by Claire Miller
College of Education Assistant Professor Tisha Y. Lewis was awarded the 2012 Promising Researcher Award from the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Established in 1970, the award is open to individuals who have completed dissertations, theses or initial, independent studies related to the teaching of English or language arts within the last three years.
Lewis’s manuscript, entitled, “We txt 2 sty cnnectd: Digital literacies, meaning-making and activity theory systems between an African American mother and son,” highlighted the impacts of texting and instant messaging on a mother and son’s relationship.
“The focus of the manuscript was to examine how these family members drew on digital meaning-making resources, how the family’s relationships were mediated by digital communication and how understanding these dynamics have the potential of enhancing learning instruction in academic settings,” she explained.
This is the second time NCTE has recognized Lewis for her academic accomplishments. In 2008, she was selected to become a part of its Research Foundation’s Cultivating New Voices among Scholars of Color Fellowship Program, a two-year mentoring program for advanced doctoral students and junior scholars. That same year, her research on the family highlighted in the manuscript earned her the J. Michael Parker Award from the Literacy Research Association.
As this year’s Promising Researcher Award recipient, Lewis will have the opportunity to share her research at the NCTE’s 101st annual convention, which she sees as an opportunity to shed light on an underrepresented area of literacy research.
“I am excited to attend the conference this November to be honored and facilitate further discussions around this work that I am very passionate about,” she said.
For more information about the award, visit http://www.ncte.org/second/awards/pra/recipient.
