Reflections on adolescent literacy as sociocultural practice
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/ILS-02-2022-0013 |
| Published date | 23 November 2022 |
| Date | 23 November 2022 |
| Pages | 723-737 |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Librarianship/library management,Library & information services |
| Author | Denise E. Agosto |
Reflections on adolescent literacy
as sociocultural practice
Denise E. Agosto
Department of Information Science, College of Computing and Informatics,
Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Abstract
Purpose –This paper aims to discuss the concept of “literacy”withinthe new literacy, new literacies and
library and informationscience (LIS) discourses. It proposes widening the prevailing LIS conceptualizationof
adolescent literacy, which focuses largely on information literacy in academic settings, to a broader,
information practice-based, sociocultural framing that encompasses the full range of adolescents’everyday
life contexts.
Design/methodology/approach –The author presents a literature review and personalreflection on a
series of adolescent information activities to show the value of framing the LIS discourse on adolescent
literacywithin a broader sociocultural perspective.
Findings –Based on the discussion, the author proposes a framework for future investigations of
adolescents’literacy practices that views adolescent literacy as fundamentally social and communicative;
multiformat;multicontextual; multigenerational;and culturally situated.
Originality/value –A broader socioculturalapproach to the LIS information literacydiscourse can lead to
deeper understandingof the co-constructed and collaborativenature of adolescents’new literacies practices.It
can also enable stronger recognition of the impact of power and privilege on adolescent literacy practices.
Finally, this essay shows the value of reflecting on adolescent information activities for challenging narrow
views of literacy and highlightsthe social embeddedness of new literacies activitiesin adolescents’everyday
lives.
Keywords Literacy, New literacy, New literacies, Adolescents, Digital literacy,
Information practice, Information behavior, Information seeking, Information literacy,
Educational privilege, Teens
Paper type Viewpoint
Introduction
It is no surprise to anyone who works with adolescentlearners that our ideas about literacy
have broadened over the past few decades. The research and professional literatures
increasingly reflect these broader conceptions of adolescent literacy practices, or “what
people do with language and literacy”(Gleason,2018). As Sandretto and Tilson (2016) noted,
“Literacy is no longer viewed asa discrete set of mental skills acquired in a developmental
sequence to decode, make meaningof, use, and analyze linguistic texts”(p. 63).
For most adolescents, patterns of meaning making take place across a range of digital
information platforms in addition to traditional paper-based texts (Agosto et al.,2016;
Hashemi and Cederlund, 2017;Kulju, 2018;Leu et al.,2017;O’Byrne, 2014;Williams, 2008).
The author thanks Sam Kirk, Manager for Curricula Support at Drexel Libraries, for her assistance in
literature searching for this paper.
Above all, the author thanks R. for her generosity in permitting the author to analyze her activities
in this semipublic forum and for sharing her evolving literacy practices with the author over the
years.
Reflections on
adolescent
literacy
723
Received20 February 2022
Revised5 October 2022
22October 2022
Accepted26 October 2022
Informationand Learning
Sciences
Vol.123 No. 11/12, 2022
pp. 723-737
© Emerald Publishing Limited
2398-5348
DOI 10.1108/ILS-02-2022-0013
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