Friday, March 2, 2012
Introduction
Literacy has dramatically changed in the past hundred years, and so have the forces that shape out learning and literacy practices. (Brandt 331) Brandt claims that people don't just become literate on their own, they need what is called a literacy sponsor. A literacy sponsor is someone or something that helps you gain access to the tools you need to be a strong reader and writer. The idea of literacy sponsors has been around for a long time. The most common examples of these would be churches, governments, or schools. Are literacy sponsors always a good thing though? The answer is no. Sometimes these very literacy sponsors that are giving you access to all of these things also have other intentions. Brandt gives us the example of schools. They encourage you to read, but is it for their own good, or is it for money?
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This is a pretty good intro, especially at first two sentences. After that, I don't think you need to define literacy sponsor for an audience of writing scholars, and if you think you still do, I think it would work better to define it after the introduction. After the second sentence it might work better just to keep summarizing Brandt: "Brandt, however, notes that literacy sponsors are not altruistic but sponsor literacy for their own ends, which are not always in the best interests of those sponsored" (pg). The question is where you will go from there. How will you transition toward offering something new to the literacy sponsors conversation.
ReplyDeleteFrom your bibliography, I think you need more academic sources on literacy and especially motivation.