Due Tuesday, October 12th, by 11:59 pm to my email

Please download the template below and write your assignment directly in it. Save it as a Word document and rename it according to the following example: ENG2100_Last name_First name_Assignment 1:

Word count:

~ 1000 words (10% more or less)

Instructions

Your first major writing project (the “literacy narrative”) asks you to tell a story, in the first-person “I”, about the various ways you identify yourself in the world and how others see you (or how you think they see you).
You can tell a story set in any circumstances, focusing on any theme you like, as long as you take a retrospective look on your own story and focus on analyzing the language that is at play. You can tell it in any tone or style you like, as long as your writing is free of typos and mistakes that you can correct using the Word spell-check tool and by proofreading it yourself. There is no correct structure for this assignment: it is not an essay. Think of it as a story about yourself you would write online, or as part as your autobiography. The point of this assignment is for you to take consciousness of both your voice and your intended audience as a writer.

This is the central question to ask yourself: how do language (choice of words, body language, accents, tone, in one or more language) and literacy (knowledge about a topic or culture) come into play in my story?

Advice

Pay particular attention to language in your story. Here are some additional questions you may want to ask yourself to inspire your writing:

• How are the words you and other characters chose produce meaning?
• In retrospect, how do you interpret own situation in your story?
• What discourse community(ies) are you part of, and where do you stand in relation that?
• Did you feel that you had to adapt your language (oral and written) to your audience?
• What stereotypes do you think people may have about you and other people in a discourse community you’re in (those who are outside that group)?
• What are some stories you could tell about how you’ve been or would be misunderstood because people draw conclusions about people who are “like you”?

For examples of the literacy narrative genre, you can look at the literacy narratives by Amy Tan, B. Manson, and Lucia Ku (featured in your textbook and assigned in Module 5). Some of them focus on language acquisition or cultural adaptation.

This is a very flexible form of writing, but literacy narratives do tend to focus on how we “get by” or come to have “cultural capital” within certain communities or groups.

Checklist

You will receive individual and class feedback on your work. Here is an indicative, gradeless rubric for you to use as a checklist:

Narrative	Do I tell a compelling story, e,g. with realistic dialogue, sensory description, and details that make readers want to keep reading? Do I avoid clichés, generalizations, and vague reflections, and instead focus primarily on one particular moment or example that captures the point or message I’m trying to convey?
Analysis & Message Conveyed	Can my reader easily perceive an underlying message or point in my piece? May some people relate to my story as it is? What insight does it offer? What argument does it make about the relationship between language and identity? Do I use concepts /key terms from the course text about language, discourse, discourse communities, and ideology to provide an analytical component to my piece?
Organization	There is no correct structure for this essay, but does my organization of paragraphs make sense for my story? Did I split paragraphs in enough places that I don’t have a whole page without line breaks? Do I transition smoothly into different aspects of my story? Do I keep my reader with me throughout?
Grammar & Editing	Have I used the Word spell and grammar check tool? Have I proofread myself at least twice to avoid typos and mistakes that would distract my reader from my story? Is my document well presented? Is the layout easy to the eye (Font 12 Arial, Calibri, or Times New Roman, justified alignment, 1st line indent, etc.)
Overall Respect of Instructions	Did I respect all instructions on this page? Am I submitting a Word document, using the template provided, and saved as instructed? Did I respect the word count by 10% under or over 1000 words? Did I answer the “Writer’s Letter” questions at the end of the template? Am I on time for the due date? If not, did I request an extension at least 48 hours prior to the due date?