“I think we’re in the midst of a literacy revolution the likes of which we haven’t seen since Greek civilization.”
– Andrea Lunsford, professor of English and director of the Program in Writing and Rhetoric at Stanford University
From 2001 to 2006, Lunsford collected 14,672 student writing samples—everything from in-class assignments, formal essays, and journal entries to emails, blog posts, and chat sessions. An article in Wired Magazine discusses this “new literacy”.
Some of Lunsford’s findings:
- Young people write a lot more than previous generations. Why? Because when they’re interacting it revolves around text, what she calls “Life Writing”
- Students view writing as “good” when it’s performative
- Students are able to adapt their tone and technique to their audience
Other resources
Also on Stanford Knowledgebase: