Purpose1
To examine and explain a significant event, or series of events, with language usage
Think of events, people, and places that shaped your view of how language is used. Your
narrative might be about an experience you had at school, home, or work; in this country,
another country; with friends, classmates, family, or teachers. It might focus on a time you
struggled, or it might focus on a time when you achieved your goal. You might recall a
person or event that helped or inspired you, or you might recall a person or event that
discouraged you. Remember: the purpose of the literacy narrative is not merely to report
the events in your life but to shape your story so that the reader understands the
significance or impact these events had on your use, or your views, of language.
Audience
Your instructor and students in the course
Getting Started
First, select one of the following topics (or find your own) for the focus of your literacy
narrative:
• Your first memories learning to read or write
• A class or teacher that made a significant impact your reading, writing, or speaking
skills
• A challenge you experienced when language use (or dialect) either caused or solved
a problem
• The transition between high school writing and college writing
1 Adapted from Ohio State University’s “The Literacy Narratives of Black Columbus” and Linn-Benton Community
College (“WR-115 Assignment”).
Alden 2
• A book, or other text, that made a significant impact on your use or understanding of
language
o Music can be considered a language, if you write lyrics or tunes and sing or
play a musical instrument. However, listening to or appreciating music does
not qualify as a topic for a literacy narrative.
• A time when you taught someone else how to read or write
• Some other person, book, or experience that inspired, discouraged, or changed your
attitude toward reading, writing, or speaking.
• Your experience in a discourse community (or in two discourses communities that
are connected, such as Spanish speaking and English speaking); how the special
terms, values, goals, and hierarchies of those discourse communities changed or
influenced your experience with language.
Then, decide on the organizational scheme for your narrative. Make sure the story you
want to tell fits the organizational scheme you have chosen and that telling the story in that
order will make it accessible (easy to understand) and interesting for the reader.
