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Literacy, Standardization and the Digital Age: Exploring the Digital Literacy Practices of Students who Failed the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test

This phenomenological study explores the digitally-mediated literacy practices of a group of students who have been unsuccessful with the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test. More specifically, this study documents the out-of-school online literacy practices that are attractive to students who have failed to achieve dominant school literacy and explores the conditions that drive them. These practices are recognized as socially situated. Interviews were conducted at a Toronto school with 3 grade twelve students enrolled in the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Course, an alternative method to fulfil the provincially mandated literacy graduation requirement. Three findings emerged: a) participants’ desire for “real” texts, defined as those that reflect their understanding of the world and connect them to the lives of others, b) the high value placed on visual and verbal semiotic resources and c) participants felt empowered by their online literacy practices but regarded in-school literacy as a site of resistance.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:TORONTO/oai:tspace.library.utoronto.ca:1807/42627
Date20 November 2013
CreatorsJackson, Lotoya
ContributorsSimon, Robert
Source SetsUniversity of Toronto
Languageen_ca
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis

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