For Your Reading Pleasure
Do you have questions about how to implement multigenre research and writing in you own classroom? If so, read the articles to see how other teachers have accomplished this. This will both inspire you and encourage you to take this exciting step of teaching research while utilizing multi-genre writing.
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We have provided you a citation and a quote from the article which should help guide your reading choice. Then click on the PDF and let the reading begin.
Grierson, S. T. (1999). Circling through text: Teaching research through multigenre writing. The English Journal, 89(1), 51-55.
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“Peter Elbow writes that the mind has a "natural capacity for chaos and disorganization" (288). While the research paper provides a valuable model that helps writers learn to locate, organize, and synthesize information, at times we have all been disappointed with what our students produce. My neighbor returned 150 history papers to her high school juniors with the comment, "Do they think that I am so dumb that I can't tell when they are passing off words like 'concomitantly' as their own?" An excellent teacher, she worries about her students' tendency to plagiarize, their lack of writing skills, and a general apathy toward research. Is there an alternative we can offer students to kindle the imagination, draw out creativity, and convince them that there is not just one "right way" to write? For me, multigenre writing has become a powerful complement to the traditional research paper, allowing my students to develop the discipline of organizing their thoughts” (p. 51).
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Gillespie, J. (2005). “It would be fun to do again”: Multigenre responses to literature. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 48(8), 678– 684.
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"These seventh graders created a multigenre project to deepen their understanding of a text and improve their critical thinking skills" (p. 678).
Allen, C. & Swistak, L. (2004). Multi-genre research: The power of choice and interpretation. Language Arts, 81(3), 223-232.
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“Supporting students in selecting topics and organizing information for planning is key to writing with purpose and passion in multigenre research”
(p. 223).
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Lewis C. & Fabos B. (2005). Instant messaging, literacies, and social identities. Reading Research Quarterly, 40(4), 470–501.
“This study examined the functions of Instant Messaging (IM) among seven youths who regularly used this digital technology in their daily lives. Grounded in theories of literacy as a social and semiotic practice, this research asked what functions IM served in participants’ lives and how their social identities shaped and were shaped by this form of digital literacy. To answer these questions, we conducted interviews and videotaped IM sessions, adapting a verbal reporting procedure to document the IM strategies used. Data analysis involved using qualitative coding procedures informed by grounded theory (Strauss, 1987; Strauss & Corbin, 1990), which led to three patterns related to the functions of IM: language use, social networks, and surveillance. On the level of language use, participants manipulated the tone, voice, word choice, and subject matter of their messages to fit their communication needs, negotiating multiple narratives in the process. On the level of social networks, they designed their practice to enhance social relationships and statuses across contexts. And on the level of surveillance, they circulated texts across buddies, combated unwanted messages, assumed alternative identities, and overcame restrictions to their online communication. These functions revealed that the technological and social affordances of IM, particularly related to patterns of circulation and the hybrid nature of textuality, give rise to a performative and multivoiced social subject. Based on our findings, we discuss new conceptual directions for envisioning the teaching and learning of literacy in digitally mediated times” (p. 471).
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Darvin, J. (2006). On reading recipes and racing forms: The literacy practices and perceptions of ocational educators. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 50(1), 10-18.
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“This study shows that literacy practices in vocational classrooms mirror the best documented strategies of teaching reading in the content areas” (p. 10).
Purcell-Gates, V. (1996). Stories, coupons, and the TV Guide: Relationships between home literacy experiences and emergent literacy
knowledge. Reading Research Quarterly, 31(4), 406–428.
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“The purpose of this study was to document and describe the ways in which print is used in the homes of low-income U.S. families and to explore the relationships between these uses of print and the emergent literacy knowledges held by the young children in these homes. This study is an attempt to extend the findings of earlier studies (Purcell-Gates, 1995; Purcell-Gates & Dahl, 1991; Teale, 1986) and further explore the relationships between home/community learning and school learning by young children learning to read and write” (p. 406).
Brooks, W. (2006). Reading representations of themselves: Urban youth use culture and African American textual features to develop literary understandings. Reading Research Quarterly, 41(3), 372–392.
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How do African American students interpret literature containing “authentic” depictions of their own ethnic group? Three of my study participants, Mark, Tramira, and Lisa (all names are pseudonyms), might answer this question quite differently, depending on which narrative about African American life they read. Contextualized ways of understanding stories certainly make sense when framed by constructivist views of reading and poststructuralist literary theories. Although these students share membership in the African American community, one cannot presume that commonalities exist among each participant’s cultural knowledge, experiences, and perceptions of African American life. In a similar manner, analyses of African American children’s literature convey long-standing, permeable, and contested views on what constitutes an “authentic” representation of African American culture (Franzak, 2003; Harris, 1995; Johnson, 1990; Martin, 2004; McNair, 2003; Sims, 1982; Smith; 1994; Tolson, 2005). To deepen our current thinking about how readers of similar ethnicity use culture to interpret literature that represents their lives, this article summarizes a study about an eighth-grade class’s responses to “culturally conscious” African American children’s literature (Sims, 1982, p. 49).
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Rasinski, T. & Padak N. (2008). Beyond stories. The Reading Teacher, 61(7), 582-584.
In this month’s column we want to expand on the theme of learning to read and learning to love reading through reading. Stories, or narratives, are important and perhaps are the main entry point for reading at home. However, we think that learning to embrace reading means learning to embrace a wider palette of materials that count as texts for reading. Many of these other text forms are especially well suited for home use—they are easily accessible, can be read in short spurts, and can easily fit into the nature of life at home. As parents we need to be aware of these alternative text types. As teachers, we need to help parents see that these other types of materials are legitimate forms of reading. Let’s take a look at the various forms of reading (and writing) that are available for children and their families.