Search for Publications, Reports, and Presentations
Empowering Authentic, Agentic Adolescent Voices in ELA Practice Through Critical Approaches with Young Adult Literature
Study illustrates how critical youth studies and young adult literature help preservice teachers design ELA curricula that center authentic adolescent voice and agency.
Empowering Authentic, Agentic Adolescent Voices in ELA Practice Through Critical Approaches with Young Adult Literature
How can English teachers design a culturally sustaining ELA curriculum that amplifies authentic adolescent voice? This collaborative study by Katherine E. Batchelor and Kelli A. Rushek, along with preservice teacher co-authors, shows how critical youth studies and young adult literature (YAL) pedagogy help future educators reframe adolescents as insightful, capable meaning-makers rather than problems to be managed. Through dialogic coursework and hands-on curriculum design, preservice teachers learned to view youth language, identity, and multimodal expression as powerful assets in the classroom.
The article highlights how preservice teachers applied principles of critical youth studies, analyzing how adolescence is often misrepresented or “othered” in literature and schooling. They then used YAL—ranging from horror to romance to protest narratives—to design lessons that honor authentic adolescent discourse and reflect diverse identities. Their examples include critical book tastings, multimodal choice boards, linguistic analysis of teen dialogue, and creative remix assignments. These approaches position students’ lived experience, slang, digital literacies, and cultural knowledge as legitimate forms of learning and expression.
By designing instruction through a culturally sustaining lens, the preservice teachers created curriculum that resists deficit narratives and supports student agency. The study demonstrates that when future educators blend YAL pedagogy with youth-centered theory, they craft learning environments where adolescents see themselves as thinkers, creators, and critical readers of the world.
Faculty authors: Katherine E. Batchelor and Kelli A. Rushek, Miami University
Student co-authors: Delaney Barrett, Christopher Carter, Lada Gallant, Alyssa Rose, Grace E. Williams
Keywords: critical youth studies, authentic adolescent voice, young adult literature pedagogy, preservice teacher practice, culturally sustaining ELA curriculum
Publication details: Ohio Journal of English Language Arts, 64, 2025. “Empowering Authentic, Agentic Adolescent Voices in ELA Practice Through Critical Approaches with Young Adult Literature.”