Text Complexity and Young Adult Literature

Abstract

Preparing students for college and careers in the 21st century has shed light on text complexity as an important variable for consideration in English Language Arts. Authors of The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) define text complexity as broad, highlighting qualitative, rather than quantitative evaluations of narrative fiction as appropriate for matching readers with texts. The text exemplar list published in the appendices of the CCSS, does not include contemporary works of young adult literature. Young adult literature can be used in English Language Arts classrooms to fulfill the expectations of the CCSS while meeting the appropriate qualitative evaluations of texts students in middle and high school grades are expected to read. This article examines qualitative evaluations of three works of young adult literature that are not only textually complex as defined by authors of the CCSS, but appropriate and engaging for adolescent identity and development.

Supporting Elementary Students’ Reading of Difficult Texts

“…Teachers and researchers have used these four factors to develop rubrics for evaluating a text's qualitative complexity (e.g., Glaus, ; Witte, ). For example, Fisher and Frey () created a rubric that teachers can use to help them make instructional decisions about text selection.…”

Slaying Monsters: Students’ Aesthetic Transactions With Gothic Texts

“…The job of a reading teacher is to create settings that make aesthetic experiences possible (Rosenblatt, ). This study is situated among adolescent reading research documenting the importance of relevance (e.g., Glaus, ; Hinchman & Moore, ). Relevant texts link to students’ lives, fit students’ emotional needs, and become a way for students to work through personal difficulties (Glaus, ).…”

“…The Common Core State Standards are a hot topic given their tremendous influence on academic reading (Cassidy, Ortlieb, & Grote‐Garcia, ). The Common Core includes a list of qualities that should factor into curriculum decisions about text selections; however, missing from this list is consideration of the text qualities that resonate with readers (Glaus, ).…”

Revealing the Naturalization of Language and Literacy: The Common Sense of Text Complexity

“…Glaus () provided a different interpretation of text complexity in her analysis of three young adult novels. In her view, the features contributing to their complexity were unconventional text structures, including time shifts and lack of traditional punctuation.…”