Constructing multiple subjectivities in classroom literacy contexts

This study demonstrates the ways in which students in a multi-age, literature-based classroom were continually in the process of constructing and reconstructing their subjectivities based on the demands of the particular social setting. Using different theoretical lenses, I offer a critique of essentialist views of individuals by focusing on three students in II variety of classroom literacy contexts. Each of the three students responded quite differently in each of the settings; their participation was influenced not only by their own gender, social class, and ethnicity and that of the other participants, but also by the task in which they engaged. I argue that each theory adds another layer of interpretation of students' interactions; these interpretations may provide opportunities for developing a move sophisticated approach to multicultural education.