Questions for Discussion and Journaling
Read “Protean Shapes in Literacy Events” and answer the following questions.
1.
Refer to John Swales’s CARS model of research introductions (on pp. 12-14) to help you analyze Heath’s introduction. Label the places where she establishes the territory, the niche, and her contribution. Analyze how Heath draws on sources to create and occupy a research niche. Which sources does she use for which functions?
2.
How does Heath define a literacy event? What are some of the literacy events she identifies in Trackton? Do you think that her definition of a literacy event is still accurate in today’s world, when so much about literacy has changed?
3.
From Heath’s description of Trackton residents’ storytelling and singing and praying in church, what values (such as creativity) seem important to those attending the church? How do both orality and literacy support or express those values?
4.
Heath repeatedly demonstrates that Trackton residents do not see “the word” as the ultimate authority; instead, they interpret it together and challenge and change the written word as needed for a given context. What then seems to be the ultimate authority for this group of people, if it is not the written word?
5.
How do Trackton residents’ literacies compare to prevailing assumptions about what literacy was supposed to be at the time Heath was writing?
6.
Heath says that Trackton parents usually did not ask their children straightforward questions or just ask for recitation of information; rather, they expected their children to make connections and judgments based on the context. If we accept this observation, how do you think it might relate to Trackton residents’ experiences when applying for jobs or loans? What sorts of questions did adults in your life ask you when you were a child? How do these compare with the experiences of Trackton children?
7.
Heath cites Cressy as writing that “Literacy unlocked a variety of doors, but it did not necessarily secure admission” (para. 51). What would you say Heath is trying to stress by using this quotation? What “doors” did literacy unlock for the residents of Trackton? What doors were they unable to walk through, even though they were literate? Have you seen the same distinction made in other readings in this chapter (for example, in writings by Malcolm X or Deborah Brandt)?