This is where we’ll discuss Michelle Comstock and Mary E. Hocks, “Voice in the Cultural Soundscape: Sonic Literacy in Composition Studies.“
Again, given what we’ve already talked about this semester, I think this is (relatively) straight-forward, but I will highlight two things that are particularly interesting here, at least to me. First, after Comstock and Hocks frame their theoretical argument, they spend the bulk of their essay on discussing assignments. I think this works especially well here because I for one always read things like this and think “okay, do you have an example?” They give us some good ones.
Second, even though the essay is about the aural/oral in composition studies, the examples they include are actually all videos. I don’t know if there is intention or not, but it either suggests that they are arguing that video and audio are more or less the same thing (and I think it’s obvious that they aren’t), or they are indirectly pointing out how much easier it is to do video than it is to do audio nowadays. Or at least that’s my interpretation, based on the extreme ease of video sites like YouTube: while it is super-duper easy to put up a video nowadays, it isn’t the case with audio, oddly enough.
This was one of the more informative essays I read in relationship to my sound project, which I’m trying to put together for this class. I really liked the time they spent theorizing the importance of sound and then showing how they are using it in the classroom. At one point they say about half their students choose to do something in the way of a sound essay for their project. This brought up one of the limitations I’ve discovered in trying to incorporate sound in the writing classroom – the technology is not as accessible as video. To capture sound well actually requires some nice equipment and it’s much more difficult to edit and develop a sound project than a video. That being said, I do think there is something to be said for having students develop a sound essay as it focuses on the purely verbal aspects of language, which I think will get them to re-imagine the way they write in relationship to speech.
I like what you say here, Brian, and I completely agree. It seems to me that we have gone from “pen” and paper to YouTube videos, while skipping over other forms of showcasing composition. There is definitely something interesting and worthwhile about asking students to focus on producing a sound essay. It brings yet another artistic piece into writing that, perhaps, is sometimes overlooked. Language is powerful when written and spoken. This kind of blends the two together.
I think this is a really great project Brain and hope we get to hear/see some examples in your project! the Self and Hesse articles really talk a lot about the different +/- aspects of using sound in the classroom and Selfe had some good arguments. I just had my students use technology in one of the multi genre essays and a lot made homemade youtube videos or recorded themselves singing, I got a “Healthcare Gangsta Rap” that had a better name than anything, but the sound wasn’t very good on most of them. Plus, most students weren’t writing specifically for the sound aspect of it, they were just writing and singing to sing, not for how artistically it came across, if that makes sense… I wish I would have spent more time talking to them about the lyrical sound of these genres before just sending them off to compose!
Well, as a side note, I’m about to go do research by watching T.V. I’m on the lookout for commercials that use sound in clever ways. I’ve got a few ideas, but If anyone has any recommendations lets me know!
What kind of “clever ways” are you looking for? Do you have an example?
Nothing too clever. But things like those car commercials where, when the door is shut, all the noise of the world goes away, illustrating how peaceful it is to drive in such a car. Generally, anything that uses sound as a way to make an argument about something, which is basically pretty much any commercial.
I agree, Brian. I think that the practical information offered by Comstock and Hocks was very ..practical? I, too, like concrete examples. I find it especially interesting that they state “life is already rich with sounds” and that students live in music videos.
One thing that really stands out to me is that they mention voice so often They mention “voice and vernacular and vocal performance.” Voice is so difficult to teach to students and this makes me think that using the sound technology would be a really good avenue to teach voice to my students.
I really like this particular article. I am looking forward to seeing Brian’s project!
I, too, appreciate the many assignments and examples Comstock and Hocks provide, especially the one on voice and gender (surprise, surprise?). Maybe I’m just feeling overwhelmed in general right now, but I guess I’m just thinking that while sonic and digital literacies are absolutely important for all the reasons the authors suggest (helping students consider audience, context, form, etc.), and learning to compose in various mediums for various purposes is an essential skill, I wonder how to fit this into an already-packed college writing curriculum? The authors even acknowledge that this work in sonic literacy is meant to be enriching — not replacing the traditional curriculum.
The more I read about college composition, the more I think that students should be required to take a writing course for every year they’re in college. They should take a second-year writing course too, and two WID classes, if you ask me. Even in four semesters of writing courses, we still wouldn’t be able to teach them everything about writing in/after college, but at least they would be better prepared to write in the digital age. I don’t meant to suggest that there aren’t many innovative ways to incorporate digital literacy into the existing curriculum (we’ve been talking about this all term, and Comstock and Hocks provide some great examples of specifically what this might look like) — I guess I just see a broader reimagining of the college writing curriculum as necessary at this point in time. What do others think?
Yes!! But, really, we’re the only ones who truly understand this and probably feel this way. A big part of that is because this is our craft and we see its usefulness in the world today. Who knows, Math people may be saying, “I think students should be required to take a math course for every year they’re in college,” when I completely disagree because math has never been too important in my life…. I definitely think, however, that our point is a little more valid– especially with the idea of composition growing like crazy and the incorporation of more forms of writing into everyday life, like email. Sadly, though, the “arts” are never fully appreciated or used to their greatest advantage.
I think what you’re saying here is important Ashlee, each department probably thinks their curriculum should be required for each year the student is in school, but I really do agree with Carrie, I think ours *really really* should be required more than one semester! Like I was saying on Brian’s comment, i just didn’t have the time to talk to students about the sound aspect of their projects and how important voice is when composing with technology. i wish I read these articles sooner and had the time to think about all this before I presented the technology piece to the MG essays my students had to do, but even then, would there have been time? Doubtful!
Either more writing courses are required…OR writing should be integrated into other disciplines. Although I’ve been somewhat opposed to completely ditching English/Composition studies in favor of spreading the instruction of composition across disciplines, articles like this make it seem like a logical solution.
Just to briefly add to the choir a bit, I agree that probably every discipline probably thinks theirs is most important and should be emphasized more, but composition in all its forms (traditional, rhetoric, multi-media, new media, etc.) does more *broadly* reach into all other disciplines than say, math. Because, at its core it is about communication and comprehension. Enhancing one’s ability to communicate and comprehend can make them more succesful in any discipline. I don’t know if you could make that same argument for every other discipline. They may be equally important, but I don’t know if they cross lines to the same degree that composition does.
Agreed. Interdisciplinarity is a complicated animal, but I think the prevalence of WAC/WID programs illustrates how writing is more necessarily interdisciplinary than, as you all suggest, a subject like math. And integrating digital literacy into these courses just seems so essential! Perhaps something like an ePortfolio could be a required of all students in order to graduate. It could serve not only an academic function, but a very practical professional function, too. Or perhaps each required writing class could include at least one non-traditional, multimodal writing assignment. I know mandating things makes people unhappy, but encouraging or suggesting never seems to have the same effect. When a Dean or Provost or Presidents says they are committed to writing — so committed that they support expanded writing requirements and programs — then things get done. The solution, then, is for all of us to become high-level university administrators, so we can push this agenda. Who’s game?
Well, fitting sonic literacy into FYC is one of the things I wanted to address in my little project somehow. I struggled with how on earth I could incorporate sound essays within the confines of my own teaching space. In the end, I thought about ways to help students develop an appreciation of sound’s persuasive abilities without having to stray too far from traditional curriculum. I decided to pitch the rhetorical analysis of sound in advertising. Advertising is all over the net and helping student’s tune in to the way advertisers manipulate sound seems worthwhile. It was a compromise, but I’m still interested in figuring out how to incorporate sound essays in FYC.
Just to add briefly to this: As you might expect, all the stuff that you are all talking about here– how many writing classes should students have to take and what about WAC/WID sorts of classes (e.g., where should writing be taught and who has the “expertise” to do so) are the kinds of things that comp/rhet folks have been debating for decades. There’s another school of thought that was/is known as “abolitionists,” and they essentially have argued that we ought to get rid of “required” writing courses (especially ones like first year writing) because they generally don’t teach students to do much of anything. Except take first year writing.
Depending on my mood, I put myself in all of these different camps.
I think the most productive English class I’ve taught (and I only have 4 to choose from) is the one that I’m teaching now because it’s almost a combo of WAC and English. I asked my students to find a research question that is grounded in their dream field of work. While this focus for the course was somewhat experimental, I’ve found that it’s worked really well because I’m tapping into a rhetorical situation in which these students are already invested. I think that’s the big advantage of WAC, the ability to place students within a real context for writing. But, like in the English class I’m teaching, I think it’s possible to delve into that context even though I’m not a a teacher of nursing, science, business etc. and really work with students on developing writing strategies that are helpful across disciplines.
I think also this would allow them to find contacts in their field of choice and that will put them ahead of the others because the have that type of knowledge as well as how to find people to answer questions for them. I have had a lot of students do their career choice in 121 and it works out really well. I have done that genres in the workplace in 120 as well and as I was doing it this semester I thought this is what I should have them do in 121 as well.
Some of the ENG 121 teachers at EMU have assignments like these for their students. They aren’t really advanced students either. Some of these teachers are taking it upon themselves to change the curriculum.
I thought Comstock and Hocks did an excellent job showing how sound influences and enriches textual and visual literacy.
I felt very sad for Miku as I read about her wanting to change her accent. Maybe when more people start using voice overs, other people won’t feel that they have to change their accent. Accents are part of the whole English American sound experience.
Don’t get rid of them. I kind of think accents are important to hear for those that are not encouraged to travel or experience other cultures.
I especially like the idea that doing voice narration inspires a self conscious perspective.
It has a looking glass effect.
I agree with you, Carrie. I think the curriculum has to lengthen and be able to match current social trends. Actually, soundscapes, voice overs is not a trend. Using sound to enhance texts is not going away.
I enjoyed this article. It gave me some great ideas on how to break a project down.
I really liked her point that, “Even with the renewed emphasis on visual and digital rhetoric, however, we as writing teachers are still very text-centered in our classrooms.” Even though we have been so excited to incorporate technology into the classroom, we’re still favoring texts rather than multi media literacy. How do we move away from this? I think it’s super interesting that she said, “However, we both believe sonic literacy–the ability to identify, define, situate, construct, manipulate, and communicate our personal and cultural soundscapes–should become an integral part of any course aimed at developing students’ skills in writing and digital literacy.” I mean, I’ve been such a huge advocate for visual literacy and digital literacy these last few months, but have paid little to no attention to sound literacy as well. It makes sense that we need to fuse that into the curriculum as well. Students need to know how to use sound and their own voices as compositional tools. The way we speak represents who we are, what we stand for, and the position we take on any given subject. This article made me see just how much the ELA classroom needs to take into consideration when teaching!
Yes, Angie, I definitely agree. I hear virtually everyone groaning–thinking, oh, no! another kind of literacy that I need to try to add into my classroom! And I think we are all there–but something has to give! I know for the high school, we have a set curriculum which is at least partially dictated by the state of Michigan, and there is such a conglomeration of what we are required to teach that there is little wiggle room to add all the other stuff we feel compelled to teach too! Every year my cohorts and I sit down and ask ourselves what we can delete from the curriculum (legally) and where we can add in some of the things we feel we need to add in. The tenth grade curriculum is heavy on persuasion, and as much as I would like to add in a persuasive project using digital literacy or sound literacy, there is almost no way to do that without dropping something we are required to cover either by the state or our district! As far as I am concerned, we have had to drop all the ‘fun’ stuff….there is almost no room for poetry or creative writing. Too bad. Maybe the pendulum will swing the other way, or we will somehow be able to get more time in the media center which would allow different versions (including some visual, aural, or digital) of our required projects.
I do believe it is the mark of a caring teacher that we are all feeling that we now must include more.
Wow… definately a cool article with a lot to talk about. I think the discussion of how sonic literacy can enhance audience consideration/awareness is important. Just like I posted in my comments on the other article, I think that in a digital age, the rhetorical aspects of sound is even more important and pervasive. And with web 2.0 the documentary genre has taken on even more power because it’s so accessible now to the amateur. Learning/practicing voice-over narration and how it affects things like audience and purpose is very useful for the comp class, especially one focusing on digital literacy. These skills can be very useful in helping students reconsider their written text as well. We all know that one of the best revision exercises you can do is to read your essay aloud. It lets you notice things that don’t come accross until a sonic element is added. And it makes you consider context, genre, conventions etc. in the choices you make. For example, in my book review video, I essentially used my written review as a script for the video. But when I read through it aloud, I knew that there were certain things that I would have to tweak in order to make it effective in a “voice-over” format. Some sentence structures work great in a written text, but lose something and can even confuse the audience if it is spoken. It forced me to consider my audience, context, form and purpose and make differnent choices as I changed forms. I think that’s proof that sonic literacy can have a direct effect on all the other forms of literacy, including more traditional words-in-a-row writing.
I tend to agree with Prof. Steve in that we don’t teach much of anything in 131, 132 writing courses. It is very sad. My school requires portfolio’s but not anything electronic or multimedia. I can see how you can use video and a sonic element could make an argument so empowering for students which they are required to write. I said write not show or speak. We as English teachers can do the teaching in the new technologies however we are not the decision makers in high places that writes it into the core standards.
I like this idea of incorporating sound into the writing curriculum. I never thought of this before this article, but it makes a lot of sense to me because it goes a lot to the idea of voice and how to include the idea of incorporating a writers voice in what they write. This really adds to helping students feel like they have a voice and it can be heard. I have no idea how to do this but it sounds so cool to be able to do that. One thing that I do like to have students do is read their papers out loud. I know this is not really what they are talking about in the article but it is a start to thinking about how to add voice, literally, to a piece of writing. I do have to tell a really cool story about my 121 class this semester and what they are doing for the CSW. They decieded as a class to write theri own song lyrics to the Black Eyed Peas “Imma Be.” We recorded a video for it and are preseting it that day. I think this is something that they are talking about in the piece. It is such a good idea and it is something I think I will have to think more about and use more in my classes.