1:25p-3:20p W (15) 3 cr.

PREREQUISITE: G205 OR EQUIVALENT

TOPIC: LITERACY

This seminar will explore the relations between language and literacy, considering such questions as: How is literacy defined? How does literacy relate to knowledge of a language: what is the linguistic basis of literacy? How, when, and why are written and spoken language used: what leads to the choice of one rather than the other? How are both spoken and written language related to social context? How do they interact?

We will read selections from a variety of books (including Shirley Brice Heath's Ways with Words, Walter Ong's Orality and Literacy, James Gee's Sociolinguistics and Literacies, Kenneth Levine's The Social Context of Literacy and E.D. Hirsch's Cultural Literacy). There will also be a reader including a selection of articles.

We will follow a typical seminar format: our meetings will be discussions, and each student will be responsible for presenting the reading and beginning the discussion for one week. The final grade will be based on that presentation, a seminar paper (15-20 pages, due at the end of the course), and class participation.