”Feeling like a different kind of smart”: Twitter as digital literacy mediates learning for urban youth and literacy specialist candidates.

Abstract

This article shares the qualitative research findings of an emerging professional development schools partnership that investigated the way Twitter, as a type of digital literacy, mediated literature discussions of Lois Lowry's "The Giver" between urban high school students and master's degree literacy specialist candidates. The findings were organized into three themes that indicated Twitter's productive use for literacy engagement among participants: (a) extending time-on-task engagement by encouraging text-specific discussions; (b) organizing cognitive engagement through questions to enhance text comprehension; and (c) facilitating affective engagement by generating enthusiasm and a desire to be part of a broader, more authentic literacy community. Collectively, these findings have implications for designing socially mediated digital literacy activities that lead to theorizing about the potential of adolescent online literacies in classrooms, leveraging 21st century literacy-based technologies for academic learning, and expanding the literacy pedagogy of preservice teachers.

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