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Conceptualized within sociocultural theory, literacies are social practices (Gee 2015; Street 1993) and thus implicated in how people negotiate their identities as readers and writers. For instance, coming to view oneself as a literate person in a certain kind of social group (e.g., a Harry Potter book club) is dependent on being recognized by others in that group as a person who is like them – one who has read all of J.K. Rowling’s fantasy series, perhaps written some fan fiction about Harry and other characters in the series, blogged a critique of the Harry Potter films, and so on. Lacking such recognition does not mean that a person is disinterested in other fantasy novels, but rather is simply outside an affinity group that calls itself the Harry Potterbook club. Yet, within certain school contexts, so-called disaffected readers are often labeled as struggling or having a disability that is in need of remedial...
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References
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Alvermann, D.E. (2016). Literacies and Identity. In: Peters, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Educational Philosophy and Theory. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-532-7_116-1
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