April Heaney
A powerful way for college writing instructors to begin a new semester is to assign a “literacy narrative” as soon as possible. The purpose of a literacy narrative is to encourage reflection about students’ early experiences with literacy learning—including the people, memories, and setbacks that made an impact on students’ ability to read, write, speak, or learn a particular literacy skill. Rebecca Agosta (2017) gives this summary:
“In assigning literacy narratives, professors are asking students to take what they’ve learned about literacy development and apply that to their life stories. Depending on the class and the professor, students may be asked to explore stories that include substantial experiences and people who motivated them, and to reflect on them. Literacy narratives offer students a chance to examine past experiences—be they pleasant memories, uncomfortable baggage, voices, scars, etc.—and allow them to write through those experiences. While reflecting on these experiences, some students can then go further and use their writing as a way of overcoming the resistance found in those moments.”
By processing early literacy memories, students better understand their current attitudes toward literacy-oriented classes—as well as simply engage in conversation about how these experiences end up shaping our relationship with literacy through our lives (especially during school years).
Beginning the semester in this way encourages trust among students (who can share some of their insights with each other) and an opening for professors to understand students’ needs and characteristics. For example, some students reveal issues that may impede their motivation or ability to complete assignments. These include learning disabilities, feelings of insecurity or fear sparked early in their school experiences, or second language challenges.
Student voices (2019 literacy narrative activity)
When I was 14 years old, living in Guadalajara, my family decided to move to Nayarit where we lived for a year….This has not been an easy transition because I am away from my mother, with whom I am very close, and have had to learn difficult content while also learning English.
As a person living with autism it took me a long while to become a good reader. I couldn’t sit still long enough to really focus on what I was supposed to be reading. The key to what made me a better reader is the patience my teachers showed in helping me develop my reading skills. The older I got the more I realized that being a functional reader is a big part of being an adult.
I often had to read out loud in elementary school…as I began to read to the class, my mind seemed to betray me. I wouldn’t know how to pronounce even the easiest of words, I always repeated the simplest of sentences, and seemed to basically give up. As a young kid I absolutely hated reading. I despised it with a passion, in fact I don’t recall picking up and finishing a book until fifth grade.
In addition to the reflective component of a literacy narrative, it can be helpful to add a second, argumentative portion. The argumentative part of the assignment allows students to think forward instead of solely to their past—and to imagine avenues to promote success in college literacy tasks. The literacy narrative, in this form, carries two tasks for students: first, a reflection on their past experiences with literacy learning and development; and second, an opportunity to argue for ways that students can apply new strategies to help them in college.
Adding the second component of the literacy narrative addresses the benefits of developing a growth mindset studied by Yeager and Watson (2014), two scholars at the University of Texas at Austin who assessed the impact of low confidence on first-generation college students. In their research (published in a New Yorker article by Paul Tough), Yeager and Watson discovered that
“Many [first generation students] believe in what Carol Dweck names an entity theory of intelligence — that intelligence was a fixed quality that was impossible to improve through practice or study. And so when they experienced cues that might suggest that they weren’t smart or academically able — a bad grade on a test, for instance — students would often interpret those as a sign that they could never succeed.”
As part of their study, Yeager and Watson conducted an experiment in which they prompted a subgroup of first generation students at U.T. to complete two early tasks after their admission to the university. Participating students read two short articles about the brain’s ability to learn new tasks and thrive in challenging conditions. Then, they wrote a brief letter to other incoming students at U.T. summarizing this research and encouraging the new students not to give up in times of intense discouragement. In the end (and to the surprise of University of Texas administrators), the group of first generation students who completed these tasks when they entered U.T. achieved strong gains in their first-year success in college over the non-participants (read the study results here).
Conclusion
In assigning a (low-stakes) literacy narrative that mimics Yeager and Watson’s tasks, literacy teachers can help students benefit from the small messages embedded in these experiences. Further, benefits of the literacy narrative include
- Teachers are learning about students’ relevant past experiences and literacy needs
- Students are processing their early literacy-shaping experiences in productive ways
- Underprivileged students can gain critical cues about their ability to overcome setbacks in college courses that might otherwise spark feelings of helplessness and negative stress
Literacy Narrative Example Assignment
First, review the short texts titled “Where Does a Love of Reading Come From?,” “Growth Mindset,” and the fact sheet about literacy. After reading and watching the texts, begin your literacy narrative by writing about your experience with learning to read or memories of your path as a reader in and outside of school. What events have shaped your attitude toward reading and writing throughout your life to this point?
After writing your personal response, use these readings to move into an argument about how students can overcome early insecurity or doubts about their ability to achieve college reading and writing goals. This argumentative portion of your response should be at least two paragraphs long and should include specific references to the articles and fact sheet.