Multiple Literacies on Main Street and in the Academy: A Longitudinal Study of Two Working-Class, Rural Adolescents.

This doctoral study examined the literacy practices of two rural adolescents as they crossed between the social contexts of their rural community, Winnona Hill, and higher education. Data collected primarily through semi-structured e-mail interviews over a 4-year period indicated that both informants used multiple literacies and a range of language practices to become "literate enough" to gain access to college as well as to cross into life roles, careers, and possibilities beyond the rural community. Both informants' language practices shaped and were shaped by "ways of being" and dominant social constructions of social class, masculinity, femininity, Whiteness, and work. During the research period, Chris and Crystal used these language practices to negotiate the social, cultural, political, and intellectual worlds in and between their rural community and college. In sum, both informants learned to pose in order to "fit" into oppressive social structures in Winnona Hill. And yet these language and discourse practices did not necessarily support their "crossing" to higher education. In some instances, the coping mechanisms that they developed at home were counterproductive to their success in college. Implications for practice are that educators must offer rural adolescents access to "narratives of crossing"; model a range of language practices for and with rural adolescents; and engage in serious conversations about a continuum of expectations and related communication from the secondary to the postsecondary levels. (Contains 107 references) (TD)