ENG 213 Midterm Exam

Objective Section: 100 Points

● Definitions Key Terms: 70 points (7 points per definition)Choose ten of the following twenty key terms. Define each one in your own language.

affordances multimodality

ideological model digital literacies

multiliteracy (theory of) grand narrative (of alphabetic literacy)

medium autonomous model

critical literacy constraints

functional literacy technological utopianism

translatio studii et imperii mediational means

technological dystopianism rhetorical literacy

technological determinism visual literacy

mode cultural tools

● Objective Questions Key Concepts: 30 points (3 points per answer)Choose ten of the following fifteen questions. Answer in one or a couple words.

1. According to Selber, Functional Literacy understands computers as?

2. Jones and Hafner argue that new media literacies require new abilities and skills from readers and writers. Name one ability they list that you have.

3. The grand narrative of alphabetic literacy dismisses and trivializes what kind of literacy?

4. According to Baron, the first writing technology was?

5. Faigley argues that visual thinking is only taught where? Or to whom?

6. Baron argues that “the mainframe computer when it was introduced was intended to” perform what function?

7. Faigley argues that visual texts DO encourage deep reflection and what else?

8. Rhetorical Literacy understands students as?

9. Faigley states that literacy is not just alphabetic, but is also?

10. The autonomous model of Social Literacy as a “set of practices” as opposed to what?

11. An example of a multimodal text might be?

12. What is an example of a mode of communication you use regularly?

13. Theories of Critical Literacy emphasize?

14. Name an affordance of text messaging.

15. The objective of a Critical Literacy approach is to?

● Short Answer Application and Connection: 100 Points (20 points per answer)Choose 5 questions from the ten below. Answer in no more than a few sentences. Grammar/formality will not be considered in scoring!

1. Do you consider yourself a technological dystopianist or utopianist? Neither? Both? What experiences with, observations of, or perspectives on digital new media and internet/computer technologies has shaped your answer?

2. Check out the designed image below. Thinking back to Perry’s ven diagram on literacy practices, what specific genre knowledge, cultural knowledge, and lexico-syntactic knowledge does a reader need in order to understand the message delivered in this visual text?

3. The following billboard advertisement for Sony Playstation White made headlines for communicating and relying on white supremacist imagery/values to sell its product. How can this advertisement and the public response to it help support Faigley’s argument that images encourage deep reflection and serious thought in readers? How can it help demonstrate his assertion that visual texts do more than merely record reality?

4. According to Perry, there are different literacies associated with different domains of life. Consider and describe three different literacies on which you rely in different domains of your life. How are these functional, critical, or rhetorical literacies?

5. Check out this tweet. What specific print, visual, cultural and functional literacies does a reader rely on in order to access and understand what’s going on here? How does this tweet and the meme it shares exemplify the idea of translatio studii et imperii? What root texts are being re-worked here?

6. How is the cartoon below exploring the idea of technological determinism? How could you use examples from your own experience to support or challenge the theory?

7. Imagine you need to let someone you care about know how you feel about them. This might be a romantic or platonic message, but it’s important to you. Think through and list the particular affordances and constraints of one print and one digital or visual genre of communicating personal, intimate messages. (i.e. a handwritten card vs. a text gif) Given these affordances and constraints, which medium would you choose for your message and why?

8. So. . .overall, which most effectively tells the more engaging and clear story of Harry Potter - the root text or the film translatio? Why do you think this? How did changing the medium and literacy change the text for better or worse? And how and why do you think we continue to re-make and transfer and translate the knowledge and culture Rowling created with her literary print text?

9. Take on a critical literacy lens for a moment and consider who, specifically in our society, is and has been disempowered by what Faigley calls the “totemization of alphabetic literacy and the denial of material literacy”? Which people and communities have traditionally had access to alphabetic literacy? What does this tell us about the relationship between power and literacy?

10. Examine the silly cartoon below. How does this work as a multimodal version of Baron’s larger argument about the progress of technology and widespread use? What current or recent writing technology can you think of that helps support Baron’s claims about the history of writing technology?