The Way Literacy Lives: Rhetorical Dexterity and Basic Writing Instruction

208 Pages·2008·1.04 MB·English

by  Shannon Carter

The Way Literacy Lives
Rhetorical Dexterity and
Basic Writing Instruction
S H A N N O N C A R T E R
The Way Literacy Lives
The Way Literacy Lives
Rhetorical Dexterity and Basic Writing Instruction
Shannon Carter
S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y O F N E W Y O R K P R E S S
Published by
STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK PRESS, ALBANY
© 2008 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever
without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic,
electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise
without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
For information, contact
State University of New York Press, Albany, NY
www.sunypress.edu
Production, Laurie Searl
Marketing, Anne M. Valentine
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Carter, Shannon.
The way literacy lives : rhetorical dexterity and basic writing instruction / Shannon Carter.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-7914-7355-9 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. English language—Composition and
exercises—Study and teaching. 2. Literacy—United States. 3. Education—Standards—
United States. I. Title.
LB1576.C31793 2008
808'.042071—dc22
2007024995
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
One The Way Literacy Tests 1
Two The Way Literacy Oppresses 25
Three The Way Literacy Liberates 39
Four The Way Literacy Stratifies 61
Five The Way Literacy (Re)produces 95
Six The Way Literacy Lives 125
Conclusion 147
Appendix A 153
Appendix B 155
Appendix C (Sample Writing Assignments) 159
Appendix D 169
Notes 173
Works Cited 181
Index 193
Acknowledgments
In the three years since I began writing it, this book has taken a number of
forms: course syllabi and materials, grants, conference presentations, a text-
book for students enrolled in our basic writing program, a training guide for
instructors working with these students called basic writers. Each version and
each new audience demanded further reading, reflection, and observation;
each incarnation better articulated the theoretical framework I required—as
a scholar, teacher, and administrator—but could not have anticipated. Like
most new things, this is not the book I intended to write; like most things, I
could not have possibly written it alone.
In that sense, the writing of this single-authored manuscript was an
intensely collaborative experience. The students enrolled in our basic writing
program over these last few years and the graduate assistants assigned to teach
them deserve much credit for the book this turned out to be. Through them,
I learned so much about writing and the teaching of writing.
Without the freedom to experiment, however, this collaborative rela-
tionship would not have been possible. Thus, I am eternally grateful to my
colleagues Gerald Duchovnay, Bill McCarron, Bill Bolin, Dick Fulkerson,
and Donna Dunbar-Odom for giving me the trust and the space necessary to
try things out. In particular, I want to thank Donna Dunbar-Odom; her sup-
port, encouragement, guidance, and innovative leadership and scholarship
have had a significant impact on this project and its approach. Through its
many incarnations—as a graduate-level course, as a basic writing textbook—
Donna has read almost every word. In every way, Donna has been an invalu-
able mentor, colleague, and friend. I also with to thank Dick Fulkerson for
reading and responding to the earliest versions of this project; his rigor as a
scholar and enviable skill as a debater forced me into tighter arguments and
more responsible prose. Thanks, as well, to Texas A&M-Commerce for grant-
ing me the sabbatical (called here “Faculty Development Leave”) that gave
me the time I needed to complete this book.
vii
viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Beyond A&M-Commerce, I want to thank Susan Naomi Bernstein for
inviting me to become a part of the basic writing professional community in
more formal and service-oriented ways. At home, I am grateful to my mother
(Danielle Carter), my brother (Eric Carter), and my dear friend and partner
Stephen Foote for expanding my own understanding of literate practice
through their tireless engagement with rigorous, intellectually challenging
out-of-school literacies. All three have given me much of their time, encour-
agement, and support as I interviewed them about video gaming, electronic
music, and comic books and, where possible, they taught me how to make use
of the texts associated with these social spaces. From his brother Michael,
Stephen even provided access to an artifact created to guide their use of the
text-only adventure game Raaka-Tu (circa 1981). I am grateful to Michael
Foote for granting me permission to include in this manuscript a copy of this
map (see Figure 1). As always, my father, John Carter, and grandmother,
Grace Carter, also deserve much of my admiration and gratitude.
Portions of chapter 6 appeared in the 25th anniversary issue of the Jour-
nal of Basic Writing (2006, as “Redefining Literacy as a Social Practice”). I wish
to thank JBW’s co-editors Rebecca Mlynarczyk and Bonne August for sup-
porting this endeavor. In particular, I wish to extend my warmest appreciation
for Rebecca Mlynarczyk, whose tireless support, encouragement, and enthusi-
asm enabled me to condense this book-length project into a workable article
and, in the process, strengthened the book from which the article emerged.
Thanks, as well, to Larin McLaughlin, Laurie Searl, and the anonymous
reviewers of this project. Without their insight, feedback, and guidance, this
project would not have been possible.
ONE
The Way Literacy Tests
Without testing, reform is a journey without a compass. Without testing,
teachers and administrators cannot adjust their methods to meet high goals.
Without testing, standards are little more than scraps of paper. Without
testing, true competition is impossible. Without testing, parents are left in
the dark. . . .
Testing is the cornerstone of reform. You know how I know? Because
it’s the cornerstone of reform in the state of Texas. (George W. Bush in the
first of the presidential debates of 2000, qtd. in Hillocks 11)
In education reform circles these days, Texas is everywhere. If Governor
George W. Bush is elected president, the Texas school reforms—and particularly
the state’s whips-and-chains accountability system—are likely to become a
model for national education policy, as they already are in a large number of
states. (Schrag 2000)
THE WAY LITERACY LIVES offers a curricular response to the political, mate-
rial, social, and ideological constraints placed on literacy education, particu-
larly basic writing, via the ubiquity of what Brian V. Street calls the
“autonomous model of literacy” and instead treats literacy as a social practice.
According to Street, the autonomous model
disguise[s] the cultural and ideological assumptions that underpin it so that
it can then be presented as though they are neutral and universal and that
literacy as such will have the . . . benign effect of . . . enhancing the . . . cog-
nitive skills [of those marked “illiterate,”] . . . improving their economic
prospects, making them better citizens, regardless of the social and eco-
nomic conditions that accounted for their “illiteracy” in the first place.
(“Autonomous and Ideological Models” 1)
1