NCTE 2012 Roundtable: Intersection of Sport, Education, and Society in English Education
Sports-loving Teen Boys DO Read: Examining Sports Websites, Blogs and Magazines
Dr. Deborah Vriend Van Duinen, Hope College – vanduinen@hope.edu
I don't know. I just look at everything else I'd rather being doing
than reading. Like other things I could be occupying myself with.
It's also hard to read when I look at how I don't have much free
time. If I have free time I would rather be doing something else
than reading. Wakeboarding or skiing in the winter, throwing the
football, there's so many other options to do than read. It's hard to
sit down with a book and read for an hour. I guess it's not so
much that I hate reading it's more that I'd rather be doing other
stuff.
Adam, 15 year old European American
Big Questions
 What do sports-loving teen boys read in and around their sports
involvements and interests?
 What do sports-loving teen boys say about these texts and how
they use them?
 What are the literacy practices surrounding these texts?
My research data is taken from several studies in which I have examined
the literacy sponsorship of teen boys’ literacy practices. These qualitative
in-depth interview studies with adolescent boys (ages 12-17) examine
what teen boys say about their experiences with literacy. What must be
noted, however, is that my methodology focuses on the use of interview
artifacts (I ask participants to bring in artifacts that represent their past,
present and future selves). In other words, I try to get at teen boys’
literacy practices indirectly. I don’t specifically ask them about
reading/writing. Rather, I learn about their literacies in and through their
talk about what matters to them.
Alberto – 17 year old Latino, a “soccer fanatic”
I read articles on the internet like articles about what's happening to a
soccer player like the other day one of my favorite soccer players he got
moved to a second division team by the owner of Chevas and I was like
what? This dude is crazy! He's really quick, he's like 28 already, 5-8, he
used to play for Chevas, he still does but they moved him down to the
younger team. I was like why? It's a dumb decision because um for this
year, every year teams can buy new players and transfer new players
and this year the coach got one new player and got rid of like 10 and
because he wanted to get rid of the team, he started the season with zero
new players. He's a rich guy who doesn't like to spend money.
David – 15 year old White, skier and snowboarder
Like my skis are AR5s, like Armatta 5s, because center mounts is a new
big thing....so it's right in the middle of your ski for twin tips, because twin
tips have a tip in the back and in the front and so um, like those and so,
you can go up and switch...people go up jumps backwards, when you
have it right in the center, when you're grinding a rail, usually you're on
your toes grinding the rail but that allows you to be just like in the center
of your foot grinding. I want to see if center mounts on AR5s is a good
thing, I want to see if people have tried it and if they liked it.
2NCTE 2012 Roundtable: Intersection of Sport, Education, and Society in English Education
Sports-loving Teen Boys DO Read
Dr. Deborah Vriend Van Duinen, Hope College – vanduinen@hope.edu
Reading about professional teams and players (websites /
newspapers)
http://espn.go.com/
Reading blogs about professional sports (soccer)
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/blog/_/name/espnfcunited/id/1538?cc=5901
“Teen boys’
engagement
in an array of
activities on
their own
revealed
highly
sophisticated
spontaneous
and adaptive
literacy
practices tied
to personal
interests
motivated by
sports
discourse.”
Mahiri, 1994.
“I'm not into
magazines at
all because
they got a lot
of pages with
random stuff
and then
doesn't get to
the point until
you get to
one page
and that's it
and so I'm
not into
magazines at
all.” Jon, 15
year old
European
American
NCTE 2012 Roundtable: Intersection of Sport, Education, and Society in English Education
Sports-loving Teen Boys DO Read:
Dr. Deborah Vriend Van Duinen, Hope College – vanduinen@hope.edu
Reading sports statistics on web / in newspapers / magazines
http://mlb.mlb.com/milb/stats/org.jsp?id=det
Reading about Fantasy Football
3
“Take one of
my son’s
(and my
own) favorite
genres,
tables of
team
standings.
This is not
merely raw
information.
Not some
transactional
bit of data.
For the
skilled reader
this table is
full of stories,
even morality
tales, though
it takes a bit
of prior
knowledge to
construct
them.”
Newkirk,
2002, p. 70
4NCTE 2012 Roundtable: Intersection of Sport, Education, and Society in English Education
Sports-loving Teen Boys DO Read
Dr. Deborah Vriend Van Duinen, Hope College – vanduinen@hope.edu
Reading about sports-related video games
http://www.operationsports.com/arena/
http://www.ign.com/cheats/games/world-cup-soccer-nes-7199
NCTE 2012 Roundtable: Intersection of Sport, Education, and Society in English Education
Sports-loving Teen Boys DO Read:
Dr. Deborah Vriend Van Duinen, Hope College – vanduinen@hope.edu
5
Reading websites / blogs / newspapers about school and travel
sports teams
http://mn.truelacrosse.com/
http://www.nj.com/hssports/blog/wrestling/index.ssf/2012/11/201213_north_2_group_2_preview.html
“I like going
here [online
sports
website]
more than
reading the
newspaper,
like the
newspaper is
really late,
like it's alright
just to look
up, I look it
up more for
like local
sports but
like
nationwide,
it's not that, i
don't know,
and there's
videos here”
Nick, 16 year
old European
American
6NCTE 2012 Roundtable: Intersection of Sport, Education, and Society in English Education
Sports-loving Teen Boys DO Read
Dr. Deborah Vriend Van Duinen, Hope College – vanduinen@hope.edu
Reading blogs about tips/tricks of particular sports
http://www.newschoolers.com/ns/forums/readthread/thread_id/717882/
Watching YouTube videos and reading comments
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=II7Wo0y6fC8
“It's a ski
website, it's
like
dedicated to
skiing and
they have
um like new
um spots
that are
coming up or
events um or
like pictures
or videos or
local news.
They have a
blog that you
can write on
and ask
questions.”
David, 15
year old
European
American.
“I look up
basketball
tips, I
learned how
to dribble
with my left
hand.
Youtube and
google,
google sites
and I write
down the
things I
should do.”
Keith, 17
year old
Asian
American
NCTE 2012 Roundtable: Intersection of Sport, Education, and Society in English Education
Sports-loving Teen Boys DO Read:
Dr. Deborah Vriend Van Duinen, Hope College – vanduinen@hope.edu
Reading sports-related magazines
http://skateboarding.transworld.net/1000164983/photos/in-this-issueoctober-2012/
Reading magalogs: sports equipment / fashion / celebrities
http://shop.ccs.com/
7
“We expect
sponsorships
investments to
return a ten to
one value—
which means
that if we
agree to give
you a $175
board, we
expect a return
of $1750 worth
of blogs,
videos, skate
shop contacts,
competition
exposure, test
riding, and
anything else
you can think
of.”
www.descentlo
ngboard.com
Teen Market
Profile (1994):
commercial
interests are
inextricably
tied into boys’
literacy
practices.
Teen market
is a “force to
be reckoned
with” because
of increased
buying by
teen boys and
because of
larger family
expenditures
on their teens.