writing and being written: how literacy practices, genres and discourses construct identities roz...

WRITING AND BEING WRITTEN:How literacy practices, genres and

discourses construct identities

Roz Ivanič

Literacy Research Centre

Lancaster University

The discoursal construction of my own identity: an example

value

valorize

LISA’S ESSAY

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

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.

…. 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 tutor’s 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.

…. 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.



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

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.

Lisa’s conclusion

• 2 pages long

• A summary of all the information in the essay

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

The discoursal construction of identity

Socially available resources for ‘writing the writer’

genres discourses

tex tua l prac tices prac tices a round the tex t

com m unicative practices

- linguistic features

- audio / visual features

- material features

Lisa’s 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.

writing and being written: how literacy practices, genres and discourses construct identities roz...

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