| Depictions of formal education are common in Young Adult literature, but there is little scholarship considering the way that formal education is positioned in the genre. This critical discourse analysis examines the relationship between formal education and adolescent agency in 12 Young Adult novels published between 2012 -- 2013; 2015 that appeared on the New York Times bestseller list and earned a Kirkus starred review. This analysis answers the following questions: 1) What is the relationship between formal education and adolescent agency in popular, critically acclaimed YA novels? 2) How do authors use language to reveal the relationship between formal education and adolescent agency? With a critical lens, informed by the work of Freire, Bourdieu, and Delpit, and inspired by theories of language, literacy, and rhetoric of Burke, Bakhtin, and Rosenblatt, this study examines the positioning of formal education in the text set as it relates to adolescents developing agency. A content analysis of 12 books was coded for valence, agency positioning, and rhetorical choices of authors. Informed by the results of the content analysis, a cluster analysis of five books was conducted that examined what rhetorical choices by authors clustered around scenes coded positively or negatively as they relate to adolescent agency. Findings indicate that, although most portrayals of formal education in the text set positioned education as oppressive, emancipatory education was also depicted as present; emancipatory education existed on an individual level, but the formal education systems were not set up explicitly to develop adolescent agency. Authors used many devices to position educators in the text set, relying heavily on descriptions of pedagogical methods, physical descriptions, and portrayals of interpersonal relationships and interactions between adolescents and educators. Educators who used authentic assessment, demonstrated care for adolescents, and acted warmly towards adolescents were often found in agency-positive scenes. This study has implications for educators who wish to reflect on their own practice and hope to engage their students in critical discourse analysis in school, adolescents who are the target consumers for this media, society, which accepts and perpetuates a narrative of education that is contrary to some of the founding principles of public education, and book publishers, who may want to re-shape the portrayals of formal education in the genre to capitalize on a relatively static teacher narrative. |
