When students write about race: insights from university YAL courses

Purpose Using guided questions from the Racialized Reader Response framework, this study aims to examine how undergraduates in a US young adult literature course wrote about race and what ideas they articulated across a semester. Design/methodology/approach Student journals were analyzed through a critical race theory lens; responses were coded in NVivo and interpreted through thematic analysis. Findings Writing supported students in recognizing privilege and identity; however, some entries centered whiteness or relied on stereotypes when discussing BIPOC protagonists. Originality/value This study adds to the usefulness of writing as a tool for students to reflect on race through using a scaffolded framework: racialized reader response questions.