E301 – The Art of English
TMA 03
‘All literacy practices contain creative elements.’
Discuss, using examples of texts that might not be traditionally considered creative and illustrating your explanations with ideas and theories from Part 1 of the module.
The following essay will work from the idea that creative elements are present in all forms of literary practices of everyday life. The discussion will use examples of texts and ideas that are not traditionally considered to be creative, including Graffiti, and the ways in which prisoners communicate within the prison walls. I will also use an example from my own personal experience. Much of this essay looks at the social context of the literacy practices, and I will make reference to Carter’s linguistic models to illustrate how vital the social context is when considering the creative elements of literacy practices. However, before beginning an analysis of the above statement, I will provide an explanation of what is meant by the terms ‘literacy practices’ and ‘creativity’.
Papen and Tusting define literacy practices as the different ‘ways people use and interact with texts in particular contexts, and the meanings that these hold for them’ (Papen and Tusting, 2006, p.312).
It is the outcome of a written activity that has on objective and the idea that literacy practices is more about the relationship between the people and the texts, depending on the context that they are in, is an interesting one. Wilson argues that creativity in literacy practices ‘can be found in the most unlikely places, being used by an unlikely group of people’, (Wilson, 2006, p.349) and this is certainly true of Graffiti artists and prisoners, which I discuss later on in this essay. I will now follow this with a brief definition of creativity in terms of literacy practices.
The Review on ‘All Literacy Practices Contain Creative Elements.’ Discuss
TMA 3: ‘All literacy practices contain creative elements.’ Discuss, using examples of texts that might not be traditionally considered creative illustrating your explanations with ideas and theories ... department. As Papen and Tusting (2008) point out, 'Any given contexts associated with a particular set of possibilities' ([Maybin and Swann ...
The creativity within the literacy practices comes from the relationship that is formed between the individual partaking in the literacy practice and the social context which it takes place in. As Papen and Tusting explain, ‘creativity in literacy is emergent not from an individual mind, nor from the social context, but from a relationship between the two’, (Papen and Tusting, 2006, p.331).
Carter’s sociocultural model suggests that creativity is ‘socially and culturally determined’, (Swann, 2006, p.10) and I will look at the ways in which creative elements in literacy practices are subject to the social constraints and affordances that they find themselves within.
The social context is an important factor when considering the creative element of any literacy practice, in that individuals are influenced considerably by their surrounding environment. We respond to the constraints and affordances of our environment in a creative manner. Every literacy practice has an intention, and the individual achieves their intention by using creative elements within the constraints and affordances of their social context, ‘all meaning making is creative’, (Maybin, 2006, p.414).
There are many reasons behind the intentions of literacy practices. These include an individual’s need for self-expression, acceptance and recognition in society. These intentions are realised through the creative combination of past experiences and ideas with modern ones. This can be seen in Reading A of Chapter 7. In this extract, Camitta looks at how a group of high school students ‘express their inner life through writing’, (Camitta in Papen and Tusting, 2006, p.339).
These vernacular writings are, at the heart of them, ‘quests for meaning and identity’, (Camitta in Papen and Tusting, 2006, p.332) and the creative ways in which they go back achieving their quests included exchanges during class with notes written during their free time, exchanges at their lockers and even a student who used a desk shared with another student at a different time period.
The Dissertation on Exploring The Literacy Practices Of High School Debaters
Exploring the Literacy Practices of High School Debaters My personal literacy development has not always been easy. In grade school I struggled with dyslexia. Additionally my family moved several times and new school districts were teaching reading and writing using different methods. These difficulties have made grade school not nearly as central to my literacy development as most students. My ...
The types of literacy practices these students indulged in included personal diaries, correspondence and poetry. They each felt that their writing was a form of self-expression and that it was ‘central to transacting social relationships’, (Camitta in Papen and Tusting, 2006, p.332) which reiterates the idea of how important the social context is in literacy practices. Even though the writings are simplistic in their form, one can still see a strong connection between the individual and the world around them. Another way, in which the students used literacy practices in a creative way, was with the creation of the “dialogue-note”. This enabled the students to communicate with one another during class by passing a note back and forth writing and responding to each other. This emphasises how the social constraints that the students find themselves in influences their creativity in literacy practices; ‘an important component of their writing was its social aspect’, (Camitta in Papen and Tusting, 2006, p.332).
Another example which emphasises the connection between creativity in literacy practices being dependent upon the social constraints is Wilson’s extract which focuses on prison literacy. The literacy practices in this example emerge as a result of the restraints upon the prisoners. We learn that writing for them is not just a way to pass time, but also a need they have to communicate ‘in a world where communication is severely restricted, and in order to keep one’s mind’, (Wilson in Papen and Tusting, 2006, p.343).
So here we see that the intention behind the literacy practice is the prisoners’ sanity.
There are various forms that the literacy practices in prison take on. One of the key forms of literacy within the prison is obviously the letters to family and friends in the outside world. However, an interesting point with regard to their letters is the creativity taken into the planning and of the actual writing itself writing. Prison life is routine, so a lot more thought goes into what is going to be written, ‘there’s a lot of (…) planning [with] pages where people (…) write the body text and then write around the body text and then round and round and round, sort of fitting as much on the page as possible, and on the other side and then it could continue on the envelope’, (CD ROM 1, Band 22, Prison Literacy).
The Coursework on Writing Creative Year Life
Creative self expression is, above all things, an art; it allows a person to translate intangible feelings and emotions - the essence of their being-to something the world can see and, at best, understand. For me, expressing my creativity is executed in an array of behaviors, including singing and the arts, but most predominately, through writing. My greatest love will always be the manipulation ...
Prisoners are also creative in the ways in which they communicate with one another inside prison. Kropotkin discusses a mode of communication ‘where literacy and numeracy, the written, the spoken and the heard are meshed together in a creative and successful way’, (Wilson in Papen and Tusting, 2006, p.344).
The image of ‘meshing’ these different forms of communication together is an interesting one, and it is also very creative. This idea of creating a new form of communication is illustrated even further with the “digger code”. In order to be able to communicate successfully with one another, and without others finding out, prisoners have created a code which ‘relies on systems of syllabic juxtaposition or embellishment’, (Wilson in Papen and Tusting, 2006, p.345).
The fact that the code is changed continuously emphasises the creativity in its creation.
Graffiti is a very different form of literacy that ‘suggests interesting connections between writing, creativity and identity’, (Maybin, 2006, p.273).
Graffiti is not only an aesthetic form of literacy but it also uses common literacy devices such as pun, repetition, rhythm and rhyme. Since the 1970’s, graffiti has exploded onto the scene in a colorful array of decorative lettering covering city walls, trains and other public spaces. In her extract, Macdonald suggests that there is extreme competition between the graffiti artists and the way in which one graffiti artist responds to another means something more than just writing on the wall. For example, the placement of two different ‘tags’ on the same space could mean a complete lack of respect, if a name is placed over a name that is already there, or a sign of respect if placed next to each other.
There is also a lot of creative thought that goes into being a graffiti artist, and it all begins with choosing the name as Prime, a graffiti artists says ‘it’s not just a name, it’s, it’s a personality’, (CD ROM 1, Band 20, Graffiti).
The name is then reflected in the style of the lettering. For instance, a macho sounding name will usually be displayed in an aggressive style. Macdonald suggests that a ‘name seems to work best when it conjures up some form of desirable image’, (Macdonald in Maybin, 2006, p.297).
The Essay on Language and Literacy in Social Practice
Language and Literacy in Social Practice is one of a set of four readers which looks at literacy and language practices as they are moulded and shaped by the cultures of the societies they serve. Edited by Janet Maybin, the book is a collection of key articles by seminal writers in the field who investigate the role of language and literacy as part of social practice. Broken down into four ...
This is an excellent example of creativity being present in a literacy practice. Again, much of the creativity in this literacy practice comes down to the social context and the issue of identity. The graffiti artist is someone who is trying to find their place in society, much like the students who exchange notes in my earlier example are.
The idea that all literacy practices contain creative elements got me to thinking about the creative elements that I come across in the literacy practices of my everyday life. I work in recruitment in Cyprus and use the facility of email on a daily basis to communicate with clients and candidates. I have a language barrier to contend with so I have to be creative in the way that I plan and word my emails to make sure that the intention behind them is understood. When writing to a client with whom I hoping to establish a relationship with my emails have a certain level of professionalism and polished finish that I wouldn’t necessarily have with a client with whom I have a long established relationship with. I am less formal with those clients, and the emails are slightly more personal.
I also have to be creative in the way that I write job descriptions to attract candidates. Writing job descriptions is an essential part of my daily work routine and the information contained in them has to be specific and to the point. If a job description contains too much text, it can discourage candidates to apply for the role as they are overloaded with information that may be considered to be irrelevant. Therefore I have to be creative in the way I write them. I try to make them sharp, and resourceful whilst making sure that they contain all the necessary information so that the potential candidate knows exactly what role they are applying for and know that they fit the profile of the role. I also work with the layout of the job adverts. For example, I find that using bullet points to highlight essential requirements and qualifications works a lot better than if the advert is just one large body of text.
This essay has explored various examples to prove that creativity exists in everyday literacy practices. I have concluded that there is a strong connection between the different forms of literacy practices and creative elements and ‘such practices are shaped by people drawing actively on the possibilities offered by the particular social situations in which they are embedded, in order to achieve their own goals and purposes,’ (Papen and Tusting, 2006, p.312).
The Term Paper on Computer Literacy
Teaching with New Technology is a series that provides teachers with practical, research-based approaches to using computer technologies in their language classrooms. We have deliberately chosen to use the term ‘computer-based technologies’ to highlight the technologies where the computer is an obvious tool. Many other classroom tools and artefacts use digital technology, but they do not involve ...
Creativity seems to be at the very foundation of every literacy practice, no matter what that activity is. It can be something as trite as a work email, to something as significant as a prisoner writing a letter to a loved one. At the very heart there is a goal that is realised through the creative way in which the literacy practice is completed within the constraints and affordances of the social context within which it is found.
Words: 1891
References
Maybin, J. and Swann, J (eds) (2006) The art of English: everyday creativity, Palgrave Macmillan, The Open University.
E301: The Art of English, CD ROM 1, The Art of English: everyday creativity
