Week 1 The Literacy of “Argumentative Discourse”

This week, I was most impressed with the work of Brian V. Street and Adam Lefstein. I was specifically intrigued with what they termed the different approaches and consequences of Literacy. Their discussion can be found in Unit A5, pages 34-47 of the Literacy An Advanced Resource Book. On page 34, Street comments that in order to understand the approaches and consequences of literacy we can use three categories: Literacy Acquisition, Consequences of Literacy and Literacy as Social Practice. In my dissertation I will be focusing on the Literacy practices of Mormon Missionaries and these categories seem very relevant to the work I will be doing. These categories illuminate what I see as the give and take of literacy. Literacy is approached or given in different ways dependent on the contextual situation and following the way in which literacy is practiced or approached there are consequences. In her scholarship on literacy sponsorship, Deborah Brandt echoes this idea by illustrating that sponsors can have both a positive and negative effect on their recipients. The one area that I see a little differently is the idea of literacy as a social practice. I completely agree with Street that Literacy is a social practice, however I think the social nature of literacy could be seen as an underlying motivation behind the give and take of acquisition and consequences. At any rate though I really liked Street’s way of envisioning and separating the ways in which literacy works in our culture.

Although Street gets the spotlight for my post this week, I was also very interested in the work of Martin Nystand and John Duffy. Their article, “Towards a Rhetoric of Everyday Life” showcased the scholarship of Kenneth Burke, whose name I had heard in reference before, but new relatively little about him. After reading the Duffy article I think I will need to add Burke to my comps list along with James Gee and possible James Berlin, both of whom were mentioned in Duffy’s article. If I understood Duffy’s interpretation of Burke, I want to know more about his views of literacy as a social practice.