An Essay on the Work of Composition: Composing English against the Order of Fast Capitalism

This is an attempt to define what being a responsible and responsive user of English might mean in a world ordered by global capital, a world where all forms of intra- and international exchanges in all areas of life are increasingly under pressure to involve English. Turning to recent work in lingu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inCollege composition and communication Vol. 56; no. 1; pp. 16 - 50
Main Author Lu, Min-Zhan
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Urbana National Council of Teachers of English 01.09.2004
Subjects
Beliefs
British culture
Capitalism
Composition
English
English (Second Language)
English language
Essays
Fear
Females
Gee, James
Global Approach
Kachru, Braj B
Language
Language Usage
Lifeworld
Linguistics
Middle Class
Monolingualism
Morrison, Toni (1931-2019)
Nonnative languages
Reading Materials
Rhetoric
Self
Selfhood
Social classes
Special Needs Students
Toilets
Writers
Writing (Composition)
Written composition
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Summary:This is an attempt to define what being a responsible and responsive user of English might mean in a world ordered by global capital, a world where all forms of intra- and international exchanges in all areas of life are increasingly under pressure to involve English. Turning to recent work in linguistics and education, I pose a set of alternative assumptions that might help us develop more responsible and responsive approaches to the relation between English and its users (both those labeled Native-Speaking, White or Middle Class, and those Othered by these labels), the language needs and purposes of individual users of English, and the relation between the work we do and the work done by users of English across the world. I argue that these assumptions can help us compose English against the grain of all systems and relations of injustice.
ISSN:0010-096X
1939-9006
DOI:10.2307/4140679