ENGL 2410: Literate Lives

Course Description

This course raises definitional and exploratory questions: What is literacy? How does it change across time? Who has access to it? How can literacy both empower and marginalize people? To explore these complex questions, students will investigate the ways in which contemporary practices of literacy-reading, writing, listening, speaking, digital composing, and critical thinking-function in the lives of individuals, communities, and cultures. Students will interrogate current definitions of literacy, study scholarship about literacy, explore literacy myths, and reflect on how their own literate lives have been shaped. They may engage in field work and interact with local literacy communities. This course satisfies the core curriculum requirement for the Language and Writing Studies area.