It’s All Connected: How Teachers and Students Co-Construct Spaces and Figured Worlds through Literacy and Language Events and Practices

This dissertation uses discourse analysis and ethnographically informed qualitative research methods in order to answer these research questions: What happens when teachers and students from different neighborhoods and communities in Central County participate in literacy and language events and practices in an alternative humanities class? When, where and under what conditions do spaces/places become engaging and/or community generative learning environments? The study examines a half-day humanities program for high school juniors and seniors, which is known as Connect. Applying trialectical spatial theories (Lefebvre, 1974/1992) and Holland et al’s (1998) theory of figured worlds, the researcher analyzed classroom data in the form of field notes of classroom observations, audio and/or video recordings of classroom observations, classroom artifacts, Facebook postings to the Connect group page, and interviews with both teachers and 5 focal students. Findings include greater understanding into the ways that teachers’ and/or students’ conceptions and perceptions interact with one another across spaces in ways that co-construct not only classroom spaces but also the collective figured world of Connect, the ways that fields of privilege, such as those involving race, class, gender, sexuality, religion, and/or schooling, interact in classroom spaces, and the ways in which Connect spaces were (or not) community generative and/or engaging.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

EDU Teaching and Learning

Grantor dc:publisher

The Ohio State University

Year dc:date

2013

Author dc:creator

• Bragg, Christina Dawn

Contributors dc:contributor

• Clark, Caroline

• Secondary Education
• Literacy
• adolescent literacy
• humanities classroom
• community
• engagement
• space

Statement dc:rights

• unrestricted
• This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1364902647

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:etd.ohiolink.edu:osu1364902647