Hilary Jankswriting: a critical literacy approach

hilary.janks@wits.ac.za

Writing Development: Multiple Perspectives IOE July 2009

Overview•journal writing •critical approach •design•the redesign cycle•interdependent model CL Wits University 2009

Journal writing•1980s•context •now

Journal writing

Journal writing 1980s

Journal writing 1980s

Journal writing 1980s

Journal writing 1980s

Journal writing 1980s

Journal writing 1980s

Journal writing 1980s

Journal writing 1980s

Journal writing 1980s

Journal writing 1980s

Journal writing 1980s

Journal writing•Context

•where•when

Journal writing

Critical approach•Freire•Clarke and Ivanic•School based•Kamler

Critical approach

If learning to read and write is to constitute an act of knowing, the learners must assume from the beginning the role of creative subjects. It is not a matter of memorizing and repeating given syllables and phrases …

Insofar as language is impossible without thought, and language and thought are impossible without the world to which they refer, the human word is more than mere vocabulary – it is word-and-action. The cognitive dimensions of the literacy process must include the relationships of men [sic] with their world (Freire, 1972a, 29).

Critical approachCritical approach

Frames are mental structures that shape the way we see the world. As a result, they shape the goals we seek, the plans we make, the way we act and what counts as good or bad outcomes of our actions. In politics our frames shape our social policies. To change our frames is to change all of this this. Reframing is social change. (Lakoff, 2004: xv).

Critical approach

Design•multimodality•text production•reproduction•redesign

Design

Design

Introduction – text redesign

Design – the redesign cycle

Interdependence•power•access•diversity•design/redesign

An interdependent model of critical literacy

An interdependent model of critical literacy

Power without access

Power without diversity

Power without design/redesign

Access without power

Access without diversity

Access without design/redesign

Diversity without power

Diversity without access

Diversity without design/redesign

Design/redesign without power

Design/redesign without access

Design/redesign without diversity

An interdependent model of critical literacy

Power without design/redesignPositioning, agency

Access without design/redesignAccess but can not redesign the dominant texts or discourses

Diversity without design/redesignWithout design the resources that diversity offers are can not be realised in texts

Design/redesign without powerFeminists, discourses speak us

Design/redesign without accessWhose designs get through the gates?What remains on the margins?

Design/redesign without diversityCannot draw on diversity as a productive resource for creativity

ConclusionBolinger (1980) described language as a loaded weapon. As writers, we need to recognize the power of words to be used in the interests of good or evil. Ultimately, the choice is an ethical one which will determine how we ‘name’ our world and, in so doing, ourselves.

The end