Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Perceptions of Literacy and the "Literacy Crisis"

I've long thought there's a literacy crisis - or at least a writing crisis.  After reading Gee, though, I'm not sure if what I'm seeing is a "crisis," or if instead my own perceptions of writing are simply coloring the ways in which I see people "succeeding" according to my own personal expectations.

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Epistemology and Writing: Ethnographic Analysis of Social Knowledge

My first question, upon starting the Lillis article, was to wonder how ethnography could be considered "deep theorizing," or why it would be considered a "methodology" instead of simply a "method" of research.  For me, preparing for my teaching internship in the fall, ethnography has been one of those data-gathering approaches I've considered and nearly discarded.  It's complicated, it brings up additional ethical issues, and it can make it more difficult for an IRB to get approved.  With today's readings, though, I'm seeing that ethnography represents more than simply a means of gathering empirical data, but also an overall attitude regarding what constitutes data within the larger question regarding the importance of context in writing research.