Procrastadabbler

In my literacy theory class we’ve been studying the relationship of oral language to literacy acquisition and development. In my language, literacy, and diversity class we’re now reading about spoken word performance and it’s place in the African American Literate tradition (the work of Maisha Fisher among others). Fisher and others stress that it’s not just oral language that is used to support written language, but also written language that is used to support spoken performance. What strikes me is that they are studying the poetic tradition in particular (as well as oratory to some extent), but that this concept also extends to the academic. I’m thinking of conferences and how the papers we deliver at conferences are really first drafts for articles that eventually get published (hopefully). So in academia, there is a written to oral to written relationship.

Maybe this observation isn’t all that earth shattering, but it’s just something that click for me this morning as I was reviewing the course readings for the week.