ABSTRACT
In this chapter, Vaughn explores student agency in the language arts classroom and considers its implications for theory, practice, and research. Vaughn’s view of student agency is informed by research spanning sociocultural perspectives that position literacy as a socially mediated process where agency is situated in complex learning environments. The chapter covers educational reform efforts surrounding language arts instruction over the last two decades that situates possibilities for student agency in schools. The discussion explores conceptual and empirical understandings of student agency, focusing specifically on how agency intersects in adaptive classrooms that reflect students’ lived experiences, cultures and languages, and instructional needs. The chapter ends with new ways of thinking about methodological approaches for exploring student agency in the language arts classroom.
