Looking Forward--Multilingual and Multimodal Texts

My language is a mess. I have picked up bits and pieces of a dozen languages in my travels, and these fragments all find their way into my spoken English now and then. My language changes with my audience. I speak English with nit noi Thai to one friend. I turn around and speak English with un po' di Italiano and un poco de Espanol with another. Ciao bella. Hanguel mai? Selamat pagi. Kap jai lai lai. Khun suai. Xinchao. D'accord. Obrigado. My spoken English slows sometimes as I work through all of these pieces, restructuring my thoughts into something that other people can usually understand.

I tend to refine these foreign fragments completely of my written language, but I have to wonder if now and then my writing my just be better with them present. In our readings this week, we are looking forward to the future of composition in the college classroom, including the use of multilingual and multimodal approaches. As the last post for the key term project, I am considering how these approaches work to promote discovery and student voice.

Canagarajah argues for "code meshing" of World English and Metropolitan English, rather than limiting them to their informal and formal uses, respectively. Allowing students to write with their own World Englishes encourages them to explore their own individual voices and to communicate through them. Doing so also encourages students to experiment and play with language and structure--to discover their own most effective means of persuasion.

Fraiberg takes the concept of "code meshing" a step further, arguing for a "convergence culture" and a system of "knotworking"--more fully integrating multiple languages and media instead of working between the divide of World English and Metropolitan English. When used effectively and persuasively, this convergence approach does push students to discover their own voices through writing.

As long as multilingual and multimodal approaches do not interfere with the communication of ideas, they should absolutely be used in the composition classroom, especially as they aid students to learn, teach, and discover.




On the future of composition:

Canagarajah, Suresh A. “The Place of World Englishes in Composition: Pluralization Continued.” CCC 57.4 (2006): 586-619.

Fraiburg, Steven. “Composition 2.0: Toward a Multilingual and Multimodal Framework.” CCC 62.1 (2010).

Wardle, Elizabeth. “‘Mutt Genres’ and the Goal of FYC: Can We Help Students Write the Genres of the University?” College Composition and Communication 60.4 (June 2009): 765-89.

Fraizer, Dan. “First Steps Beyond First Year: Coaching Transfer after FYC.” WPA: Writing Program Administrator 33.3 (2010): 34-57.

Reflection

When I thought about my key term, discovery, six weeks ago, I was interested in the transformation that students go through during their first year of college (and their first year of composition). I considered my own experience in freshman English at Vassar and the discoveries I made there--about academia and about myself. While engaging with different texts, I discovered quite a bit about myself, and I began my major studies in English. Although I have no plans of trying to sway my students to be English majors, I do want to encourage them to use writing as a means of discovery in their lives. Following my key term through the reading assignments this summer, I found myself constantly returning to expressionist rhetoric. My key term could not work in isolation through the readings (and was occassionallly notably absent from them) and led me to other concepts that will be important in my class.

Considering the terms of expressionism, my key term emerges in the context of two others--dialogue and voice. Discovery and self-realization through writing shape the students' voices and prepare them to enter a dialogue with me, with their classmates, and with the existing academic discourse in their fields. In order to enter and participate in Burke's parlor of discourse, then, there must first be a reflective step--a time to pause and to craft a strong voice.

As a result, I plan to emphasize the importance of voice and audience in writing in my ENC 1101 course. After observing my mentor's class this summer, I plan to teach Strand I, which focuses on popular culture, and I am looking forward to seeing the dialogue that emerges both in writing and in the classrooom. Workshops and conferences are particularly useful for establishing a dialogue between all members of the class. I plan to do guided freewrites at least once a week, if not once a class, to encourage this process of discovery and the shaping of voice.

The first paper assignment for the course is a personal literacy narrative. Students will have to reflect and discover how media and popular culture has influenced their character and literacy. I enjoyed reading these narratives in my internship, and I know my students in the fall will use it well. The other two papers incorporate an analytical element in students' relationships to popular culture and again provide a space for self-discovery and creative voice.


Andy Warhol, my first pop culture love