My Literacy Journey

Growing up in a bilingual household has affected my literacy journey. It affected my Spanish writing because I focused more on English. This course has helped me look at English literacy beyond the point of it being another credit to simply cross off my list. A specific reading from this course that I was able to really retain and relate to was Victor Villanueva's excerpt from Bootstraps: From an Academic of Color. Here he brought up several points that made me think differently about literacy and how it can affect my life now or even after college. “One professor said my writing was too formulaic. One professor said it was to novel. Another wrote: ‘nonsense.’ “ (Villanueva 112) I really like this quote because relating it back to literacy and my college experience ahead of me, it makes me understand that there will be times
Villanueva is successful now despite all the times his professors criticized his work because he applied the advice. Another point I was able to truly grasp through the readings is that the use of literacy will have a great impact on my job opportunities as well as any time I am speaking to someone with greater importance. “it is not just how you say it, but what you are and do when you say it.” (Gee 2) This is something that truly made me think and see how I could apply it to my everyday life. What came to my understanding is that actions as well as word use have a great impact on the situation. I believe the use of language changes throughout different situations and is also affected depending on the people who are present in that situation. For example, I want to become a Registered Nurse, eventually when the time comes to apply to the nursing program I will not use the same language as I would while texting or talking to close family or friends. Lastly, another concept I was able to acquire because of this course is motivation. Before coming into English 101 I never thought who my literacy sponsors were and why I was where I am today.