Reading Response: Basic Writing and Genre

Concerning the BW pedagogy, I marked four views:

1. Error-Centered
2. Academic Initiation
3. Critical Literacy
4. Spatial

My notes on them look something like the following:

1.1 - Grammatical conventions

1.2 - "From where one is going (meaning) to how one is getting there (code) [22]

2.1 - Inventing the university; attempting to speak as a member of a discourse community without having learned that community

2.2 - Facts, artifacts, and counter-facts

3.1 - Sociocultural power struggles between asymmetrical power relations

3.2 - BW classification is a product of cultural background

3.3 - Social contexts; "outsider" status is a strength

3.4 - Argument: Politics > Day-to-Day

4.1 - Where should learning take place and what is the impact of that location

4.1.1 - BW spaces marginalize BW from mainstream

4.2 - BW courses are given negative connotations by power structures

Concerning genre, I have always been aware of different forms of written communication but never considered how employing a particular form in the classroom might affect the view a student has on that form, or on the concept of "correct form". It is interesting to note that some forms are likely never used in an English classroom, forms that are commonplace in other communities (Criminal Justice incident reports or Engineering reports). It seems to me, then, that it is important to consider what commonalities exist between forms, or more precisely, what can I teach a student that will help them regardless of the genre they end up using most?