Research in the Teaching of English Feb 2022

Generating New Narratives: Examining Youths’ Multiliteracies Practices in Youth Participatory Action Research

Joanne E. Marciano Michigan State University ; Vivek Vellanki Indiana University Bloomington

Abstract

This paper examines the multiliteracies practices () of 20 high school students who participated in a weeklong summer research institute at the start of a 6-month-long community-based youth participatory action research (YPAR) initiative. Data analyzed included 20 digital multimodal compositions produced by youths, individual interviews with youths, and observations of youths’ participation in the YPAR initiative. Data analysis utilized theories of multiliteracies practices () and culturally sustaining pedagogies () enacted across contexts of YPAR (). Findings contribute new insights about students’ multiliteracies practices in YPAR in two ways. First, we examine how learning about research methods shifted students’ understandings of research and the role their experiences could play in YPAR. Second, we examine how students’ digital literacies practices () supported them in generating new narratives about their community in digital multimodal compositions. Finally, we consider how insights gained from our examination may support educators in developing and enacting culturally sustaining () learning contexts that build with students’ multiliteracies practices as strengths while challenging persistent educational inequities.

Journal
Research in the Teaching of English
Published
2022-02-15
DOI
10.58680/rte202231637
Open Access
Closed
Topics
literacy studies empirical research multimodality

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (2)

  1. Filipiak (2024)
    “I’m Outside the Box. Too Outside the Box, I Explode It!”: Exploring Literacies…
    Research in the Teaching of English
  2. Brodeur et al. (2023)
    Annotated Bibliography of Research in the Teaching of English
    Research in the Teaching of English

Cites in this index (3)

  1. Watson et al. (2019)
    Praisesongs of Place: Youth Envisioning Space and Place in a Literacy and Songw…
    Research in the Teaching of English
  2. Campano et al. (2018)
    Editors’ Introduction: Bridging Generations in RTE: Reading the Past, Writing t…
    Research in the Teaching of English
  3. Hull et al. (2005)
    Locating the Semiotic Power of Multimodality
    Written Communication
Also cites 29 works outside this index ↓
  1. Baker-Bell (2017)
    The pain and the wounds: A call for critical race English education in the wake of racial…
    English Education  ↗
  2. Buckley-Marudas (2018)
    Amplifying voice, facilitating agency: Engaging youth participatory action research in an…
    English Leadership Quarterly  ↗
  3. Buckley-Marudas (2020)
    What youth care about: Exploring topic identification for youth-led research in schools
    The Urban Review  ↗
  4. Burke (2017)
    Youth voice, civic engagement and failure in participatory action research
    The Urban Review  ↗
  5. Caraballo (2017)
    YPAR and critical epistemologies: Rethinking education research
    Review of Research in Education  ↗
  6. Carey (2019)
    Imagining the comprehensive mattering of Black boys and young men in society and schools:…
    Harvard Educational Review  ↗
  7. Cook-Sather (2002)
    Authorizing students’ perspectives: Toward trust, dialogue, and change in education
    Educational Researcher  ↗
  8. De los Rios (2017)
    Picturing ethnic studies: Photovoice and youth literacies of social action
    Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy  ↗
  9. Dunn (2018)
    #UrbanAndMakingIt: Urban Youth’s Visual Counternarratives of Being #MoreThanAStereotype
    Urban Education  ↗
  10. Fine (2007)
    Youth research/participatory methods for reform
    International handbook of student experience in elementary and secondary school  ↗
  11. Garcia (2015)
    The Council of Youth Research: Critical literacy and civic agency in the digital age
    Reading & Writing Quarterly  ↗
  12. Irizarry (2009)
    Reinvigorating multicultural education through youth participatory action research
    Multicultural Perspectives  ↗
  13. Jocson (2015)
    New media literacies as social action: The centrality of pedagogy in the politics of know…
    Curriculum Inquiry  ↗
  14. Ladson-Billings (1995)
    Toward a theory of culturally relevant pedagogy
    American Educational Research Journal  ↗
  15. Ladson-Billings (2014)
    Culturally relevant pedagogy 2.0: A.k.a. the remix
    Harvard Educational Review  ↗
  16. Marciano (2019)
    Writing toward change across youth participatory action research
    Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy  ↗
  17. Marciano (2020)
    This is America”: Examining artifactual literacies as austere love across contexts of sch…
    The Urban Review  ↗
  18. Marquez-Zenkov (2007)
    If they’ll listen to us about life, we’ll listen to them about school: Seeing city studen…
    Educational Action Research  ↗
  19. McIntyre (2000)
    Constructing meaning about violence, school, and community: Participatory action research…
    The Urban Review  ↗
  20. Mirra (2018)
    From digital consumption to digital invention: Toward a new critical theory and practice …
    Theory Into Practice  ↗
  21. Morrell (2017)
    Toward equity and diversity in literacy research, policy and practice: A critical, global…
    Journal of Literacy Research  ↗
  22. Paris (2012)
    Culturally sustaining pedagogy: A needed change in stance, terminology, and practice
    Educational Researcher  ↗
  23. Paris (2014)
    What are we seeking to sustain through culturally relevant pedagogy? A loving critique forward
    Harvard Educational Review  ↗
  24. Scorza (2017)
    The dual pedagogy of YPAR: Teaching students and students as teachers
    Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies  ↗
  25. Thibaut (2018)
    Multiliteracies in practice: Integrating multimodal production across the curriculum
    Theory Into Practice  ↗
  26. Tuck (2009)
    Suspending damage: A letter to communities
    Harvard Educational Review  ↗
  27. Vasudevan (2006)
    Making known differently: Engaging visual modalities as spaces to author new selves
    E-Learning and Digital Media  ↗
  28. Vellanki (2020)
    (Re)imag-ining visual research beyond photovoice: Methodological explorations with a youn…
    Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies  ↗
  29. Warren (2018)
    Activating student voice through youth participatory action research (YPAR): Policymaking…
    International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education  ↗
CrossRef global citation count: 10 View in citation network →

Related Articles

  1. Research in the Teaching of English Feb 2015
    Using Translation to Drive Conceptual Development for Students Becoming Literate in English as an Additional Language ↗
    Robert T. Jiménez; Sam David; Keenan Fagan; Victoria J. Risko; Mark Pacheco; Lisa Pray; Mark Gonzales
    literacy studies empirical research multimodality multilingual writers
  2. Literacy in Composition Studies Feb 2026
    Literacy Sponsorship, GenAI, and the Entangled Economies of Experiential Learning ↗
    Girdharry, Kristi
    service learning literacy studies multimodality race and writing multilingual writers
  3. College Composition and Communication Feb 2026
    Investigating Undergraduate L2 Students’ Source Use Development in a Semi-Disciplinary Writing Context ↗
    Soomin Jwa
    rhetorical theory literacy studies quantitative research multimodality
  4. College Composition and Communication Dec 2025
    Writing Transfer beyond FYC ↗
    Ryan P. Shepherd
    first-year composition transfer empirical research multimodality multilingual writers
  5. Composition Forum Oct 2025
    Adding to the Qualitative Research Method Toolkit: Eliciting and Coding Participant Drawings ↗
    writing across the curriculum empirical research qualitative research multimodality multilingual writers