Filtered Identities: A Digitally Active Mid-Adolescent’s Identity Construction in Social Networking Spaces
Teens, including young teens, are using digital tools, including social networking sites at a rapidly growing pace (Madden, Lenhart, & Duggan, 2013). However, few studies have addressed the social networking practices of young teens. In this study, I attempted to address a gap in the current literature by investigating the online identity construction of a 14 year-old female who avidly participated on social networking sites. The purpose of this study was to examine a mid-adolescent‟s use of social networking and what this use might reveal about her identity construction. The following questions guided the research: • What are a mid-adolescent‟s thoughts as she decides what to post on social networking sites to represent herself? • What do the tools and social practices she uses reveal about her online identity construction? • What kinds of identities does she present on social networking sites? This study was grounded in a sociocultural understanding of language, particularly that language and thought are culturally derived (Vygotsky, 1986) constructs that shape and are shaped by human activity (Cole, 2003; Wertsch, 1991). Through a sociocultural view of identity, I recognized that identity is a social construct in which mid-adolescents often experience conflict (Harter, 2012) as they try to integrate a fragmented, or “kaleidoscopic” (p. 94) sense of self into a cohesive sense of self. I used a qualitative single case study design (Merriam, 2009) to investigate the social networking practices of the participant. Data collection included semi-structured interviews; think-aloud verbal protocols while using social networking sites; informal phone or instant messaging interactions between the participant and researcher; participant and researcher journals; and participant‟s posts to social networking sites. Using a systematic recursive qualitative method (LeCompte, 2000) informed by Saldaña‟s (2009) coding recommendations, I found that the participant adhered to perceived online social conventions and used a variety of digital literacy tools to present socially acceptable filtered identities across three Social Networking Sites (SNS). Findings suggest that a mid-adolescent would benefit from opportunities to use digital communication skills in school to present an academic identity in school-related online spaces.
Preparing Young Writers for Invoking and Addressing Today’s Interactive Digital Audiences
Twenty-first century technologies, in particular the Internet and Web 2.0 applications, have transformed the practice of writing and exposed it to interactivity. One interactive method that has received a lot of critical attention is blogging. The authors sought to understand more fully whom young bloggers both invoked in their blogging (their idealized, intentional audience) and whom they addressed (whom they actually blogged to, following interactive posts). They studied the complete, yearlong blog histories of fifteen fifth-graders, with an eye toward understanding how these students constructed audiences and modified them, according to feedback they received from teachers as well as peers and adults from around the world. The authors found that these students, who had rarely or never blogged before, were much more likely to respond to distant teachers, pre-service teachers, and graduate students than to their own classroom teachers or peers from their immediate classroom. The bloggers invoked/addressed their audiences differently too, depending on the roles that they had created for their audiences and themselves. The authors explore how and why this came to be the case with young writers.
Exploring interculturally competent teaching in social sciences classrooms
Abstract This paper explores a grounded research-based framework for intercultural competence and discusses the implications of interculturally competent teaching in the classroom and beyond. Given the importance of teachers being interculturally competent in today’s diverse classrooms, a number of questions, based on the framework, are presented, which guide teachers in reflecting upon their own teaching practice and the ways in which they integrate aspects of intercultural competence into their classrooms. The paper also provides some examples from the USA of ways in which intercultural competence development is being addressed in teacher training.