Reel writing connections: Using documentaries as 'mentor texts' for adolescent composition.

摘要

The purpose of my dissertation study was to determine the extent to which an in-depth study of nonfiction film could contribute to gifted adolescents' nonfiction print literacy, particularly their writing. I used the framework of one English teacher's (Golden, 2007) use of film to guide the unit I designed and taught for these summer sessions and Bishop's (1999) collection of scholarly composition essays to understand the potential ways to understand the role of film as a mentor text for developing writing. It is from this collection that I derived my framing questions for my dissertation study: In what ways can film function as a mentor text for adolescent writers?;I used qualitative processes that employed Erickson's (1986) analytic induction methods whereby I developed assertions based on a range of data that were obtained over a six-week period of time. Since my data were obtained from a teaching unit I taught, I capitalized on the idea of "teacher as researcher" in my analysis.;I designed my study to add to the literature on mentor texts, multimodal texts, intertextuality, and visual literacy. While there are many studies that address these topics, there are few which attempt to connect all of them to consider the ways that studying visual texts could facilitate the reading and writing of print texts.;As a result of careful analytic coding and after developing validity with the assistance of three English educators and three teachers/administrators in The Summer Enrichment Program, I developed the following assertions which were supported by a range of student written and verbal responses: (1) Film analysis helped these adolescents understand film texts. (2) Film analysis helped these adolescents understand nonfiction print texts. (3) Film analysis helped these adolescents develop observation skills which were helpful to their growth as competent readers and writers. (4) Film analysis helped these adolescents develop visualization skills that are necessary for them to become competent readers and writers. (5) Film analysis helps adolescents understand their writing processes.;This study contributes to the limited research that examines the connections between visual literacy and print literacy. It also informs composition scholarship, film and media studies, as well as general adolescent literacy pedagogy. It further expands what has been primarily a focus on college composition and address ways that the literacy of adolescents, particularly in the area of composition studies, can benefit from an understanding of the ways that learning how to read and interpret film can help them read and interpret print texts. It can also provide a stronger rationale for a more consistent inclusion of film in high school English classrooms as a tool for developing adolescent literacy at a variety of levels.