WRITING AND BEING WRITTEN: How literacy practices, genres and discourses construct identities

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WRITING AND BEING WRITTENHow literacy
practices, genres and discourses construct
identities

• Roz Ivanic
• Literacy Research Centre
• Lancaster University

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The discoursal construction of my own identity
an example

• value
• valorize

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LISAS ESSAY

• How is the new national ESOL curriculum being
  implemented within the Adult College, Lancaster?

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Her first paragraph ended

• So this essay will be an analysis of the
  relationship between theoretical ideas and
  classroom practices (Brumfit and Mitchell, 1990,
  p. 14). I will begin by offering details of the
  new E.S.O.L. curriculum, then describe the class
  that I observed, and finalise by deciding whether
  this class fit within the constraints of the
  curriculum.

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. in the middle of the essay .

• In the break I asked the tutor what she thinks
  of the new Adult ESOL Core Curriculum. She said
  that she considered it to be very good, as it
  includes everything that ESOL tutors at the
  Adult College include in their classes. She added
  that they should not need to change anything at
  the Adult College because of the new curriculum.

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. in the middle of the essay .

• In the break I asked the tutor what she thinks
  of the new Adult ESOL Core Curriculum. She said
  that she considered it to be very good, as it
  includes everything that ESOL tutors at the
  Adult College include in their classes. She added
  that they should not need to change anything at
  the Adult College because of the new curriculum.

This tutors view diverges from the views of the
other tutors in the college, who consider that
the new curriculum is flawed (see previous
section). I therefore decided to investigate why
she should hold these divergent views.
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. in the middle of the essay .

• In the break I asked the tutor what she thinks
  of the new Adult ESOL Core Curriculum. She said
  that she considered it to be very good, as it
  includes everything that ESOL tutors at the
  Adult College include in their classes. She added
  that they should not need to change anything at
  the Adult College because of the new curriculum.

As Bourdieu (1977) convincingly argues, one of
the ways in which dominant views are often
reproduced is by the process of colonization of
those who are most oppressed by them.
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. in the middle of the essay .

• In the break I asked the tutor what she thinks
  of the new Adult ESOL Core Curriculum. She said
  that she considered it to be very good, as it
  includes everything that ESOL tutors at the
  Adult College include in their classes. She added
  that they should not need to change anything at
  the Adult College because of the new curriculum.

Helene also teaches the advanced and
extra-advanced classes in the evenings at the
Adult College.
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and the paragraph ended .

• After the break, the class sprang into an
  impromptu class discussion about cultural
  differences. Perhaps Helene allowed this to
  happen because it was the last class but she
  might also have thought that conversations in
  English were of benefit to her students. Even
  this spoken communication can be related to the
  Adult ESOL Core Curriculum because one of the
  requirements is to describe and compare give
  general descriptions as well as more specific
  descriptions (p. 336). It seems that Helene was
  absolutely right, that the content and structure
  of the ESOL lessons at the Adult College are
  already built around the requirements of this new
  curriculum.

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Lisas conclusion

• 2 pages long
• A summary of all the information in the essay

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The discoursal construction of identity
  SOCIALLY AVAILABLE RESOURCES FOR, AND
CONSTRAINTS UPON, WHO A PERSON CAN BE The
autobiographical The discoursal self The
anticipated self
reader(s) - interests - views
of the world - values and
beliefs - authoritativeness /
agency SOCIALLY AVAILABLE RESOURCES FOR, AND
CONSTRAINTS UPON, WHO A PERSON CAN BE 
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Socially available resources for writing the
writer

• linguistic features
• audio / visual features
• material features

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Lisas autobiographical self

• She had been a professional singer, including
  several engagements on round-the-world liners
• She was wife and mother, in rented property
• Both she and her husband suffered from crippling
  physical conditions
• She had just finished an Open University
  Humanities degree
• She was a part-time English and drama teacher
• and
• Her aspiration was to be a full time teacher.