Unexpected Voices Theory, Practice and Identity in the Writing Classroom

THIS BOOK takes up issues of current concern in composition studies, sociolinguistics, and ESL - issues concerning academic literacy, critical literacy, expressive versus cognitive approaches to the teaching of writing, and the like. It does so in a practical, experiential way, drawing on events in classrooms in universities in South Africa and the United States. The contrast between the South African context and the American, as well as their surprising parallels, highlight certain questions concerning the teaching of literacy in a dramatic way, so that theory and practice are brought together. In contrast to writing programs that follow a textbook or a planned sequence of study, the authors describe a narrative pedagogy that encourages students to find a direction and choose activities suggested by their own concerns and ongoing lives.