Literacy narratives are a commonly used genre in first-year writing courses. This is principally an academic genre—or what Elizabeth Wardle would criticize as a “mutt genre”—but there are plenty of examples of literacy narratives in personal essays. Typically, the genre is
Reading: Marjorie Agosin’s “Always Living in Spanish” and “English”
Marjorie Agosin is a professor of Spanish at Wellesley College as well as an essayist, poet, and human rights activist. In the essay “Always Living in Spanish,” translated by Celeste Kostopulos-Cooperman, and the poem “English,” translated by Monic Bruno, Agosin
Reading: Min-Zhan Lu’s “From Silence to Words”
“My mother withdrew into silence two months before she died. A few nights before she fell silent, she told me she regretted the way she had raised me and my sisters. I knew she was referring to the way he
Reading: Nancy Sommers’ “I Stand Here Writing”
While “I Stand Here Writing,” might not immediately jump out as a translingual text—the entire article is written in Standard Edited American English—Nancy Sommers fluidly moves between different registers and discourse communities. At times, she writes very personally and informally,
Reading: Gloria Anzaldua’s “How to Tame a Wild Tongue”
“So, if you want to really hurt me, talk badly about my language. Ethnic identity is twin skin to linguistic identity—I am my language.” —Gloria Anzaldua, “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” Gloria Anzaldua’s “How to Tame a Wild Tongue”
Reading: Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue”
In this literacy narrative, Amy Tan explores her language and identity by reflecting on her mother’s language use. Tan writes that, “Lately, I’ve been giving more thought to the kind of English my mother speaks. Like others, I have described