Conceptions of Literacy

Graduate Instructors and the Teaching of First-Year Composition

Meaghan Brewer

• Publisher: Utah State University Press
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781607329343
• Topic: Langues et linguistique
• Subtopic: Linguistique

Addressing the often fraught and truncated nature of educating new writing instructors, Conceptions of Literacy proposes a theoretical framework for examining new graduate student instructors' preexisting attitudes and beliefs about literacy. Based on an empirical study author Meaghan Brewer conducted with graduate students teaching first-year composition for the first time, Conceptions of Literacy draws on narratives, interviews, and classroom observations to describe the conceptions of literacy they have already unknowingly established and how these conceptions impact the way they teach in their own classrooms.Brewer argues that conceptions of literacy undergird the work of writing instructors and that many of the anxieties around composition studies' disciplinary status are related to the differences perceived between the field's conceptions of literacy and those of the graduate instructors and adjuncts who teach the majority of composition courses. Conceptions of Literacy makes practical recommendations for how new graduate instructors can begin to perceive and interrogate their conceptions of literacy, which, while influential, are often too personal to recognize.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface: The Fall Practicum at Public University
• Acknowledgments
• 1. Introduction: A Framework for Understanding the Experiences of New Graduate Instructors
• 2. Yoga Ashrams and Mother-Teachers: Literacy for Personal Growth
• 3. Texts, Hierarchy, and Ritual: Cultural Literacy
• 4. Graduate Instructors at the Threshold: Threshold Concepts, Disciplinarity, and Social/Critical Literacy
• 5. Conclusion: An Emphasis on Literacy in the Practicum Course
• Appendix A: Descriptions of Instruments and Data Analysis
• Appendix B: Interview Protocol
• Appendix C: Assignment-Ranking Activity
• Appendix D: Coding Protocol
• Appendix E: Practicum Schedule of Topics and Readings
• Notes
• References
• About the Author
• Index