This book examines how working-class high school studentsâ identity construction is continually mediated by discourses and cultural practices operating in their classroom school family sports community and workplace worlds. Specifically it addresses how responding to cultural differences portrayed in multicultural literature can serve to challenge adolescentsâ allegiances to status quo discourses and cultural models and how teachers not only can rouse students to clarify and change their value stances related to race class and gender but also provide support for and validation of studentsâ self-interrogation. Highlighting the influence of sociocultural forces the book contributes to understanding the role of institutions in shaping adolescentsâ lives and identifies needs that must be addressed to improve those institutions. Current theory and research on critical discourse analysis cultural models theory and identity construction is meshed with specific applications of that theory and research to case-study profiles and analysis of classroom discussions. The instructional strategies described enable pre-service and in-service teachers to develop their own literature curriculum and instructional methods. . Language: English