An Essay on the Work of Composition: Composing English against the Order of Fast Capitalism

Lu, Min-Zhan

doi:10.2307/4140679

Cited by 44 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…It is difficult to know what the standards meant by using nouns, verbs, and other categories of words "properly" because there are many possible ways to use words in different combinations in speech, in writing, and in various dialects, including written Standard English. However, the state standards do not represent language use in terms of effectiveness, choice, or meaning-making as current theories of literacy do (IRA/NCTE, 1996;Lu, 2004;Luke, 2004;New London Group, 1996).…”

Section: State Standardsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“I'll speak in proper slang”: Language ideologies in a daily editing activity

Godley

Carpenter

Werner³

2007

Reading Research Quarterly

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S The purpose of this study was to examine the language ideologies—the assumptions about the nature of language, language variation, and language learning—reflected in a widespread daily editing activity often known as Daily Oral Language or Daily Language Practice. Through a yearlong ethnographic study of grammar instruction in three urban, predominantly African American 10th‐grade English classes, two university researchers and the classroom teacher collaboratively analyzed the language ideologies reflected through the teacher's implementation of Daily Language Practice. Using methods of the ethnography of communication and classroom discourse analysis, they coded for the content and sources of recurring language ideologies and their links to state standards and assessments. Findings show that Daily Language Practice represented the English language as monolithic, language form as disconnected from meaning, and written Standard English as the only correct dialect of English. However, some students in the study concurrently expressed alternate language ideologies through their participation in Daily Language Practice, ideologies that forefronted language variation and its dependence on context and audience. Findings suggest that daily editing activities provide limited opportunities for students to learn about language in ways that build off their existing linguistic resources and that could enhance their literacy learning. El propósito de este estudio fue examinar las ideologías lingüísticas, es decir los supuestos sobre la naturaleza del lenguaje, la variación lingüí;stica y el aprendizaje del lenguaje, tal como se reflejan en una actividad de edición muy difundida conocida como Lenguaje Oral Cotidiano o Práctica Cotidiana del Lenguaje. En un estudio etnográfico de un año centrado en la enseñanza de la gramática en tres clases de inglés de 10° grado con una población urbana mayoritariamente afroamericana, dos docentes universitarios y el docente del aula analizaron las ideologías lingüísticas reflejadas a partir de la implementación de la Práctica Cotidiana del Lenguaje. Usando los métodos de la etnografía de la comunicación y el análisis del discurso en el aula, se codificó el contenido y las fuentes de las ideologías lingüísticas recurrentes y sus vínculos con estándares y evaluaciones. Los resultados muestran que la Práctica Cotidiana del Lenguaje representa la lengua inglesa como monolítica, la forma lingüística desconectada del significado y el inglés escrito estándar como elúnico dialecto correcto del inglés. Sin embargo, algunos estudiantes expresaron ideologías lingüísticas alternativas a través de su participación en la Práctica Cotidiana del Lenguaje, ideologías que reconocían la variación lingüística y su dependencia del contexto y la audiencia. Los hallazgos sugieren que las actividades cotidianas de edición proporcionan oportunidades limitadas a los estudiantes para aprender acerca del lenguaje de maneras que apuntalen sus propios recursos lingüísticos y que mejoren su aprendizaje de la le...

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Section: State Standardsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“I'll speak in proper slang”: Language ideologies in a daily editing activity

Godley

Carpenter

Werner³

2007

Reading Research Quarterly

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“…(I'd add summative too.) of essayist literacy is so pervasive that it is difficult -if not impossible -to get this hybridity accepted as valid (but see work by Lu (2004) and Smitherman (2003) 10(4) [424] any small change in practice is difficult to negotiate. This instance illustrates some of the institutional hurdles to be faced even in making the smallest of shifts.…”

Section: Comment Theresa (O)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Legitimizing dialogue as textual and ideological goal in academic writing for assessment and publication

Lillis

2011

Arts and Humanities in Higher Education

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The semiotic world that we inhabit (within and outside the academy) is fast changing in terms of the resources that are used and the practices in which many engage. Yet the institutional norms governing highly consequential academic texts -students' texts assessed as part of their disciplinary-based activity and scholars' papers submitted for publication -lack engagement with this array of resources and, epistemologically, continue to drive a monologic stance towards academic meaning making. The aim of this article is to argue for a reconfiguring of the textual goal of academic writing, through one simple yet transformative tool, that of juxtaposition. Textual juxtaposition is illustrated in this article, and its intellectual and ideological value discussed, drawing on Bakhtin's emphasis on dialogue, using several examples from published academic texts. The relevance to scholarly and student writing is explored.

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“…Lu (2004), for example, described how a single word such as public may have quite different connotations and linguistic histories in the United States and in China. Yet the ease with which texts can be transmitted across borders does not mean reading and writing happens without the influence of culture.…”

Section: I T E R a C Y A N D I D E N T I T Ymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As Lu (2004) pointed out, however, the sign may be both comprehensible and conventional given the culture in which it was written and the cultural context of global power. The sentence is read as being in error and in need of correction to comply with the conventions of English found in countries such as the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom.…”

Section: Facing Culture and Literacymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Instead, Lu (2004) encouraged us to take a dual approach to reading such texts and consider how we read them against our cultural experiences and expectations for standardized English writing as well as how and why the individual writer may have composed a text with features different than we expect. Literacy, how it is defined, who gets to employ it, and for what ends, is always culturally contextual.…”

Section: Facing Culture and Literacymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Around the Block and Around the World: Teaching Literacy Across Cultures

Williams

2008

J Adolescent & Adult Lit

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As the use of English spreads around the world, it is important to remember that there is not now just one English but multiple “world englishes.” Many scholars and teachers have argued that language changes to adapt to different cultural contexts. This world of rapid cross‐cultural communication is the world in which our students read and write. In fact, many students, through e‐mail, instant messaging, or online games, are already engaged in reading and writing with young people in other countries. They live their literate lives with increasing contact with people in countries they may never visit, and their literate identities will be read by people in cultures unfamiliar to them. Such literacy practices should make teachers question how best to teach reading and writing in an age of cross‐cultural communication. We need to help students explore how multiple world englishes influence how standardized English is taught and how it is affected by issues of language, culture, and power. Finally, we must find ways to use the new technologies that allow us to communicate across borders as pedagogical tools to teach students about writing and reading in a cross‐cultural world.

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An Essay on the Work of Composition: Composing English against the Order of Fast Capitalism

Abstract: An essay on the work of composition : composing English against An essay on the work of composition : composing English against the order of fast capitalism. the order of fast capitalism.

Cited by 44 publications

References 8 publications

“I'll speak in proper slang”: Language ideologies in a daily editing activity

“I'll speak in proper slang”: Language ideologies in a daily editing activity

Legitimizing dialogue as textual and ideological goal in academic writing for assessment and publication

Around the Block and Around the World: Teaching Literacy Across Cultures

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