A Mediated Life

The longer I spend in the business of teaching writing (and especially in being a writing program administrator-WPA), the more I find myself challenged by a paradox that I can’t seem to solve. I believe that it’s vital that writing teachers and WPAs have knowledge and understanding of the linguistic diversity that they encounter in their classes. I think it’s important that writing teachers have a background in working with second language/ESL writers, for example. But I also find that the more I learn about linguistic diversity and the more I understand about my students’ complex linguistic and cultural heritages, the more I question the nature of what I do.

Writing programs are in the business of assimilation, so we’re caught in a dilemma. We want to honor (and if possible, preserve) students’ home languages and cultures, but our job is to teach them “Standard Academic English.” Sometimes I find myself coming back to Sharon Crowley’s argument about the nature of the first-year writing requirement, and how Jim Berlin pointed out the “gate-keeping” nature of the course. It’s a puzzling paradox, and I’m not sure I have a solution. Perhaps there isn’t a simple one. I don’t see the existence of the paradox as negative, though–maybe it’s just a step on the way toward developing a better approach to teaching writing and structuring writing programs. But I’d be interested to hear the thoughts of others.