Spring term 2022
Wednesday, 15:00-16:30, Collegium Novum A 101
Start 01.03.2022
30 contact hours
3 ECTS
Lecturer: Nicole Nau
Course description:
This lecture is about writing as a form of using language and literacy as cultural practices that involve reading and/or writing. It will introduce students to research on these topics from the 1980s to this day, discussing answers to questions such as:
- What is writing and how did it develop?
- What do people do with writing – and what may writing “do” to people and languages?
- What may be the role of writing and literacy for national and other group identity?
- How is literacy acquired in first and second languages?
- How can literacy in lesser used languages be developed?
- What characterizes literacy in the digital world? How have digital tools changed reading and writing practices, and how can they be used most effectively?
Teaching method: lecture with discussion; assigned reading with study questions
Assessment: Two tests (one mid-term, one final)
Selected literature
- Barton,David. 2007. Literacy: an introduction to the ecology of written language. 2nd edition. Oxford: Blackwell.
- Günther, H. & O. Ludwig, eds. 2008. Schrift und Schriftlichkeit / Writing and its use. (HSK 10) Berlin: de Gruyter. 2 Volumes.
- Cushman, Ellen et al., eds. 2001. Literacy. A critical sourcebook. Boston, New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s
- Fischer, Steven Roger. 2008. A history of writing. London: Reaktion Books.
- Liddicoat, Anthony J. 2004. Language Planning for Literacy: Issues and Implications. Current Issues in Language Planning, 5:1, 1-17.
- Ong, Walter. 2002 [1982]. Orality and Literacy. The technologizing of the word. London, New York: Routledge.
- Scribner, Sylvia & Michael Cole. 1999. The psychology of literacy. Cambridge, Mass., London: Harvard University Press.