“Accommodation, Resistance and the Politics of Student Writing” Geoffrey Chase PowerPoint by Wendy Dobson

“Shift here, shift there...shift, shift everywhere!” The most recent shift in composition studies seems to be toward an emphasis on discourse communities. Chase states that “scholars argue that we need...to understand more clearly the conventions of discourse communities and...to teach those conventions to our students.”

He believes that writing should be widely recognized as a social activity. This, in turn, will allow writing to be seen as a form of cultural production connected to the processes of self and social empowerment.

However (aka: “Listen up, people!”)... If writing is recognized this way, two points associated with writing need to be examined.

They’re both “not that innocent!” First Point: What do Britney Spears and discourse communities have in common? They’re both “not that innocent!”

Discourse communities, according to Chase, are “not ideologically innocent.” They are organized around the production and legitimation of particular forms of knowledge and social practices at the expense of others. They introduce students to particular ways of life through specific discourse.

We need to check our conventions at the door! Before we ask students to become involved in certain conventions, we should see how these conventions work on a larger, theoretical level as well as the implications of these conventions for students.

We need to compare the cultural forms we put forth and defend in the classroom to those that are active and evident in the larger culture. We may find that they are not relative to one another.

Second Point: We need to question the learning process of the students. Are they learning or failing to learn the conventions of a discourse community?

We need to focus more on matters of pedagogy, which means... We need to observe not only the student and what she learns in a particular situation, but broaden our scope and include other pertinent members. Specifically, we need to use the...

“TRIPLE THREAT!” The teacher The learner The knowledge they together produce

Chase focuses on the initiation of students into discourse communities and how this initiation is sometimes opposed and resisted. Here he introduces three different student responses toward learning.

How Students Respond in Learning to the Dominant Culture: Accommodation Opposition Resistance

Accommodation is the process by which students learn to accept conventions without question. Students do not find out how these conventions privilege some forms of knowledge at the expense of others.

Opposition refers to students behavior which runs against the grain and which interrupts what we usually think of as the normal progression of learning.

Resistance actively works against the dominant ideology Resistance actively works against the dominant ideology. According to Henry Giroux, it “redefines the causes and meaning of oppositional behavior by arguing that it has little to do with the logic of deviance, individual pathology, learned helplessness, and a great deal to do with the logic of moral and political indignation.”

We can link the social processes of a particular discourse community with the larger processes which characterize our culture using resistance. It is a movement toward emancipation.

Chase focuses on three college students and their experiences while working on their senior projects. While all three were strong in some way, being clear, organized, dealing with serious issues, and representing a good deal of sustained work for college seniors, they also carried weak points.

Bill His project exerts an attitude of accommodation. He accommodated what he perceived as the dominant values of the academic discourse community and accepted without question the standards given to him.

Kris She accepted as well as rejected the standards of writing that she was asked to do. She opposed the constraints put on her and maintained a sense of who she was.

Karen She exerts a clear struggle for self-emancipation and social emancipation.” This is a strong form of resistance. She rejected the formal requirements that would force her to separate herself from a source of strength and from the suppressed history of working class women.

And last but not least... what does all of this mean? Chase believes that, from this, we need to consider the implications of teaching the conventions of any discourse community from a pedagogical perspective. Students need to be able to problematize their existence and place themselves in a social and historical context. This will help them to improve their understanding of themselves and the world.

The truth shall set you free... As experienced members of discourse communities we need to be more critical about how quickly we say that something does or does not meet the criteria we have set for good writing. It may not be true!

Give students the acting bug! We need to encourage students to see themselves as human actors who can make a difference in the world. By helping students affirm and analyze their own experiences and histories, we can begin to help them make a connection with the wider culture and society.

Writing should promote specific ideologies Writing should promote specific ideologies. It should intend to show students how to affirm their own voices, use critical interrogation skills, and courageously act in the interests of improving the quality of human life.

Other Helpful Resources: Chase, Geoffrey. Perhaps we need just to say yes. Journal of Education, 1990. Vol. 172 Issue 1, p29, 9p.