Critical literacy
By the end of first year composition,
students should:
Understand
interactions among ideas or characters in the text which are subtle, involved
or deeply embedded.
Appreciate
the richness of highly sophisticated information conveyed through data, visual
arrays or literary devices.
Perceive
structure, following texts or visual materials organized in ways that are
elaborate and sometimes unconventional.
Notice
the style, tone and use of language, visual or digital elements, which may be
intricate.
Comprehend
vocabulary, even when the author's choice of words is demanding and highly
context dependent.
Attend
to an author's intent in writing the text, even if it is implicit and sometimes
ambiguous. (adapted from American, 2006, p. 17)
And
to these goals, I would add two more:
Be
able to summarize main ideas and key details from a text or electronic display.
Analyze,
synthesize and evaluate written and/or visual material and integrate that
material into their own writing for their own purposes.