Boys and Literacy (part 3)

 

Smith and Wilhelm review multiple scholarly theories about boys and literacy while systematically interviewing and recording the literate experiences of fifty young men from diverse ethnicities, socioeconomic classes, schools, and reading abilities. Most of their analysis pivots around the work of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and his conception of something called flow, “the state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter” (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990, p.4). Throughout the stories the boys relate about literate activities in and out of school, their preference for social interaction dominates: “It’s always better with friends, always.” (p.42). In addition the authors recognized other standards for literacy engagement. For example, the boys desired participation, activity, and choice. There was a strong need for a sense of competence and control, without which the activity was dismissed as “stupid”. The boys appreciated challenges that required skills, although the usefulness of the skill usually had to relate to their lives outside of school. The boys needed clear goals and feedback in classroom work. Furthermore, teachers who initiated these practices were viewed as personally connected to the interests of their students. Throughout these observations Smith and Wilhelm continually revisit the notion of flow. Csikszentmihalyi points out that the concept of flow is one of happiness, the sense of happiness one feels when totally engaged in a rewarding literate activity. The strength of the work by Smith and Wilhelm is the universality of the feeling of flow, and therefore the perception that it is not only attainable, but can be initiated among reluctant readers.