Social and Cultural Influences on Adolescent Development

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This research plan proposes the use of survey measures, comprehension and writing tests, experimental tasks, and structured qualitative interview and observation techniques to examine the influence of peer, family, community, and cultural factors on the development of literacy skills in both struggling and successful adolescent readers and writers. Survey and qualitative measures will test an expectancy value model that posits a relationship between familiarity of format, contextualization of activity, motivation to engage in an activity, interest in the activity, and literacy achievement. Analyses of survey and qualitative measures will examine across demographic categories (with an emphasis on gender, ethnicity, race, and social class) how peer, family, community, and cultural groups (a) motivate students to develop particular kinds of reading and writing skills and (b) shape students' abilities to navigate different school and social tasks using various reading, writing, and communication strategies. Comprehension and writing tests will be applied to out-of-school literacy activities to test the hypothesis that adolescents employ proficient and advanced literacy skills as they engage in literacy practices outside of school. In the final year of research, a series of experimental tasks will be used to assess the hypothesis that young people transfer out-of-school literacy practices to their in-school literacy-based activities and vice versa, and to develop possible outlines for classroom-based interventions based on the assessment of transfer across domains. These longitudinal findings will detail (a) the nature and influence of different social groups on adolescent literacy development, (b) the nature and influence of such groups on adolescent motivation related to literacy learning, and (c) the outcomes of such social and cultural influences in terms of adolescents' literacy learning and skill across multiple contexts. These findings will be compiled to produce profiles of the social and school-based literacy development and motivation of various types of adolescents. The profiles will aid in the development of school and social structures and pedagogical approaches targeted at improving adolescents' motivation to engage in conventional literacy activities, thus contributing to their positive mental and emotional health and to their continued school and socioeconomic success beyond K-16 schooling.