(Re)Approaching the Education of Young Readers: Formats, Convergences, and Transpositions Associated with Literature

Abstract

This study is based on statistical data about reading in the lives of young people aged 11 to 17 years old. It addresses how one can (re)approach the education of readers from an understanding of what reading literature is all about in the 21st century. It discusses the change of format of reading from the book to the screen, but not from the perspective of exclusion or with the intention of arguing that one mode of access is better than another. It stresses the importance of mediating reading with an openness to the different media and forms that have been offered by digital information and communication technologies. Reflections are made to conceptualize literature in the 21st century and then some examples are provided of how literature converges from the written text to other media and vice versa, which suggests that young people are reading in different ways and this fact can be used to enhance the process of educating literary readers.