A study of the literacy practices of three African American male first year college students

This study explored the learning perceptions and literacy practices of three successful African American male first year college students in order to expand what is known about how African American males attain and sustain academic success over time. Each of the three participants were interviewed, participated in blogging, and corresponded through email with the researcher to discover the literacy practices they naturally employed, their overall perceptions of learning, and how their learning perceptions influenced their literacy practices. The data collected was analyzed through two complementary qualitative inquiries: multiple case study and portraiture. With respect to the participants' academic successes, both inquiries sought to expose what worked well and why it worked.;Two questions guided this study. The first sought to explore learning perceptions that influence literacy practices. The findings suggested that how the participants defined themselves in social and cultural terms influenced their academic identities. In addition, the participants' engagement in the learning process increased when they were able to make connections either socially, culturally, emotionally or academically. The data also revealed that secondary and post secondary teachers could do more to support literacy development of students beyond high school. One parallel across all cases was the belief that explicit instruction in reading to learn strategies was a benefit to high school and college students alike.;The second research question endeavored to find out how strategies were used to support learning. It was deduced that two column note-taking, outlining, and skimming strategies benefitted the participants in the area of self-study, particularly when coupled with other reading to learn strategies. It was also concluded that reading to learn strategies aided the participants in extracting information from printed texts and monitoring their comprehension. Furthermore, comprehension and retention of information improved with consistent strategy use.;This study sought to explore successful models of learning. This study revealed that these three African American males were able to sustain success over time when they consistently used strategies on their own that supported their learning. Thus the participants' strategy use and their reflective stances enabled them to facilitate their own learning.