This qualitative thesis study explores the influences of social networks and social support on the literacy engagement of seven high school students from a multicultural, multilingual, and economically disadvantaged urban neighbourhood in a large, diverse North American city. Guided by Ecological Systems Theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1979, 2005), at three times during an 18-month period the seven participants completed social network maps and interviews, checklists about their reading and writing choices, and retrospective interviews about their reading and writing practices on self-selected texts. After the data from these instruments was analyzed based on Tardy’s (1985) typology of social support and the tripartite model of engagement proposed by Fredricks, Blumenfeld, and Paris (2004), an individual case report was created for each participant; to conduct cross-case analysis (Stake, 2006), these reports were compared across similar, predetermined themes. Two primary conclusions are supported by the data and analysis: these adolescents received varying amounts and types of socioliterate support from certain members of their social networks, and this support at times positively influenced their literacy engagement. Useful outcomes of this study include a deeper understanding of the relationship between social support, motivation, and engagement on single literacy events, including a proposed model of how those three concepts work together, as well as a new perspective on the role of technology in adolescent social network formation and on the sources from whom adolescents seek literacy-based social support. Finally, this study describes pedagogical spaces that can provide and activate such literacy support.
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