Written Communication Jan 1993

Essayist Literacy and Other Verbal Performances

MARCIA FARR

Abstract

The style of discourse underlying writing instruction in this country, which has been termed essayist literacy by Scollon and Scollon and others, is grounded historically and culturally in the development of Western civilization. This style of discourse is the register of English used in academic situations, and it also has been found to be characteristic of some educated (especially male) mainstream speakers in other contexts. Because this register often differs from the naturally acquired discourse styles of students from nonmainstream groups, many such students face difficulties in writing instruction that mainstream students do not face. Given the importance of the essayist literacy register in this society, it is important (a) to make the characteristics of this discourse style explicit in order to increase the likelihood that writing instruction will be clear and available to all students, and (b) to learn about other discourse styles that are already known and used by students from a range of communities. A conceptual framework from the ethnography of communication is presented for studying verbal performances in different cultural contexts, and two examples of persuasive oral performances from ongoing research among Mexican immigrants are analyzed within this framework.

Journal
Written Communication
Published
1993-01-01
DOI
10.1177/0741088393010001001
Open Access
Closed
Topics
writing pedagogy qualitative research voice and style

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (8)

  1. Barajas (2025)
    Writing for Perspective: A Case Study of Literacy Practices and Personal Agency…
    College Composition and Communication
  2. Barajas (2007)
    Parallels in Academic and Nonacademic Discursive Styles
    Written Communication
  3. Sheehy (2003)
    The Social Life of an Essay
    Written Communication
  4. SPACK (1997)
    The Acquisition of Academic Literacy in a Second Language
    Written Communication
  5. KALMAN (1996)
    Joint Composition
    Written Communication
Show all 8 →
  1. GREENE (1995)
    Making Sense of My Own Ideas
    Written Communication
  2. FREEDMAN et al. (1994)
    Wearing Suits to Class
    Written Communication
  3. HAAS (1994)
    Learning to Read Biology
    Written Communication

Cites in this index (1)

  1. Trimbur (1990)
    Essayist literacy and the rhetoric of deproduction
    Rhetoric Review
Also cites 16 works outside this index ↓
  1. Bateson, G.
    Steps to an ecology of mind
     ↗
  2. 10.2307/378193
     ↗
  3. Foucault, M.
    Language, counter memory, practice
     ↗
  4. 10.1017/S0010417500001730
     ↗
  5. Gumperz, J. J.
    Discourse strategies
     ↗
  6. Gumperz, J. J.
    Language and social identity
     ↗
  7. 10.1111/j.1460-2466.1980.tb01778.x
     ↗
  8. 10.1016/0024-3841(68)90079-X
     ↗
  9. Kochman, T.
    Black and White styles in conflict
     ↗
  10. Minh-ha, T.
    Woman, native, other
     ↗
  11. 10.17763/haer.47.3.8840364413869005
     ↗
  12. Rockwell, E. (1991)
    10.1080/02103702.1991.10822303
    Infancia y Aprendizaje  ↗
  13. Scribner, S.
    The psychology of literacy
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  14. Shuman, A.
    Storytelling rights: The uses of oral and written texts by urban adolescents
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  15. Tannen, D.
    Talking voices: Repetition, dialogue, and imagery in conversational discourse
     ↗
  16. Tedlock, D.
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     ↗
CrossRef global citation count: 45 View in citation network →

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