presentation of research on construction of power through academic literacy in a Romanian University drawing on works of David Barton, Roz Ivanic, Bordieu

1. 
The Power of Literacy

2. 
The Power of Literacy
The limits of my language
mean the limits of my world.
Ludwig Wittgenstein
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3. 
The Power of Literacy
overview
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introducing the research study
concepts and definitions
some texts in the academy
the essay : practices and texts
the language exercise: practices and texts
opening for alternatives
the power of literacy
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4. 
The Power of Literacy
introducing the research
RQ:
how is social power enacted
through academic literacy
Research:
qualitative
Co-researchers:
2nd year students languages
Data:
course generated & research
generated
Analytical frameworks:
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ethnographic content analysis
CDA: textual analysis

5. 
The Power of Literacy
concepts and definitions
literacy practices
General cultural ways of
utilizing written language
which people draw upon in
their lives
texts
Particular configurations of
institutionally available
literacy practices
social power
Relations of difference created
by unequal access to and
control over symbolic
resources
symbolic resources
knowledge, discourse, self
esteem; content, events &
roles
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6. 
The Power of Literacy
some texts in the academy
written texts
essays, compositions, translations, notes, literature
commentaries, analyses, seminar papers, term papers,
language exercises, paragraphs, exam papers, letters,
descriptions, ‘characterisations’
reading texts
classical fiction, poetry, biography/autobiography,
quotations, lecture notes, grammar/linguistics studies,
dictionary entries, literature in the area of
psychology/pedagogy
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7. 
The Power of Literacy
the essay : practices (I)
representations of essays
talent, cocktail of ideas, space of freedom
what is knowledge and how is new knowledge created
expectations of the teacher
‘be explicit’, ‘argument’, ‘be creative, ‘be
imaginative’
linguistically expressed in a way that does not
support students to make sense of it - discourse
of mystery
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8. 
The Power of Literacy
the essay : practices (II)
talk about literacy
task (very general, not inviting SS to draw on
critical competences, talk towards text/essay
bibliography, choice of topics), discussion (?
pre, while, post presentation, feedback (written,
oral, mark)
reduced, controlled by teacher, no new knowledge creation
encouraged, recognition literacy encouraged
as move in interaction
roles of teachers and students: how much, what
mainly teacher, mainly control and assessment
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9. 
The Power of Literacy
the essay: texts (I)
definition
The most general definitions of the essay refer to
texts in which a writer discusses ‘a topic’ and in
doing so s/he expresses ‘a point of view on that
topic’ (Ivanic, 1998: 114, Richards, Platt, Platt,
1992: 128-9).
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10. 
The Power of Literacy
the essay: texts (I)
purpose
instrumental (get marks, approval)/less
communicative (own opinion, point of view)
task and theme
only literature, text mediated representations of
the social world , ‘inside university’
structure and argument
show that no new knowledge is produced in most of
the cases, but ‘teacher talk’ is restituted: Ts
know what they say
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11. 
The Power of Literacy
the essay: texts (III)
identity and voice
SSs presence in the text not signaled, SS positioned
as restituters, within literary studies, not as
researchers
intertextuality
dialogue mostly with teacher written or teacher
indicated texts
Layout and semiotic mode
monolithic, exclusively verbal, handwritten, etc
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12. 
The Power of Literacy
findings
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lack of alternatives
student disempowerment
attitude to knowledge/making: recognition
lack of critical position
lack of awareness of ‘outside university’
world/resources
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13. 
The Power of Literacy
the essay: a different definition (I)
Analysis of essay rhetoric brings to light
pathological forms of verbal restitution. The
essay writer reinstates the professorial word
through processes of levelling, reinterpretation
and de-contextualisation which point not to a
cultural apprenticeship at work, but to the logic
of acculturation. The typical essay is
characterised by a discourse of allusion and
ellipsis. This presupposes student complicity in
and through linguistic misunderstanding which
today defines the teaching relationship.
(Bordieu, 1994)
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14. 
The Power of Literacy
the essay: a different definition (II)
‘Indeed, there is nothing that he requires of the
language of students except that it ‘points to’ a
possible discourse, the complete knowledge and
comprehension of which lie with him alone. This applies
to the thoughts of particular authors, as well as to his
own ideas. Students adjust perfectly to this discourse
which can be read from hints, because it is necessarily
the lecturer, not the student, who is supposed to posses
the balance of the words unsaid. ’I don’t understand what
students write’, one academic admits. ’Or at least I get
the feeling I shouldn’t understand. Of course I do know
what they’re getting at because I know the last word in
the story – it’s the same story I told them. The sloppy
way they use technical terms is worrying, but we fill the
gaps.’
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15. 
The Power of Literacy
implications
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when we think we teach reading and writing we do
much more than that
we introduce our students to a way to approach
and conceive knowledge
we tell them what constitutes knowledge and how
knowledge is to be produced
we create opportunities for them to position
themselves towards existing knowledge
we open or close ways of being and ways of
thinking
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16. 
The Power of Literacy
possible alternatives
project work?
other
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17. 
The Power of Literacy
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discussions
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questions 
comments
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