Adolescents' use of online texts about US immigration: recognizing deeply personal meaning‐making

Abstract

Adolescents need help locating and evaluating information about immigration that reflects a panoply of views – particularly views that have been ignored in traditional texts. The purpose of this study was to gain insight into adolescents' engagement with online texts on the topic of immigration and associated concepts as they worked to develop critical digital literacies. The research question for this study was: How do adolescents make meaning about the political issue of immigration as they engage with and respond to online texts? As a theoretical framework, we used Barthes' notions of punctum and studium to illuminate how meaning was made in moments of deep engagement versus momentary reflection. During this study, meaning was made as students (1) clarified collective understandings in small groups, (2) confirmed or contrasted using personal experiences, and (3) held conclusions against a multiplicity of conceptual understandings about immigrants and immigration. These findings illustrate the need to support adolescents, not only with multiple texts but also with multiple opportunities to consider and reconsider the texts in the context of their own experience with immigration.