Frequently Asked Questions about Adolescent and Young Adult Literacy (AYAL)

How is adolescent and young adult literacy different from emergent literacy?

Emergent literacy refers to the beginnings of the ability to read and write.  But literacy is much more complex than the mere technical ability to recognize, decode, and copy words.  Learning to read and write is just the beginning of the lifelong process of literacy development.  Reading and writing abilities develop in complex ways throughout life and these literacy abilities influence student achievement across the curriculum.  Middle and high school teachers must help their students continue to develop their capacity for reading, comprehending, and acting in response to a wide variety of texts.

Why is NCTE interested in AYAL?
More than 8 million adolescents are unable to read at grade level.  More than 70% of high school readers are in need of remedial help to improve their reading comprehension.  Research indicates that there are many literacy instruction strategies that have been shown to boost student achievement, but each year millions of students continue to fall behind.  As a professional organization, NCTE is committed to working toward the improvement of literacy achievement for all students, and these startling statistics about adolescent literacy demand attention from all teachers, researchers, and policymakers.

NCTE represents teachers from all grade levels: elementary, middle, high school, and college.  While the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 focused the nation’s attention on the need to improve literacy achievement among elementary students, NCTE believes that literacy education needs to be improved at higher grade levels as well.  NCTE encourages its members and policymakers to dedicate their energies and resources toward improving literacy achievement among middle and high school students.  NCTE also strives to provide its members and all teachers with valuable resources that can help improve literacy achievement among middle and high school students.

What are my state’s AYAL standards?
Under No Child Left Behind, each state is responsible for developing its own literacy standards for each grade level.  You should find your individual state’s literacy standards on your state's department of education website.

What resources are available that can help teachers and students meet AYAL standards?
Excellent teachers utilize a wide variety of literacy resources to engage students in reading and writing activities.  Research indicates that effective teachers:

• Emphasize connections between students’ daily lives, prior knowledge, and texts emphasize student conversations to make connections;
  
• Utilize extensive reading of a range of texts to build reading experience;
  
• Support readers with strategy lessons and discussions; and
  
• Engage readers in conversations about their reading, focusing on the strategies they use and their language knowledge.
  
• Emphasize developing reading experience and making connections to prior knowledge rather than phonics, decoding, and basic reading skills.
  

NCTE’s policy statement on adolescent and young adult literacy provides greater detail about research-supported practices that have been shown to boost achievement.

NCTE also provides on-line resources for teachers interested in improving adolescent and young adult literacy.  NCTE also has numerous publications available that can be valuable references for teachers interested in promoting AYAL.

Source Material:

Reading Next, Biancarosa & Snow, 2004.