading. Quantitative data analysis showed relatability to the classical text was positively correlated to relatability to the adolescent text, and reading enthusiasm for the classical text was positively correlated to reading enthusiasm for the adolescent text. No significant correlation existed between text types and text-relatability, reading enthusiasm, or reading comprehension. Qualitative data indicated that text-relatability and reading preference were higher for the contemporary adolescent text. Implications of these findings, including how to further refine the text-relatability instrument will be discussed.
Keywords
adolescent literature, text-relatability, reading enthusiasm, comprehension, teen culture
Professional Bio
Madhavi Clark is a graduate of Clayton State University with 7 years international experience in education. She currently teaches 9th grade literature and composition while serving as an ELA department chair and conducting research on improving literacy skills for adolescents. Dr. Winifred Nweke is a Professor and the Assessment Director at Clayton State University. She has a Ph.D. in Measurement and Experimentation from the University of Ottawa, Canada. She is a member of professional organizations such as AERA, GERA, GADA, and AACTE, for which she serves as a peer reviewer. Her research interests include Candidates Dispositions Assessment, Validity and Reliability.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Clark, Madhavi T. and Nweke, Winifred C., "Accepting Responsibility for a Teen Reading Crisis: What Role Does Text-relatability Play in Secondary Students’ Reading Enthusiasm and Comprehension?" (2021). Georgia Educational Research Association Conference. 25.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/gera/2021/2021/25
Included in
Accepting Responsibility for a Teen Reading Crisis: What Role Does Text-relatability Play in Secondary Students’ Reading Enthusiasm and Comprehension?
Session 2 Presentations - Literacy Education I
Educational responsibility requires that culturally relevant curriculum be taught to students. Unfortunately, in many secondary ELA classrooms, content continues to revolve around canonical texts written mostly by white males. With increasing negative reading attitudes and poor reading skills among adolescents, the authors sought to investigate how text-relatability may affect students’ reading enthusiasm and comprehension. They asked: Would students relate to or have higher reading enthusiasm for a contemporary adolescent text that reflected their teen culture? In this study, 16 students from a Title I school read a contemporary adolescent text and a classical text over a 6 week period. Students were divided into two groups, alternating the text sequence. Reading enthusiasm, comprehension, and text relatability were measured after each text reading. Quantitative data analysis showed relatability to the classical text was positively correlated to relatability to the adolescent text, and reading enthusiasm for the classical text was positively correlated to reading enthusiasm for the adolescent text. No significant correlation existed between text types and text-relatability, reading enthusiasm, or reading comprehension. Qualitative data indicated that text-relatability and reading preference were higher for the contemporary adolescent text. Implications of these findings, including how to further refine the text-relatability instrument will be discussed.
