Why Use YA Literature to Engage Readers?
My journey with my literacy topic has been interesting, if
not trying. Originally, I wanted to combine two of my strongest interests, low-income
schools and Young Adult (YA) literature. After a lot of searching, I found
nothing. So I changed low-income schools to reluctant readers. Again, I had a
hard time finding 12-15 sources. Finally, when I broadened my topic to engaging
readers using YA literature, I found enough scholarly articles to work with.
My research was very interesting. I was surprised to find
out that YA texts are rarely, if ever, used in secondary schools; occasionally
middle school students are required to read YA novels. I found this surprising
because almost all of the novels we read for pedagogical classes have been YA.
Instead, current classrooms use the canon, the classics. Many of the opinions
from various experts that I researched argue that the use of classics has been
creating reluctant readers rather than encouraging them to read. Because
students become reluctant, they do not engage with the text or user higher
cognitive levels beyond comprehension. To challenge this problem, experts
suggest that educators use YA literature.
Experts such as teachers, YA novel writers, and professors
at various universities claim that YA literature engages students in ways that
the classics cannot. The classics were originally written for an educated,
adult audience, not teenagers. But YA literature is. They also argue that YA
texts use similar themes that can be used to help students understand changes
in their lives, as well as teach them about social responsibility and morals.
Several of the experts refer to the fact that literacy now
pertains to a variety of texts: videos, emails, music, etc. Some of them have
also found that students are more willing to read YA novels if they have a film
based on it. Because of this, they suggest that YA literature can be used to
teach many different forms of literacy. This perspective of YA literature makes
it educationally more valuable than the canon.
Overall, the experts recommend that educators implement YA
literature into classrooms. However, according to surveys and questionnaires,
teachers argue that YA texts have not stood the test of time as classics have
and that they do not have time for additional novels in class. This is
surprising because of the evidence the experts present in support of YA
literature. Perhaps future teachers will embrace it more readily?
