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Class ConsiderationsAn Exploration of Literacy, Social Class, and Family

Class ConsiderationsAn Exploration of Literacy, Social Class, and Family R e v i ew s Class Considerations An Exploration of Literacy, Social Class, and Family A Taste for Language: Literacy, Class, and English Studies. James Ray Watkins Jr. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2009. Sheri Rysdam James Ray Watkins Jr. begins his book A Taste for Language: Literacy, Class, and English Studies (2009) with an anecdote about going through his recently deceased father’s belongings. As Watkins sifts through his childhood memo - ries, he begins to realize how profoundly the literacy that his father deve-l oped through his higher education not only shaped his father’s economic life but also gradually formed the entire family’s middle- class sensibility. An important emblem throughout the book is his father’s college composition textbook. In fact, the catalyst for writing A Taste for Language occurs when Watkins finds the book in his parents’ house while he helps his mother move after his father’s passing. The newly discovered textbook, Unified English Composition, was published in 1946 and provides a remarkable illustration of the ways that social class was overtly tied to academic literacy. The textbook also demonstrates how perceptions of literacy and class have evolved over the decades. Watkins opens the first chapter of http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Pedagogy Duke University Press

Class ConsiderationsAn Exploration of Literacy, Social Class, and Family

Pedagogy , Volume 12 (3) – Oct 1, 2012

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References (9)

Copyright
© 2012 by Duke University Press
ISSN
1531-4200
eISSN
1533-6255
DOI
10.1215/15314200-1625352
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

R e v i ew s Class Considerations An Exploration of Literacy, Social Class, and Family A Taste for Language: Literacy, Class, and English Studies. James Ray Watkins Jr. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2009. Sheri Rysdam James Ray Watkins Jr. begins his book A Taste for Language: Literacy, Class, and English Studies (2009) with an anecdote about going through his recently deceased father’s belongings. As Watkins sifts through his childhood memo - ries, he begins to realize how profoundly the literacy that his father deve-l oped through his higher education not only shaped his father’s economic life but also gradually formed the entire family’s middle- class sensibility. An important emblem throughout the book is his father’s college composition textbook. In fact, the catalyst for writing A Taste for Language occurs when Watkins finds the book in his parents’ house while he helps his mother move after his father’s passing. The newly discovered textbook, Unified English Composition, was published in 1946 and provides a remarkable illustration of the ways that social class was overtly tied to academic literacy. The textbook also demonstrates how perceptions of literacy and class have evolved over the decades. Watkins opens the first chapter of

Journal

PedagogyDuke University Press

Published: Oct 1, 2012

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