Representations of language learning and literacy : how to read literacy narratives / Elena West.

Introduction: Representations of language learning and literacy and the demise of the powers of verbal language -- Three approaches to the study of representations of language learning and literacy -- Intersemiotic conflict in Richard Rodriguez's Hunger of memory -- The letter kills, singing gives life: literacy and multimodality in Diego Marani's Nuova grammatica finlandese -- Illiteracy, class, and multimodality in Vincenzo Rabito's Terra matta -- Conclusion: Strategies for reading literacy narratives and future directions.

"Representations of language learning and literacy, also known as "literacy narratives", are a staple of literature. They tell stories of conflict that illuminate the sociocultural dynamics whereby we learn to speak, read, and write. Yes, they tend to be read as stories about the "powers" of language and literacy - the power to make someone "human", to form identity, and improve one's social status. This book introduces the "literacy narrative approach", a methodology for the study of literacy narratives that accounts for the conflict that pervades them. It achieves this by focussing on how the texts represents the interactions between writing and other semiotic modes (multimodality). Sitting at the interface between theory and practice, it provides three practical applications of the literacy narrative approach and, in the process, develops a theoretical perspective for thinking about language learning, literacy, and communication as they are practised in the real world"-- Provided by publisher.