Student Responses

3. Liao’s conventions for literacy narrative are most apparent in Sedaris’s essay as they both learn a new language from not knowing to knowing, both are confusion to fluency. But the convention that seems less important to Sedari is, Liao mentioned that “Literacy narratives both show and tell.” and need to illustrate ideas about things as a result of one’s own experiences. But in Sedaris’s essay, I can only see that she’s talking about how her French teacher is harsh for the class, and did not illustrate a lot of how she became better at understanding French. Instead, she just claims she can understand what the teacher says at the end.

4. I don’t believe she felt the same way at the end of the essay. Mansion describes silence as a tool for speak when it is unspeakable, but she doesn’t always do it because she needs to talk to friends and family. At the very end of the essay, she fell silent again, but no longer using terms like “I don’t know”, she sat down and cried, saying things were unclear, but the point was she changed the tone from “I don’t know” to “I said what I could”.

1. 1. 1. For Anzaldua, not being able to mix her speaking of different languages is absurd. “Until I am free to write bilingually and to switch codes without having always to translate, while I still have to speak English or Spanish when I would rather speak Spanglish, and as long as I have to accommodate the English speakers rather than having them accommodate me, my tongue will be illegitimate,” (Anzaldua, 74). She is saying here that if she can accommodate English speakers without a returned accommodation, she should also be able to write bilingually without translation or criticism. If she has to switch languages while speaking to people, why can’t she do it in her own world and work as well?  Anzaldua doesn’t want her speaking of different languages to represent “different universes,” she wants to be able to speak freely. She believes that your culture is in your true self and soul, not your location, which causes speakers of different languages to share a common reality. “Deep in our hearts we believe that being Mexican has nothing to do with which country one lives in. Being Mexican is a state of soul—not one of mind, not one of citizenship. Neither eagle nor serpent, but both. And like the ocean, neither animal respects borders,” (Anzaldua, 76)
      2. I think Anzaldua is a very persuasive writer since she really stands up for what she truly believes in. She chose to write her literary narrative based on the hardships she went through her whole life about speaking her own language. Her writing is almost contradictory, rebellious if you would. Her entire piece is about how she wasn’t able to express herself in the way she wanted to, yet her narrative is written bilingually. As the reader reads about how she couldn’t switch between languages, Anzaldua did exactly that in her piece and proved that she was able to emerge from all the criticism and drift into success, which persuades inspiration.
      3. (a)“Successful literacy narratives use specific examples to illustrate ideas about literacy that we’ve acquired as a result of our own experiences, and explain explicitly why these ideas are important,” (Liao, 59). Sedaris definitely illustrated his narrative. He clearly described his classroom experience and the beginning of his learning French. I was able to picture his teacher and her voice. He nicely explained what it’s like to live in a foreign country and not fluently speak the native language. I experienced this when I went to Israel for my gap year. Although I’ve been learning Hebrew my whole life, I never really fully caught on and am far from fluent. I very much related to Sedaris’s illustration about that. (b)“Literacy narratives are stories in which something changes. If nothing changes, then it’s not a narrative. How did a particular moment change or help you achieve some greater awareness about culture, identity, or the world as you know it?” (Liao, 59). Liao’s convention about change doesn’t seem to be so present in Sedaris’s essay. Although at the end he is able to understand what his teacher is saying, he said himself, “Understanding doesn’t mean that you can suddenly speak the language. Far from it. It’s a small step, nothing more,” (Sedaris, 5). There is small change in that he sees himself starting to improve and some improvement for the future, but there were not such drastic changes in his progress of learning French and the process of his literacy as a whole.
      4. I don’t think Manson feels the same way as she did in the beginning by the end of her essay. Although she couldn’t completely fix the problem she was facing, she tried and was comfortable with the outcome. “I said my thoughts, even though they were incomplete. I felt more than that. I always will. But I said what I could, and that was enough,” (Manson, 88). Instead of her feeling self conscious about her vocabulary and ability to say what she’s thinking, she acknowledges her problem and settles nicely with her progress.

Vocabulary:

1. Recourse- (n) a source of help in a difficult situation
2. hailed – (v) call out to (someone) to attract attention
3. Detest- (v) dislike intensely.
4. Forged- (v) move forward gradually or steadily.
5. leafing – (v) turn over (the pages of a book or the papers in a pile), reading them quickly or casually.

1. Anzaldua does not believe that languages have firm lines. To prove that she mentioned Chicano Spanish, which is a border tongue that uses Spanish slang with English words thrown in here and there. She also mentioned that it is ever-changing: “Chicano Spanish is not incorrect, it is a living language”. Anzaldua also wrote that she speaks many different variations of Spanish and English with different people proving that people who speak different languages CAN share the same universe.
2. Anzaldua throws in a lot of Spanish words, sentences, and cultural references in her writing: “We are your linguistic nightmare, your linguistic aberration, your linguistic mestisaje, the subject of your burla”. I think she does that to create a unique style and appeal to Spanish-speaking readers. She also plays the victim card pretty often: “Chicanas feel uncomfortable talking in Spanish to Latinas, afraid of their censure. Their language was outlawed in their countries”. SHe does that to urge a sense of sympathy and make her essay more emotional.
3. The “change” convention seems apparent in Sedaris’s essay. He went from not completely understanding what his French teacher was saying (“Were you always this palicmkrexis?”), to *understanding her slightly better* (“It was mid-October when the teacher singled me 15 out, saying, ‘Every day spent with you is like having a cesarean section.’ And it struck me that, for the first time since arriving in France, I could understand every word that someone was saying.”).
   He also uses “show and tell” because his entire literacy narrative is just a big anecdote about learning French.
   However his essay doesn’t seem to have any specific message to talk away, not does it include any hidden meanings in it. 
4. Towards the end of the essay Manson changes her mind. She accepts that silence isn’t always the answer: “While accepting silence as a means of communication was helpful, it wasn’t always enough. There were times when it was important for me to verbally com-municate even if I couldn’t fully express myself.” She learned words like “Setsunai” to convey her emotions. “I’m not sad,” I said. “I feel something, but I don’t know what it is.”

Hi all, here are your reading responses from our Week 2 reading questions:

Referring to Graves, describe an example of a “genre convention” in a discourse community you’re a part of? (Does not have to be an academic community!)

What genre conventions does Liao identify for literacy narratives?

Liao describes the importance of “illustrating” our own ideas in our literacy narratives. Where and how does she illustrate her own arguments in her essay, and which of her illustrative examples most sticks in your mind? (You’re welcome to borrow from her moves!)

ATAI ISAEV

1. This is going to be a really silly one, but within my friend group there is a language convention to intentionally make grammatic, spelling, and pronunciation mistakes. E.g. “And then that gril said…”, “what he do be doing though?”
2. Liao identifies that a narrative should include a character development of the narrator. She also identified that narratives should include vivid examples, stories, anecdotes, etc.
3. Liao uses her own essay (“How to be a Good Chinese-Jewish Hapa”) as an example. She quotes it and gives us explanations about it.

ARIK NOAH

1. Many genre conventions can be found in the sneaker community. For example very limited and sought-after releases which thousands and maybe millions of people try to get. Or maybe a very common sneaker store where many people gather and wait in line before a release can both be examples of genre conventions.

2. The genre conventions that Liao identified for literacy narratives were identity, culture, origin, tradition, and belonging. ( not so Sure about this answer).

3. On the first page of the reading Liao illustrates her arguments by writing about the process and also the challenges she faced coming about writing her literacy narrative. I feel that example 1 stuck to me the most since he said that he is Jewish and so am I. I also found it really interesting that he was partly Chinese, Russian, and Jewish.

ERICK NUNEZ

1. An example of a genre convention in a discourse community I’m a part of is different music instruments used in the music community. I personally use the piano to produce different melodic instrumentals for other artists to use.

2. According to Liao, he describes that metacognition is a genre convention for literacy narratives. After researching literacy narratives, Liao discovers that they include personal experiences, thus allowing first year students to observe their own writing process. This is called metacognition.

3. Liao illustrates her example of incorporating her own ideas into literacy narratives by recalling the time she had difficulty defining her biracial identity. This stood out to me because she described her feelings of being misplaced in her literacy narrative, allowing her to make stronger points.

AKOSUA OMARI-DOTTOH

1.  A genre convention in the black community, I would say, is code switching. It’s a common language switch up many of us can relate to doing in our daily lives when it comes to going to work or really depending on who you are talking too.
2. Liao identifies genre conventions like cultural identity and tradition. Liao also mentions ones of origin and belonging as other common genre conventions.
3. Liao shows how to illustrate ideas on page 54 by using an example from her own life to help work towards her point that cultural identity can be a key subject for literacy narratives. She used her story about having an identity crisis and tied it back to language and literacy narratives. This one stuck with me the most because it was a topic that I could relate too, and I could see the argument that she was trying to make as well as seeing myself maybe taking on this style of literacy narrative writing in future opportunities.

ARIA MALOVANY

1. In my math class, students are expected to know useful equations and terms relating to the given topic

2. “However, one drawback of this preliminary definition of a literacy narrative is that it often forces students to think about reading and writing in school. While school is great, constraining the content of a literacy narrative to a student’s prior educational experiences seems limiting at best, and excruciating at worst.”

I think Liao is saying that students are often constricted in writing literary narratives since one convention of a literary narrative is that a student should be expected to write about their prior education and schooling, and not think more outside the box.

3. “We ran across the street and she dragged me into a building with a stone storefront. Inside, I discovered the Silai historical society, whose inte-rior was a faithful restoration of a traditional Taiwanese house, and which hosted an exhibition space showing historic photos of Silai from the past 100 years.”

This is a perfect example of illustrating since Liao is “showing” and explaining the peak of one storyline from her literary narrative- discovering her roots. The most important part of a literary narrative is the personal aspect and story which eventually teaches a lesson about writing. Liao illustrated her ideas about literacy narratives from the details of her own story. Her story is inspiring and definitely showed a great example of what a literary narrative really is.

STEVEN GARCIA

1. I found myself involved in poetry groups throughout many of my school years. Within poetry, there is a genre convention of making your stanzas pretty and fluid sounding. This is where your creativity is harbored and you’ll spend most of your time working. Thinking of verses that are meaningful, short, and sweet.

2. Liao identifies the conventions of unraveling the connections between identity and language. Language as Liao puts it, significantly influences the perceptions you have of yourself. As well as affects the way you present yourself to the world. It’s crucial in a literacy narrative to find particular ways in which language, spoken or not, has formed your identity.

3.  She illustrates her own ideas through excerpts of her own essays. I found “The Attic” particularly convincing. She for one used the examples of symbols as opposed to spoken languages as a form of identity and a form of communication with the locals of Taiwan.

ERYK TRELA 

1- Referring to Graves in my discourse community in polish school we all speak broken polish due to the fact we are all raised in the US, however we have been raised by only Polish speaking. Yet, we still try to learn and understand the formal Polish that is being taught to us as a class.

2- The author Liao identifies 3 different identities for literacy narratives. These 3 identities include “One’s Cultural Identity”, “Journey from Confusion to Fluency” and lastly “Juggling Several Linguistic Identities”.

3- Liao illustrates her own idea’s of trying to identify her own “Cultural Identity”. In addition, she illustrates her argument in the beginning of her essay realizing that she is “hapa” meaning mixed Asian in her case. One of the examples that she uses that most sticks with my mind is when she discovers the Silai historical society.

MATTHEW ORTIZ

1. An example of “genre convention” in my life is my boxing gym. When everybody is in there, we are all talking boxing language and things of that nature. An example of boxing language is saying if someone has heart. We also speak about our goals with boxing.

2. Liao identifies the genre conventions for literacy narratives as writers who further explore their own thinking and ideas. She also feels that this can help writers get a better understanding of their own experiences.

3. I think in her second point it helps me understand her point the most. This same point also sticks out to me the most because I can now see how a literacy narrative can help you become fluent in your “language”. By this she is saying whatever discourse community you are apart of in your life, a literacy narrative can help you reflect and revise your thinking about your beliefs and standing with that community in your life.

CRISLEYDI PAULINO

1. Not sure if this is a genre convention but before doing a clients makeup they have to read my rules and regulations, and they’re allowed to send a picture of the look they want. So, when they come to their appointment they already know what to expect as the final outcome.
2. Liao identifies something that has the same goals, culture, and language as a genre convection. There has to be a change in the narrative.
3. Liao uses examples of language and culture. The illustrative example that stuck with me the most was that there has to be a change in a literacy narrative. If nothing changes then it’s not a narrative.

ARIEL MANRIQUE

1. There are many iterations of a discourse in language in communities I am apart of. For example, in New York, there is a certain lingo that the people use to speak that you have to learn in order to understand them, and these people mix lingo from other cities into our own to create a special New York language
2. Liao mentioned a few genre conventions in her essay about literacy narratives. The main one that resonated with me was when she pointed out that literacy narratives are a way to connect your story to how you form your identity through language, and how a convention of this would be people sharing their stories with one another, she did not say that directly but I inferred that as a discourse.
3. Liao illustrates her own story through the explanation of how she learned about a literacy narrative. Her illustration of looking things up on google from being so confused really stuck with me because that’s like my immediate go to when I am stuck on something.

NICK SERRAO

1. I am in a discourse community when it comes to my sneaker reselling business. There are thousands of sneaker resellers throughout New York city. Most NYC resellers are in a “cook group”, in better terms, there are different private discord groups throughout the city that resellers share in store and online info with each other inside these groups. There are around 4-5 main groups that take over in the city. And they range anywhere from $45-$100 to be in. The price may seem like a lot, but you must pay to play. One example of a genre convention in my discourse community is the terms that resellers use with each other that many outsiders would not understand. There are many shoe stores in the city, and when telling each other Information about the stores, there are names/abbreviations used instead of their real names that help with location. For example, the term “1460” is equivalent to the footlocker store on 42^ndstreet in times square.
2. Liao identified that you could write a literacy narrative about being in/becoming fluent in your discourse community.
3. In Liao’s essay, she wrote about how she found much more information about her family through a woman who worked in a restaurant. She also explained how such a small, spontaneous moment in life can open a whole new chapter for you. The main idea was confusion to fluency, or in simpler terms, when a moment in life really changed you for a better understanding.

TASNIMUD TANZID

1. An example of a genre convention in a discourse community is When we discuss our topics in the breakout room. Because a genre is a kind of language that is used in a discourse community. So in our breakout room, We have gotten our specific topic to discuss in the English language.

2. The genre convention that Liao identifies for literacy narrative is Cultural Identity. Since Genre is a kind of language that is given to the discourse community and we, the people of the same cultural identity, used the same language to describe ourselves may take center stage.

3. To illustrate our own ideas in our literacy narratives, Liao provided examples of scenes, anecdotes, and episodes. According to Liao, a literacy narrative shows and tells. The illustrative example most sticks in my mind about the example of Mother Tongue by Amy Tan where she describes that literacy narrative is an opportunity to examine the struggles between multiple literacies that we may negotiate between on a daily basis

WEDAD MOURTADA

1. A discourse community I’m part of is this writing class. For example, we all communicate our ideas on slack and during our group discussions. For the majority of us, the only way we can communicate about our projects and get our ideas across is by using the class reflections section on slack. We might not share the same goals in life but we do share the same goals when it comes to gaining knowledge to successfully finish one of our projects.

2. Liao explains that literacy narratives are stories about how people form their identities through language. She reveals that her essays are about culture, origin, tradition, belonging, and questioning her identity.

3. It is important to illustrate our own ideas as we are writing literacy narratives that are unique to us. Liao illustrates her own arguments when she explains her cultural identity. The thing that sticks out to me the most was when she included parts of her essay, “How to be a good Chinese Jewish hapa” in her argument. This was important because she told a story that no one else can tell, she explained how she struggled in a community because she was mixed. Many people can relate, however, her story is unique to her.

KAREN LEONARDO

• An example of a “genre convention” in a discourse community I am a part of is being raised in a Hispanic household with different rules. If I say that I will be going out with friends it is expected of me to be doing the right thing at all costs and getting home early. Another example of a genre convention in a discourse community is school, I am expecting to get a lot of homework and always use proper grammar and punctuation in English class.
• He describes being raised as a biracial American and how it was difficult for him to really describe his ethnic identities. He also describes learning something new to be a genre convention, something new as in another language to communicate with one’s grandparents or learning video games to join the gaming community.
• Liao illustrates her own ideas in her literacy narratives when she told the readers about how she tried to go to her grandparents’ old hometown and understand her ancestral identity in order for her to gain self-discovery. She did that in order for her to find a sense of belonging in her family and her ethnic identity. Although she did not succeed in finding what she was looking for, she ran into some very unexpected lady who told her all about it and put her into perspective.

SELINA WANG

1. After reading Graves, “Language, Discourse, Literacy” I’ve learned that all discourse communities share similar genre conventions. For example, Bilingual people, often learn English as their second language, therefore, they are often more fluent/comfortable with their mother tongue. One example from the top of my head that I can think of is, whenever I am asked for my phone number, I always repeat it in my head in Chinese first, and then translate it to English when I say it out loud.

2. For Literacy narratives, Liao identified some genre conventions such as identity, culture and origins. She mentions how the language we use to describe ourselves is the challenge when it comes to writing about cultural identity.

3. One of Liao’s illustrative examples that stuck out to me most was her story on going back to visit her grandfather in Silai. She mentioned how her Chinese was rather poor at that time, but the thing that stuck out to me most was the symbol she wore around her neck. She put it on because she wanted to prove that she is Liao, even if she may not look/act like it. Nonetheless, her lucky charm successfully helped her find her way back to her long lost home.

NISHMITHA RODRIGO

1. An example of a “genre convention” in a discourse community I am a part of is that me and my friends have the same cultural background, as well as the same spiritual beliefs. This “genre convention” allows us to have an amazing bond with each other because we are able to speak to each other in a different language other than English when needed and celebrate the same holidays together, which means getting to see each other often. Having the same spiritual beliefs is the cherry on top for our friendship because it provokes so many deep and meaningful conversations.

2. The genre conventionsthat Liao identifies for literacy narratives is “a personal narrative about the acquisition of literacy.” The purpose of doing a writing piece like this is to get students to think about their own writing process, so that they can identify what works for them and what doesn’t and then make adjustments accordingly.

3. Liao illustrates her own arguments in her essay through the act of telling us, the reader, what we can write a literacy narrative about. The one example that she gave which caught my attention to a great extent was when she mentioned her essay called “The Attic.” I found it very interesting that she used a physical and metaphorical journey to the site of the former ancestral home in order find her true identity, as well as family history and cultural background.

JORDAN STEVEN HERNANDEZ

1. An example of a genre convention in my community is the number you always choose to wear was always your lucky number pretty much. Also you would never wear the number 23 Because you would never live up to Michael Jordan.
2. A Genre convention Liao identifies for literacy narratives is the use of someone’s cultural identity and language. This also includes origin and traditions
3. She illustrates her own ideas of literacy narrative by telling us how she went through it and at first that she did not know what it was but then she said that she might have been writing it all along. The thing that will stick with me the most is when she said that we discover new things by putting our experiences into language.

TASNIM KHAN

1. ​An example of a “genre convention” in my discourse community is rhythm and music. My discourse community consists of dancers and we all learned to identify rhythm within music.

2. ​Lio identifies how in her discourse community of growing up as a first-generation Chinese Immigrant, some genra conventions include speaking pure Chinese. This is a genre conventions that all individuals share in this community.

3. ​Liao illustrates her own arguments by using dialogue in her personal anecdotes. This helps readers picture the conversation taking place. The conversation that stuck in my mind the most is where she meets a another individual with the last name Liao and becomes more in tough with her identity and culture.

JAMES KOLONIARIS

1. The discourse community I’m a part of is the New Yorker community. One example of a ”genre convention” in the discourse community I’m a part of is how whenever someone orders a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich it becomes one word, ”baconeggncheese”. Usually said in the form ”Lemme get a baconeggncheese on a _____(whatever bread you prefer).” (I feel like I interpreted it wrong, I look forward to getting a better understanding during class!)
2. Liao identifies five different genre conventions. They are identity, culture, origin, tradition, and belonging.
3. Liao separated her arguments into three different sections. One section that intrigued me and stick in my mind was section two ”A Literacy Narrative Can Document a Journey from Confusion to Fluency”.
4. Here she describes a situation where she was able to connect with her family history due to her wearing the Liao necklace in a discourse community. This then leads to someone understanding the symbol and guiding her to an attic full of information and pictures about her family.

JILLIAN MEIDLINGER

1. One discourse community that I was a part of with very strong genre conventions was Model-UN. I remember going to my first conference and being almost completely silent the first day because I was still trying to figure out how to address the people around me. People dont Identify themselves by their names but instead the country they are representing. When you want to say anything you must start with, “The delegation of ___ believes”  instead of “I think that”. The formatting of the position papers and resolution papers is also quite different than any other writing you do in highschool and there is specific jargon associated with it as well.

2. Lao identifies the idea of metacognition. This idea of ones own awareness of their thought process is applicable to literacy narratives in which we are discussing our own relationships with the community discourse we have been exposed to.

3. I liked how Lao pointed out that literacy narratives can both show and tell and how we should use specific examples to illustrate the greater meaning behind our work. This was apparant in a lot of her writing such as the excerpt from, “How to Be a Good Chinese-Jewish Hapa” where she describes the actions she took because of the questions she had around her own cultural identity.

WILVER MARIANO

1. A genre convention in a discourse community I can say I am apart of is the gaming community where you use different lingos that others might not undertsand. As an example, we use the word ‘bot’ to describe someone who is not got good, or even say someone is ‘afk’ which is that they are doing something off the game right now. These little terms just allow us to communicate in a different way than how we would when we are away from the game.

2. Genre conventions Liao identify are showing different cultural identities and how that culture impacts you. She also spoke on her students being discorsed into the gaming communities and how they used terms differently than others. She also used examples like the theater, chest players, or tennis enthusiast.

3. Liao describes illustrating in her essay many times. Throughout the essay you can infer to her importance on really illustrating because it’s how she sees a literacy narrative. She had said you will need to speak on your experiences and how it has changed you. Using examples and episodes from ur life to bring ur points upon the person. In others words she wants to know the full 360 of your literacy narrative so she is able to paint a picture and understand your narrative.

ELLIE NOLAN

1. From my understanding of “genre convention” and example of this would be my gym community. People in the gym use a certain language and use phrases like “pr” “reps” and “sets”. Before I started working out, I never knew what people were talking about when they said these phrases.

2. The genre conventions Liao identifies for literacy narratives are how we form our identity from our common language and to think about your own writing process. This is not only used for literacy narratives but is affective in writing one. Writers can talk about their culture, origin, and traditions.

3. Liao talks about looking in the mirror and trying to find features of hers that correlate to her Chinese grandmother and European mother. In doing so, she created a picture in my head of her looking “lost” into a mirror because of her “lost” identity.

NANA (Fengchan Huang)

 Q2: Because Liao finally found out where is his family’s roots are, in my cognition, family are the most important.  So this impressed me the most. It is very meaningful to find the place where the family lived and  figure out more about the family’s past.

Q3: Liao describes the importance of “illustrating” our own ideas in our literacy narratives. Liao went thad a journey that took to her grandfather’s Taiwanese hometown of Silai, and try to find the site of the former ancestral home. but then iu turns out not went well because of her lack of Chinese. But then she stopped at a restaurant and meet a friendly woman and saw her necklace has a character “Liao” on it. Later the woman took her to a building where Liao’s family is used to be there. She made it very clear by illustrate that she had changed from knowing to not knowing. Even with the help of others. This proves the success of this literary narrative. Also in this essay Liao is illustrate ideas about literacy that she acquired as a result of her own experiences. And this is also the examples most sticks in my mind, Also I’m so agree with her that “narrator goes from illiteracy to fluency, there is often help from a literacy sponsor of some kind.”