It seems as if every discipline has its conflicts with both camps adamantly standing behind their research and beliefs. Basic Writing pedagogy is no different. I believe this article does well to try and marry the merits of Bartholomae and Elbow thereby suggesting a less tighter grip on the definition of academic writing. The author does not want to abolish the 40 year reign of college academic writing but she does appreciate the idea of mixed discourses.
Her example of her student, Laura, whose writing transformed by the end of the semester was evidence that with the careful selection of texts and a little gentle prodding to direct students, Ms. Gunter successfully pulled from her student the kind of discourse that intergrated her thoughts and ideas with the readings she selected. In doing so, Laura did not shy away from confronting concepts she disagreed with but communicated that disagreement in a way professors would find favorable.
I find it odd that although most scholars think that academic writing is elitist, there is nothing being done to change that perspective given the mixed culture that surrounds us. Students still have to write papers from a distance that does not bring them into the conversation. As I see it, it is almost as if academic writing is a test to see if a student has the wherewithal to participate in the discourse with the others in the field. Do they know the arguments? Can they support them with outside sources? Can they write without the "I" pronoun? I see the merits of academic writing as a teacher because it requires close reading and understand of material with an orderly progression of thoughts and ideas that come to a conclusion.
As Ms. Gunter did with this text, adding mixed discourses and instances of pop culture (she mentions Ellen Degeneres, Steel cage death match to name a few), she has made a conscious choice not to use academes. In doing so, she authored an article that is interesting, not only because of the subject matter, but because of the personal ties she included. Ms. Gunter made this article a page turner.
Hi Nayanda, You write "most scholars think academic writing is elitist." How do you draw that conclusion? If it were true, then most scholars would think they were using an elitist discourse.
ReplyDeleteThere are all kinds of rules and rhetorical strategies that collectively add up to academic discourse. However, academic writing is not entirely stable. It tends to change from one discipline to another and from one college to another.
What do you think of the idea of promoting mixing of discourse styles? That is what Gunter is writing about. What's your take on that?
My comment about most scholars was a unsubstantiated. I agree with the author about promoting mixed discourses in the classroom. Since reading the article I have been thinking about how I would include mixed discourse in a diverse classroom without excluding someone. I believe in order to do this well a professor has to be well read not only in American literature but the literature of other countries as well. In addition, the instructor should become somewhat familiar with the culture she or he is reading about so as to not offend any students. Braiding mixed discourse with academic discourse will offer a richer text that will show how the student has incorporated what they have found in a language that is familiar to them but also serves the purpose of the academy.
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