Professing Literacy in Composition Studies (Peter N. Goggin)

Quantity in Basket:none Code: 978-1-57273-788-4 Price:$35.00 Title: Professing Literacy in Composition Studies Author(s): Peter N. Goggin Publish Date: December 2007 Pages: 160 Format: Cloth

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Professing Literacy tackles the question that scholars in rhetoric and composition studies tacitly or overtly are faced with in all discussions about written communication, namely: What do we mean when we talk about literacy? Drawing from an interpretive analysis of articles on writing and computer technologies published from 1994 through 2004 in some of composition's leading journals, Goggin addresses this question by mapping the ideological perspectives on literacy that inform the field's theoretical terrain. He provides literacy educators with a detailed synthesis of the multiple and often competing definitions of literacy that have informed and have been informed by theoretical perspectives that are themselves shaped by the ideological grounds they are situated in. He unravels the complex tangle of literature on literacy theory and research by identifying ideologies of literacy through a series of metaphors that illustrate conceptual landmarks and features that make up a "landscape" in which these literacy ideologies might be recognized and understood in relation to each other and the field's scholarship. He argues for a critically reflexive approach to articulating notions and discussions of literacy that brings awareness to bear on elements of the observer, the reflected reality of observation, and the mirror (lens) on discursive practices that inform such discussions. The book not only offers a conceptual roadmap for illuminating and navigating the territory that is the emerging field of literacy studies, but also challenges literacy scholars, teachers, and students to become more self aware of their own constructions of literacy and their own ideological leanings; to situate themselves and their work in the broader ideological terrain of literacy studies; to frame definitions of literacy in more carefully reflexive terms; and to more explicitly articulate what they mean when they talk about literacy. Contents: THEORIES OF MAPPING AND MAPPING OF THEORIES. Defining Literacy. Literacy and Technology. Mapping Literacy. Notes. THE LAY OF THE LAND. The Observer. The Reflection. The Mirror. Literacy Studies. Notes. SURVEYING THE FIELD. Literacy Metaphors. Classifying Literacy by Discourse Zones. Observing Literacy. Mapping a Community of Texts. Mapping Literacies: A Case Study. A Case for Taxonomy. Constructing New Literacy Metaphors. Becoming Literacy Literate. Notes. THE THE GROUND: SCOUTING OUT THE TERRAIN. The Overall Picture. The Journals. Observations. Notes. VIEWING THE TOPOGRAPHY. Computers and Composition: Constituting the Disciplinary Face. Awareness of Ideological Grounds. Challenging Conventional Wisdom. Conclusion. Notes. References. Author Index. Subject Index.