Youth media as narrative assemblage: examining new literacies at an urban high school

Abstract

An ethnographic study of youth creating media was conducted to examine new literacies at an urban high school in northern California. The school primarily served students from low-income, non-dominant racial and ethnic backgrounds. This article reports on a 9th-grade social studies multimedia project about migration and immigration – called “Coming to California” – that helped to build students' literacy skills, innovate core subject instruction and also, in part, shape the larger culture of a newly formed small school. Content analysis of videos offers insights into how modality, knowledge and convergence were integral in the multimedia production process. Implications for research and practice include paying careful attention to nuances in multimedia composition that support students' academic and literacy development.

Keywords:

• youth media
• narrative assemblage
• new literacies
• non-dominant students
• urban school

Notes

1. All names are pseudonyms.

2. This research project was funded by the American Educational Research Association/Institute of Education Sciences Postdoctoral Fellowship. Views expressed in the writing, however, do not reflect those of the organizations.

3. Elsewhere (Jocson, in press), I expand on aspects of humanizing research and the role of the researcher.