Understanding high achieving students' influences on identity with regard to reading engagement

• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2047/D20154934

This basic qualitative study of eight high-achieving students in a large urban high school sought to understand how high-achieving high school students described the influences on their identities with regard to reading engagement amid their educational experiences. When it comes to reading, research shows that adolescents are showing signs of disengagement. Students in American classrooms come from a wide range of backgrounds with a variety of personal experiences. As such, understanding how students describe the influences on their identities where it concerns reading engagement amid their educational experiences is important because identity has been shown to be an important aspect of reading engagement. In this study, a review of the literature explored current research on reading engagement and identity, including gender, socioeconomics, and race. Using Tajfel and Turner's (1979) social identity theory and Phinney's (1992) components model of identity, several important findings emerged from data: supportive relationships impact reading experiences; personally meaningful reading experiences influence reading engagement; pedagogy influences reading engagement; adolescents label their reading identities; and students participate in student success cohorts.