In 3-5 pages, construct a language autobiography or narrative that explores the ways in which an experience (or experiences) positive or negative has shaped you and your relationship(s) with language.

Autobiographical Language Narrative (100pts)

Targeted Learning Outcomes:

Apply rhetorical concepts (writer, audience, subject, purpose, context) to analyze and compose a variety of texts.

Develop an understanding of—and engagement with—metacognitive practices (reflection, adaptation, and revision) to navigate writing situations.

The writer has made narrative choices based on

the rhetorical situation (including medium/venue, audience/audience expectations)
their own goals and purposes (how they hope to impact/affect their audience)

Rhetorical strategies to demonstrate:

Narrative: tell me a story
Narrative structure: beginnings, middles, ends purposefully / strategically ordered
Rich description that includes specific, concrete details and paint a clear picture for the reader
Narrative point / purpose: not a claim but a reason (implicit or explicit) for sharing this story

Technical Requirements:

Formatted according to course guidelines (see General Formatting Guidelines for Papers).
On time submission to Canvas.
Minimum three pages of text.
Maximum five pages of text.
Tell me a story about you and your relationship and experiences with language / literacy

Explanation / Purpose:

Over the course of the quarter, we’ve read several texts about how individuals and communities experience language in the United States. For our final essay, you will contribute to these conversations by sharing (one of) your own language story (stories).

All of us wield and experience language daily. For some of us, language is ever-present in our lives because everyday communication is a constant negotiation. For others, language is something that exists largely under the radar (a part of life that barely / rarely rises to our consciousness) and only appears to us in moments of language difference (someone is speaking in a way we do not understand / someone does not understand what it is we are saying).

For some, language is simply a tool for communication with no deep personal connections—something not aligned with culture or identity. Yet, for others still, language is community and culture and a way of connecting within and across generations, geography, shared beliefs and experiences. And, for many, language is all of these things at different times and all at once.

How you language (to use the verb form of the word from Asao Inoue) comes from some time, place, culture, history, set of experiences, beliefs, assumptions, goals, and more. How you choose to speak or write (in specific situations), how you react to language difference, how you view yourself because of your use of particular languages in particular situations have all developed over time and they are at once unique to an individual as well as shaped by collective, societal attitudes, assumptions, and expectations.

For our last essay, reflect on your layered, varied, and evolving relationship(s) with language. Consider the role language has played in your life—how visible or invisible language has been at various stages of your life and what those experiences might reveal about (your) language, power, and identity.

Identify a critical moment (or a small cluster of related moments) that reveal something significant about your relationship with language—written or spoken, English or an English-variant, a recognized language or one that exists on the periphery—and reflect on how that experience (or cluster of experiences) has impacted you and your current relationship with language.

The Narrative Essay

In 3-5 pages, construct a language autobiography or narrative that explores the ways in which an experience (or experiences) positive or negative has shaped you and your relationship(s) with language. Your narrative should be reflective and personally significant, but it should also have a point and purpose that extend beyond your own enlightenment. There must be a reason you are sharing this story at this moment in time.

In other words, you will tell your story about language that says something more about language, power, identity, systemic racism, privilege, education, etc.  Your values and ideas surrounding what it means to be an effective communicator, to be literate, to be a good writer or proficient language user, to be smart or educated come from somewhere, and your experiences can teach us something about the impact of language in all of our lives.

 

Your paper will be assessed on:

General Task: It is a narrative (story) about language (not just an explanatory essay). It utilizes vivid and concrete details to tell a story of your relationship with language. Your history, experiences, and relationship with language are clearly highlighted and is the focus of the narrative.

Narrative Point / Purpose: The point / purpose of the narrative is evident. There is the sense of a larger picture / a contribution to larger discussions of language, power, identity. There is a reason (implicit or explicit) for sharing this story.

Detail and Development: The focus of the narrative is narrow. All scenes / moments included in the narrative work together to tell a single story / convey a single message. The narrative is not overly general or broad. Rather than provide a superficial overview of events, the narrative develops a rich, immersive story, using specific, concrete details and dialogue to paint a clear picture for the reader.

Proofreading / Polish: There is consistency in spelling and capitalization, and formatting guidelines are followed. Care and attention have been paid to producing a finished piece.

Last Completed Projects