Professor: Literacy Education, Middle, Secondary, and Math Education

Mark Lewis is professor of literacy education at James Madison University. His research interests include examining and critiquing representations of adolescence and youth in young adult and adult literature, defining the multifaceted literary competence of secondary students, and identifying effective ways to support multilingual learners. Prior to coming to JMU, he taught middle school English and English as a second language in Arizona and worked with Indigenous youth in Colorado. Dr. Lewis has over 35 publications, including multiple book chapters and in scholarly journals such as English Education, English Journal, The ALAN Review, Study & Scrutiny, Journal of Teacher Education, Middle Grades Research Journal, Journal of Literacy Research, and Reading Research Quarterly. He is also a co-author of Rethinking the "Adolescent" in Adolescent Literacy (2017, NCTE Press) and Reading the World through Sports and Young Adult Literature: Resources for the English Classroom (2024, NCTE Press).

Education

Ph.D., Curriculum & Instruction – Literacy Studies, University of Colorado at Boulder
M.A., English Studies, Northern Arizona University
M.Ed., Secondary Education – English Language Arts, Northern Arizona University
B.A., English for Corporate Communications and Management, Christian Brothers University

Recent Scholarship

Shanks, L., & Lewis, M. A. (in press). A youth feminist perspective on death and dying: Barb Thorson and killing giants. In A. P. Zoeller, & T. E. Malewitz, (Eds.), Hollywood or history? An inquiry-based strategy for using comic based stories to teach liberal arts and social sciences. Information Age.

Lewis, M. A., & Rodesiler, L. (2025). Male youth-athletes as victims of sexual violence in recommended sports-related young adult literature. In K. Colantonio-Yurko, & B. Adams, (Eds.), Disrupting silence: Teaching and learning about rape culture through youth texts. Peter Lang.

DeWitt, H., Fisher, E., McDowell, Z., Phelps, K. D., Shanks, L., Smiley, H., Lewis, M. A., & Shoffner, M. (2025), Finding “heart, hope, and humanity” at the 2024 NCTE Annual Convention. Virginia English Journal, 73(1), Article 6.

George, M. A., Shoffner, M., Lewis, M. A., & Boyd, A. S. (2024). Pedagogy as perspective: Exploring purposes and practices for young adult literature with teacher candidates. Ubiquity: The Journal of Literature, Literacy, and the Arts, 11(1), 14-53.

Ferguson, D. E., Lewis, M. A., Dunkerly, J. M., Talbert, C. S., Moffit, C. A., & Hayes, S. B. (2024). Envisioning equity literacy in pre-service teacher education across five geographic and educational contexts. The New Educator, 20(3-4), 242–259.

Lupo, S. M., Frankel, K. K., Lewis, M. A., & Wilson, A. M. (2024). Literacy intervention in secondary schools: Exploring educators’ beliefs and practices about supporting adolescents’ literacy learning. Journal of Teacher Education, 75(1), 13-28.

Rodesiler, L., & Lewis, M. A. (2023). Studying sociopolitical issues in sports-related graphic nonfiction for young adults: Opportunities and messages. The ALAN Review, 50(2), 19-31.

Gómez, M., & Lewis, M. A. (2022). Identifying the assets of emergent bilingual middle school students’ writing: Opportunities to validate students’ linguistic repertoires and identities. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 25(10), 3791-3803.

Lewis, M. A., & Rodesiler, L. (2021). Youth-Athletes' activism and coaches: Representations in sports-related young adult literature. Research on Diversity in Youth Literature. 4(1). https://doi.org/10.21900/j.rydl.v4i1.1581

Botzakis, S., & Lewis, M. A. (2021). Divergent representations and relationships: Middle school youth and their teachers. The ALAN Review, 49(1), 22-31.

Rossi, M., & Lewis, M. A. (2021). Teaching The Harlem Hellfighters: A Great War counternarrative. English Journal, 111(1), 56-64.

Rodesiler, L., Lewis, M. A., & Brown, A. (2021). Relationships between youth-sports coaches and athletes: Messages from the “best” sports-related films. In K. Garland, K. S. Dredger, C. L. Beach, & C. Leogrande, (Eds.), Stories of sport: Critical literacy in media production, consumption, and dissemination (pp. 49-69). Lexington Books.

Professional Affiliations

• National Council of Teachers of English
  • Assembly of Research (NCTEAR)
  • English Language Arts Teacher Educators (ELATE)
  • The Rural Assembly of English Language and Literacy Education (TRAELLE)
• Literacy Research Association
  • Conference Area Co-Chair, Text Analysis of Children’s, Young Adult, and Adult Literature, 2018-Present
• American Educational Research Association
• Maryland Association of School Librarians
  • Black-Eyed Susan Children’s and Young Adult Literature Awards Committee
    • Grades 6-8 Graphic Novels sub-committee, 2018-Present
      • Sub-committee Chair, 2023-Present