Letters, Words, Characters: Documenting and Analyzing Literacy Learning in Marion, Ohio
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Date
2025-05
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The Ohio State University
Abstract
Marion, Ohio is filled with the possibility of growth, strengthened by a longstanding commitment to literacy development among its citizens. This current research serves as a follow-up to “Reading Together in Marion: Connecting Legacies of Language & Literacy,” an interdisciplinary undergraduate summer research project. This project led students to explore the past, present, and future of community sponsorship for literacy support in Marion. The students navigating this project had provided the leeway for me to branch beyond the history of Marion to provide reflections of literacy within the county.
The Marion community has two primary rhetorical sites of literacy that promote development, the Marion Public Library and The Ohio State University at Marion. To gain a deeper understanding of the residents and community invested in the progression, I chose these sites as they are accessible and have pre-established connections to literacy. In my project, I am conducting ethnographic research to document these connections by recording video narratives to create an archival data set for analysis. Using the grounded theory method, I identify notable keywords, patterns, and unique narrative moments to explore literacy development within this collection of narratives. I am developing my own themes of formation in literacy by using these narratives as insights into the Marion, Ohio community. Based on a preliminary study, “Growing Marion Legacies: Understanding Literacy through Narratives of Individuals Pursuing Pedagogy,” I had recognized two continuing patterns in the collected narratives: first, the prevalence of story as a thematic concept, and second, the importance of mentor figures as literacy sponsors. The latter factor in particular is prevalent as it serves as the crossroads of individual and community literacy.
Analysis of these narratives uncovered several common themes of literacy identity, spaces, and community growth. The connections of Marion, Ohio go beyond the developments made by STEM and the sciences to provide a more rounded culture around the themes of literacy. The literate culture of Marion is one of reciprocal growth and learning through the experiences of developing reading and writing skills within these primary spaces.
Another aspect I wish to point out is the mislabeling of literacy. Literacies as a term can be narrowly assigned to the practices associated with writing and reading proficiency, which is highly restrictive to our understanding of the complex nature of human learning. Addressing this misconception is essential to identifying preconceived biases found in popular conceptions of literacy. This method of data collection therefore serves as a primary source of understanding the complexities of foundational literacy development.
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Keywords
literacy studies, literacy identity, grounded theory, literacy spaces, ethnography, bible studies