WA-2 Literacy Practices at a Particular Site

Writing Assignment 2

This essay calls upon you to describe literacy practices as they function in a particular place (in your church, in your workplace, in your home, in a store you frequent, or someplace else).

In developing this essay, you should consider questions like these: What texts are involved? At church, this may include the church bulletin, Bibles resting on the church pews, and hymnals, but they might also include notices posted in the church entrance, signage indicating where members should go, and so on. At home, relevant texts might include any and all reading materials found on the shelves, on the coffee table, in your room, in the rooms of the people living in the home in which you grew up.

Name these items. Tell us where in the home these materials are located. Discuss where the reading typically takes place (and who is typically involved). Don’t forget to discuss the reading of magazines and newspapers (even if it is just to locate coupons or information about the latest game) and any reading/ writing that takes place online (gaming, blogging, research). How are these texts put to use by the people involved in this context? Who develops these texts? Where do the people making use of these texts typically procure them?

Requirements: You must make use of Barton and Hamilton’s article and either Moss or Mirabelli (or all three), especially as they describe the theoretical framework you will be using. Take some time to unpack the Barton and Hamilton’s key arguments, then those made by Moss and/or Mirabelli and your position in relation to them; next consider how they are (or are not) true of your own experiences with literacy acquisition in the particular place you are describing. You might also find Brandt’s key arguments helpful here, especially the metaphor of “sponsorship.”