Literacy and Culture
Course Description:
Literacy has traditionally been constructed as a set of skills or a body of knowledge to be obtained. This notion has been translated by educators into a transactional model of learning whereby the act of communicating is reified into a curriculum that teachers give to students. Current research indicates, however, that literacy is a social process always situated in a particular context. The idea that literacy is closely related to social life in relation to personal identity complicates the simplistic model of literacy learning, but it offers the possibility that the formal schooling experience may be enriched for all. Schools become lively sites of action and reflection when students are invited to bring their outside lives and interests inside the classroom.
In light of this view of literacy, it is essential that we question the assumptions embedded in our educational system and explore the effects of schooling on our diverse population of students. Ethnographic research suggests that the home discourses of some students translate more easily into traditional school discourses. Students from homes where the literacy practices differ greatly from the school's often experience frustration and unequal treatment in school. And young females from many backgrounds are socialized into a passive discourse that may not serve them well in the competitive school environment. Our ultimate goal, then, would be to apply this research to practice in order to develop pedagogies that support the literacy acquisition of diverse populations of students, especially those from traditionally excluded groups.
Course Goals:
Instructor goals:
Activities:
Students will:
1.) During the first month of class students will explore the connotations of the term discourse community, in part through an online activity. Students will find a newsgroup or discussion list centered around a topic or a group of people unfamiliar to them. Field notes and transcribed discussions will be collected to illustrate the language, rules, and taboos of that particular group. In a brief reaction paper (5-8 pages), student researchers will reflect on ways in which an "outsider" negotiates meanings and gains acceptance by the group; if they do indeed gain "membership."
2.) Students may either expand and revise this research for the final paper or select a research project of their own choosing for a more detailed micro-ethnography (15-20 pages). Obviously, this will not be a major study and may only involve a few participants and a limited observation schedule. For example, students may study a mixed-age group of children teaching each other the rules to a new board game.
Readings:
Barbieri, Maureen. Sounds from the Heart: Learning to Listen to Girls.
Dyson, Anne Haas and Celia Genishi. The Need for Story: Cultural Diversity in Classroom and Community.
Foley, Douglas. Learning Capitalist Culture: Deep in the Heart of Tejas.
Gee, James. Social Linguistics and Literacies: Ideology in Discourse.
Heath, Shirley Brice. Ways with Words: Language, Life, and Work in Communities and Classrooms.
Schaafsma, David. Eating on the Street: Teaching Literacy in a Multicultural Society.
Course packet:
Bahktin, M. "The Problem of Speech Genres."
Bloom, David. "Anthropology and Research on Teaching the English Language Arts." in Handbook of Research on Teaching the English Language Arts.
Green, Judith, and Amy Zaharlick. "Ethnographic Research" in Handbook of Research on Teaching the English Language Arts .
McCracken, Nancy and Bruce Appleby. Gender Issues in the Teaching of English.
Michael Stubbs. "Collecting Conversational Data: Notes on Sociolinguistic Methodology" In Discourse Analysis.
Smith-Cochran, Marilyn and Susan Lytle. Inside/Outside: Teacher Research and Knowledge (selected chapters).
Suggested Readings:
Au, Katheryn Hu-Pei. Culture and the Bilingual Classroom: Studies in Classroom Ethnography.
Cazden, Courtney. Classroom Discourse: The Language of Teaching and Learning.
Cook-Gumperz, Jenny, ed. The Social Construction of Literacy.
Fu, Danling. "My Trouble is My English": Asian Students and the American Dream.
Malinowitz, Harriet. Textual Orientations: Lesbian and Gay Students and the Making of Discourse Communities.
Ogbu, John. The Next Generation: An Ethnography of education in an Urban Neighborhood.
Tannen, Deborah. Analyzing Discourse: Text and Talk.
_______________ Gender and Discourse.
Course Outline
Evaluation:
(Adapted from Peg Syverson's Online Learning Record)
Evaluation will be cumulative and based on portfolio assessment. Students will document in their portfolios evidence of development across five dimensions: confidence and independence, skills and strategies, use of prior and emerging experience, knowledge in content area, and critical reflection.
Students may use the following heuristic as they reflect on their progress in the course:
Confidence and independence
In what ways have I made progress in developing my own reading, writing, and thinking abilities? What evidence do I have that suggests I am capable of conducting independent teacher research?
Skills and strategies
What skills have I developed as a writer? What strategies have I learned as a student and researcher? How can I apply these skills and strategies as a teacher and as a researcher?
Content knowledge
What evidence suggests I have indeed gained knew knowledge in the subject area? Be specific.
Use of prior and emerging experience
In what ways have I made knowledge "personal" by applying new information to my own experiences? How have I used my unique experiences to contribute to the class?
Reflection
In what ways have I developed an awareness of my own learning processes? How have I demonstrated the flexibility required of a "reflective teacher?" What are some of my most important "discoveries" from this semester?