- Reading and writing is often not at the top of the list for most people’s favorite areas of education. I believe that people do not fully realize the relevance and importance it has in our everyday lives and in the economy as well. In the modern day, technology has taken over just about everything. Throughout an average day, I would say I read the most words on my phone compared to any other form that contains text. The material people read on their phones may not always contain the most difficult grammar and good context and as a result, people may subconsciously train their brains to simply be acquainted with lower level words. Personally, I read most of the words I read throughout a day on my smart phone, but I am mindful enough to try and always continue to expand my vocabulary so I can translate it to my reading and writing skills. Also in the age of computers, many people have unlimited resources at hand when it comes to writing. They can receive help from anywhere online and this may handicap their writing ability. They can simply use these tools for help in the moment instead of actually advancing their writing skills.
- A “Master Narrative” is an overarching story people tell themselves about their experiences in relation to the culture, literature, or history of society. “Little Narratives” are unsanctioned, artistic, and imaginative. They are less generalizable and more individualized and situated. The contrast here is that a master narrative is more factual and may relate to society as a whole where as little narratives relate more to the individual. Alexander states, “little narratives are often told by marginalized groups, such as women and minorities, whose shorties run counter to the dominant literacy myth” (611). The differences between master and little narratives are crucial in order to fully understand both the concepts. As Alexander states, little narratives are more generalized to minority groups.
- For me, the child prodigy cultural narrative is very interesting. I relate to this because I wrote one of my literacy narratives on a topic pertaining to this. In my story, I was in 5th grade and my reading level was pretty high. As Alexander explains, “Excels at reading and writing from an early age and is put on display for others to see his or her brilliance and intellectual acumen” (615) Using Alexander’s logic, the child prodigy cultural narrative relates to narratives where the protagonist who excel in literacy from an early age, and display their accelerated skill to others. Another interesting cultural narrative is the victim narrative. Alexander illustrates this as, “a victim of negative literacy experiences, in or out of school; casts blame for negative literacy experiences” (615). In these literacy narratives, the protagonist often plays the role of the victim, and puts blame on others such as a parent, teacher, etc. for their dismay in reading or writing. They often do not take blame for their displeasure in literacy and are quick to point fingers to other people for their so-called “wrongdoings”.
ENG 110I
