Abstract

The role of talk is often underestimated in literacy learning among older students. This article draws from empirical research from a rigorous, 15-month qualitative inquiry into the literacy practices of “disengaged” African American urban adolescents in a media-centered after school program. The ways students’ collaborative discourse practices emboldened the development of a gendered epistemological framework for comprehension and reasoning representations of Black femininity and masculinity in a popular culture narrative are highlighted, interpreted and discussed. This article supports research informed instructional practices for literacy teaching/learning litscapes in and out-of-schools.