Transnational Literacy Autobiographies as Translingual Writing

The literacy autobiography is a personal narrative reflecting on how one’s experiences of spoken and written words have contributed to their ongoing relationship with language and literacy. Transnational Literacy Autobiographies as Translingual Writing is a cutting-edge study of this engaging genre of writing in academic and professional contexts.

In this state-of-the-art collection, Suresh Canagarajah brings together 11 samples of writing by students that both document their literary journeys and pinpoint the seminal works affecting their development as translingual readers and writers. Integrating the narrative of the author, which is written as his own literacy autobiography, with a close analysis of these texts, this book:

presents a case for the literacy autobiography as an archetypal genre that prepares writers for the conventions and processes required in other genres of writing;

demonstrates the serious epistemological and rhetorical implications behind the genre of literacy autobiography among migrant scholars and students;

effectively translates theoretical publications on language diversity for classroom purposes, providing a transferable teaching approach to translingual writing;

analyzes the tropes of transnational writers and their craft in meshing translingual resources in their writing;

demonstrates how transnationalism and translingualism are interconnected, guiding readers toward an understanding of codemeshing not as a cosmetic addition to texts but motivated toward resolving inescapable personal and social dilemmas.

Written and edited by one of the most highly regarded linguists of his generation, this book is key reading for scholars and students of applied linguistics, TESOL, and literacy studies, as well as tutors of writing and composition worldwide.