In 5 pages, you’ll be asked to craft an opinion and/or argument about the ways in which we use
(or are required, expected, etc. to use) particular types of language as we negotiate academic
genres. We might pay attention to the ways in which such genres are “exclusionary” in that in
taking them up, you are required to use very specific ways of writing or speaking to be “taken
seriously.” We’ll do our best to dispel these myths. You may draw on your own personal examples
and experiences with different types of academic writing (as part of the work of your major, for
example) in this essay.
For this writing project, I want you to do the work or crafting a text that works to make sense out
of the texts from this unit – but you’re certainly able and encouraged to draw on all texts from the
course.
You can take your own approach to answering the questions I’ve been asking you all through this
unit:
– What consequences does thinking differently about error have on our understanding of
genre?
– What consequences does thinking differently about language varieties – and opposing
traditional ways of thinking about and asserting “standard”-variety-only policies in our
writing (monolingual approaches) have on our understanding of genre and genre theories?
– What consequences does adopting a translingual approach to language and writing have on
our understanding of genre and genre theories?
– And with Bawarshi, what sorts of consequences does a translingual approach to genre have
on reconceiving academic writing?
Take whatever approach to this text is best for you. Get as personal as you’d like, drawing on your
own experiences; or, distance yourselves as much as you’d like, staying academic – or find some
place in between. I’m just interested in your engagement, as always, with the course material, and,
most importantly, the ways in which you situate selves in relation to the sources (it is, after all,
slotted as an opinion/argument) Be sure to document your claims. Be sure to make your
controlling purpose(s) apparent so that you can follow through your lines of inquiry. Have fun
with it. It (can be) an opinion/argument text, whatever that means
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