Title: Examining adolescents' critical meaning making of Appalachian-authored texts: A case study of teaching and learning

Student: Corey Humphrey

Committee Chair: Emily Rainey

Committee: Veena Vasudevan, Rick Donato, and Anna Elfenbein

Defense Abstract: Many have called for critical literacy research within Appalachia, although few have answered that call. This study investigates a case of critical literacy teaching and learning within a summer literacy program in rural Appalachia. I designed and taught a ten-day critical literacy unit. I collected classroom audio and student artifacts, conducted semi-structured interviews and think alouds using Appalachian poetry. I used descriptive, inductive, and pattern coding to uncover patterns in student meaning making across the classroom and think aloud contexts. I found that participants made meaning with a range of texts about Appalachia by coordinating an array of comprehension, interpretation, and critical moves. Additionally, students used cultural knowledge to support their meaning making. In particular, students used Appalachian cultural knowledge as they made interpretations and made critical moves with literary texts. These patterns were present in both the whole class and think aloud settings. I also found that students increased their figurative and critical reasoning over the course of the unit. There was variation in learning, with some students showed signs of internalization of critical literacy. Together, the findings of this study suggest that adolescents draw from cultural knowledge along with a constellation of other resources as they make meaning with, and learn to make meaning with, texts. Importantly, Appalachian cultural knowledge seemed to especially support students’ interpretive and critical reasoning. Therefore, I suggest that more attention be paid to students’ unique cultural knowledges and that these knowledges be included in literacy curricula targeting adolescent students.