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Adolescent Literacy in a Digital World

Article · July 2019

DOI: 10.1002/9781118978238.ieml0005

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Adolescent Literacy in a Digital World
DONNA E. ALVERMANN and RACHEL KAMINSKI SANDERS
University of Georgia, USA

Today’s adolescents, commonly referred to as the 12- to 18-year-old segment of the

world’s population, have never known a time in which information was not created,
stored, retrieved, and synchronized through an electronic spectrum we call the Internet.
This is not, however, a claim that supports coining the term “digital natives” to describe
today’s adolescents. Growing up in a digital age in which technology is prevalent does
not amount to having achieved mastery over the complex skill sets required for full
participation in a 21st-century world. The fallacy of referring to adolescents as digital
natives is further evidenced by a digital divide that continues to widen for young people
living in households whose earnings fall at or below the poverty line (Bennett, Maton,
& Kervin, 2008; Jenkins, Ito, & boyd, 2016).
At the same time, it would not be too much of an overstatement to claim that
contemporary youths’ literacies are for the most part digitally inspired, or at least
significantly mediated by the Internet. This electronic communication network is filled
with young people’s digital footprints that document in visual, linguistic, and aural
modes the many-faceted ways they come to know, construct, and share information. In
fact, a growing body of research demonstrates that adolescents use a range of web-based
resources and digital literacy skills to construct their online identities. For example,
boyd (2014) found in her extensive interview study that today’s teens are successful at
participating in several networked places simultaneously. In a “selfie”-driven society,
holding multiple online identities is among the more common practices of youth
culture.
While such practices have been shown to connect in numerous and concrete ways
with students’ offline lives (Alvermann et al., 2012), the field of literacy teacher educa-
tion has yet to embrace fully the relevancy of digital literacies in preparing youth to be
contributing members of society. Alvermann (2012) points out that “children growing
up today are experiencing a world that is increasingly less dominated by print-centric
texts than the world their teachers experienced a mere decade ago” (pp. 219–220).
This is reflected in the term new literacies—not new, as in a replacement metaphor, but
new in the sense that social, economic, cultural, intellectual, and institutional changes
are continually at work—even speeded up in a world of fast-changing technologies
(Lankshear & Knobel, 2011).
Instructionally, these changes are reflected in the degree to which teacher educators
and classroom teachers have welcomed them (or not) as a result of questioning
the assumptions underlying two competing models of literacy: specifically, the
autonomous and the ideological models, both of which coexist and are instrumental
The International Encyclopedia of Media Literacy. Renee Hobbs and Paul Mihailidis (Editors-in-Chief),
Gianna Cappello, Maria Ranieri, and Benjamin Thevenin (Associate Editors).
© 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Published 2019 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118978238.ieml0005
2 A D O L E S CE N T L I T E R A CY IN A D I G I TA L W O R L D

in shaping literacy instruction as it is currently practiced in the United States. The

autonomous model views reading and writing as neutral processes that are largely
explained by individual variations in cognitive and physiological functioning. It is
a view that assumes a universal set of reading and writing skills for decoding and
encoding printed text.
Shortly after Street’s (1995) critique of the autonomous model of literacy and within a
decade of Gee’s (1990) seminal publication Social Linguistics and Literacies: Ideology in
Discourses, the New London Group (1996) published its treatise on multiliteracies. This
latter work drew attention to the need for an integration of communication modes (e.g.,
language, still and moving images, speech, sound, gesture, and movement) and content
in the context of a culturally and linguistically diverse world, grown significantly more
attached to new and ever-changing communication technologies.
Digital media, when viewed as content (print and nonprint) that has been digitized
and is thus potentially ready for dissemination on the Internet, are integral to adoles-
cents’ construction of digital identities in both formal and informal spaces. Because
literacies are social practices (Gee, 1990; Street, 1995), they are also closely associated
with how people negotiate their identities as readers and writers. An individual can
identify with a number of digital literacy practices (or not) at any one time. Sometimes
an act of identifying lasts a short period of time; at other times it may signal a long-term
identification with a particular digital literacy practice (e.g., blogging).
As defined in this entry, identity is a theoretical concept that, while socially
constructed, is not exempt from an individual’s pushing back or resisting society’s
labels (e.g., blogger)—especially when such labeling conflicts with that individual’s
self-perceptions and lived experiences. Being recognized as having a particular
identity (e.g., blogger) in a certain kind of discourse community (e.g., online digital
communication) does not commit a person to operating solely within the boundaries
of that group. Instead, digital identities are deemed fluid, in that they frequently change
over time in different contexts and for different purposes. It is this fluidity that adds to
the attractiveness of digital literacy practices among adolescents.
Adolescents want to create a public identity that connects them beyond the confines
of their bedroom walls and puts them on the social map as they begin to figure out
who they want to be. They want to be seen and heard but, most importantly, feel as if
what they do is relevant, what they do really matters. Rather than waiting to be a part
of society by becoming an adult, adolescents are participating with the world in which
they live through their electronic devices. When provided access to high-speed Internet
and the appropriate hardware and software needed for producing media online, young
people have become technology experts in their own right. This fact makes it imperative
that their digital identities be welcomed in classrooms where digital knowledge and
interest in communicating meet up with formal approaches to critical thinking, reading,
and writing. For it is critical thinking rather than mere technical competence that is key
to becoming digitally literate.
Society’s use of technological devices has individuals in today’s culture reading
and writing more than ever, affecting both the structuring of traditional textbook
assignments and the literacy practices used in comprehending and responding to them.
For instance, in the Norwegian context, a survey study (Blikstad-Balas, 2015) of older
 A D O L E S CE N T L I T E R A CY IN A D I G I TA L W O R L D 3

adolescents at the upper secondary level provided evidence of their widespread use of
the online encyclopedia Wikipedia in completing their work. Although the students
in the study indicated that they trusted Wikipedia the least as far as credibility was
concerned, they nonetheless reported using it most often. The anonymous authorship
of Wikipedia was not a deterrent, especially if it gave them quick and easily obtained
information that, in their judgment, was good enough for finishing the task at hand
(e.g., everyday school assignments, except when studying for a test).
Digital spaces that support young people’s interests in comics, gaming, and media
fandom—which in turn have the potential to connect complex patterns of learning
required for living in a technologically driven culture—are vital to developing literacy
practices valued both in and out of school. A growing body of research (Hagood, 2008;
Guzzetti & Lesley, 2016) attempts to explain how adolescents thrive individually as pro-
ducers and consumers of digital media while simultaneously sharing their work in the
larger world community. Young people want to have choice in their adventures and the
freedom to fail. They need to tinker and play, design and create in order to make sense of
the world around them. They want to grab hold and see where the moment takes them.
Bringing forms of popular culture such as fandom, comics, and gaming into the
classroom is an invitation to adolescents to make important connections between
formal learning spaces and their personal lives (Sanders, 2016). This invitation comes
with a call for interactivity and moment-to-moment media relationships that students
crave in present-day society. Young people are eager to engage with digital literacy
practices in spaces that afford what they view as authentic learning opportunities.
Rather than replace or remove required instructional content, pop culture becomes
the vehicle through which they explore that content both critically and in light of their
own lived experiences.
With the Internet, communication happens in a matter of seconds and across
numerous platforms. Information no longer flows in a linear direction from one point
to the next; rather, communication is diffused throughout numerous points that make
multiple connections simultaneously. This enables adolescents who have adequate
access to technology, tools, and media texts to exercise their interest in making
connections across social networks in seemingly endless ways—in effect affording
them the opportunity to be in more than one place at a time.
At the same time, a lack of access to high-speed Internet creates a digital divide that
largely thwarts efforts aimed at encouraging adolescents to become part of the partici-
patory digital culture that defines 21st-century learning. This divide also defeats expec-
tations among young people that the necessary technology and related resources will be
available for accomplishing the kinds of content they are interested in producing. While
limited access in the past has mainly been attributed to socioeconomic factors, Hargit-
tai’s (2003) research would suggest that inequalities in Internet use are also dependent
on the “quality of equipment, autonomy of use, the presence of social support net-
works, experience, and online skill” (p. 823). Hargittai’s more nuanced approach to the
digital divide calls for developing an awareness, among school administrators and pol-
icymakers, of the potential for investing in professional growth opportunities aimed at
improving teachers’ online skills—the assumption being that their students will benefit
in the end.
4 A D O L E S CE N T L I T E R A CY IN A D I G I TA L W O R L D

In addition to those logistical concerns, there are issues of access that stem from
inadequate exposure to what Lankshear and Knobel (2011) termed the right “ethos
stuff”—or the set of conditions known to foster participatory and collaborative online
learning. When school- or district-wide policies restrict what teachers (who perhaps are
themselves high-end users of technoliteracies) can provide in the way of digital learn-
ing opportunities, then students with limited Internet access at home fall even further
behind their more advantaged peers.
The literacies of today are not the literacies of tomorrow; nor are they the literacies of
yesterday. Constant change that somewhat ironically preserves the status quo—in keep-
ing with the old adage that the more things change the more they stay the same—cannot
be ignored. In the face of contradictions that stem from political and socioeconomic
maneuverings, the need for questioning, dissecting, and critically assessing all digi-
tal media formats—whether linguistic, visual, aural, or performative—has never been
greater. A parallel need is research that makes use of specially designed methods for
studying adolescents’ use of digital literacies and the changes wrought by such use.
Deep inquiries are needed into how multiliteracies, multimodal texts, and game-based
literacy instruction have the potential to change what counts as adolescent literacy in
a 21st-century digital world. Such inquiries might also uncover anomalies or misfits
within the existing literacy instruction paradigm that are indicative of the conditions
necessary for a full-blown paradigm shift.
Meanwhile, adolescents’ present level of engagement with digital media resources
suggests a range of literacy aptitudes and skills that are fast becoming the cultural
and symbolic capital necessary for harnessing the high-tech world in which they live
(Guzzetti & Lesley, 2016). From selfies on Instagram to cryptic messages on Twitter to
videos on YouTube, teens are discovering online spaces in which to belong and feel
connected. Their engagement in these spaces could be thought of as ongoing efforts to
try on social identities that are creatively compatible with the digitally resourced world
around them.
Rather than view such spaces as trivializing or corrupting influences on young
people’s lives, literacy scholars from around the world are increasingly advocating for
classrooms in which digitally produced popular media and games work alongside
age-old methods for supporting adolescents’ active identity construction (Dezuanni,
2016). Encouraging youths’ engagement in an open-ended approach to learning is as
essential in the classroom as it is in the everyday world outside of school. In a nutshell,
to ignore the potential of 21st-century digital literacy practices and popular media
texts is to sabotage young people’s motivation for learning.

SEE ALSO: Connected Learning; Digital Literacy; Game Media Literacy; Media and
Adolescent Identity Development; Media Literacy Education and 21st Century Teacher
Education; Social Media as Media Literacy

References

Alvermann, D.E. (2012). Is there a place for popular culture in curriculum and classroom instruc-
tion? In A.J. Eakle (Ed.), Curriculum and instruction (Vol. 2, pp. 214–220, 227–228). Thousand
 A D O L E S CE N T L I T E R A CY IN A D I G I TA L W O R L D 5

Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Alvermann, D.E., Marshall, J.D., McLean, C.A., Huddleston, A.P., Joaquin, J., & Bishop, J.
(2012). Adolescents’ web-based literacies, identity construction, and skill development. Lit-
eracy Research and Instruction, 51(3), 179–195.
Bennett, S.J., Maton, K.A., & Kervin, L.K. (2008). The “digital natives” debate: A critical review
of the evidence. British Journal of Educational Technology, 39(5), 775–786.
Blikstad-Balas, M. (2015). “You get what you need”: A study of students’ attitudes towards using
Wikipedia when doing school assignments. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research,
60(6), 594–608. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281305503_You_
get_what_you_need_A_study_of_students’_attitudes_towards_using_Wikipedia_when_
doing_school_assignments/stats.
boyd, d. (2014). It’s complicated: The social lives of networked teens. New Haven, CT: Yale Univer-
sity Press.
Dezuanni, M. (2016). Digital media literacy: Connecting young people’s identities, creative pro-
duction, and learning about video games. In D.E. Alvermann (Ed.), Adolescents’ online lit-
eracies: Connecting classrooms, digital media, and popular culture (rev. ed., pp.145–164). New
York, NY: Peter Lang.
Gee, J.P. (1990). Social linguistics and literacies: Ideology in discourses. London, England: Falmer.
Guzzetti, B., & Lesley, M. (Eds.) (2016). Handbook of research on the societal impact of digital
media. Hershey, PA: IGI Global.
Hagood, M.C. (2008). Intersections of popular culture, identities, and new literacies research. In
J. Coiro, M. Knobel, C. Lankshear, & D.J. Leu (Eds.), Handbook of research on new literacies
(pp. 531–551). New York, NY: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Hargittai, E. (2003). The digital divide and what to do about it. In D.C. Jones (Ed.), New economy
handbook (pp. 821–839). Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsevier Science.
Jenkins, H., Ito, M., & boyd, d. (Eds.) (2016). Participatory culture in a networked era. Malden,
MA: Polity.
Lankshear, C., & Knobel, M. (2011). New literacies (3rd ed.). Berkshire, England: Open Univer-
sity Press.
New London Group (1996). A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. Harvard
Educational Review, 66, 60–93.
Sanders, R.K. (2016). Fandom: Exploring adolescent pop culture through multiple literacies. In
D.E. Alvermann (Ed.), Adolescents’ online literacies: Connecting classrooms, digital media, and
popular culture (rev. ed., pp. 77–108). New York, NY: Peter Lang.
Street, B.V. (1995). Social literacies: Critical approaches to literacy in development, ethnography
and education. London, England: Longman.

Further reading

Albers, P., Holbrook, T., & Flint, A.S. (2014). New methods of literacy research. New York, NY:
Routledge.
Brandt, D. (2015). The rise of writing: Redefining mass literacy. Cambridge, England: Cambridge
University Press.
Cope, B., & Kalantzis, M. (2000). Multiliteracies: Literacy learning and the design of social futures.
New York, NY: Routledge.
Hobbs, R. (Ed.). (2016). Exploring the roots of digital and media literacy through personal narra-
tive. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
Mills, K.A. (2016). Literacy theories for the digital age: Social, critical, multimodal, spatial, material
and sensory lenses. Buffalo, NY: Multilingual Matters.
 6 A D O L E S CE N T L I T E R A CY IN A D I G I TA L W O R L D

Turner, K.H., & Hicks, T. (2015). Connected reading: Teaching adolescent readers in a digital world.
Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.

Donna E. Alvermann, University of Georgia Appointed Distinguished Research Pro-

fessor of Language and Literacy Education, studies young people’s digital literacies and
uses of popular media. She has edited Adolescents and Literacies in a Digital World
(2002) and Adolescents’ Online Literacies: Connecting Classrooms, Digital Media, and
Popular Culture (2nd ed., 2010) and coedited Reconceptualizing the Literacies in Adoles-
cents’ Lives (with Kathleen Hinchman; 3rd ed., 2012). Author of over 150 articles and
chapters, she co-designed a website (with Crystal L. Beach and Joe Johnson) that col-
lects data on how a community of researchers disrupt boundaries imposed by social
media.

Rachel Kaminski Sanders received her doctoral degree from the Language and Liter-
acy Education Department at the University of Georgia. Her research interests include
adolescent as well as digital literacies, specifically in pop culture, and multigenre.
Rachel teaches undergraduate courses focusing on adolescent reading and writing. She
is teacher consultant for the Upstate Writing Project and has provided professional
development to school districts throughout South Carolina. Previously, Rachel served
as teacher in residence for the College Ready Writers Program, involving a grant with
the National Writing Project. Before that, Rachel taught writing to seventh graders at a
public school.

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