Mary Louise Pratt

Mary Louise Pratt

Mary Louise Pratt is a Silver Professor and Professor of Spanish and Portuguese Languages and Literatures at New York University.

Her first book, Toward a Speech Act Theory of Literary Discourse, made an important contribution to critical theory by demonstrating that the foundation of written literary narrative can be seen in the structure of Oral Narrative. In it Pratt uses the research of William Labov to show that all narratives contain common structures that can be found in both literary and oral narratives.

In her more recent research, Pratt has studied what she calls contact zones - areas which allow the intermingling of two or more cultures.

Changing public discourse about language acquisition

As a part of the appointment, each Silver professor must write a Silver dialogue, an essay discussing a major issue in his or her field. Pratt used her essay to discuss the obstacles and possible solutions for promoting language learning in America. Pratt frames her argument with an anecdote from a multicultural wedding:

IT WAS a fancy California wedding party at a big Bay Area hotel. The groom's family spoke Urdu, and the bride's spoke Gujarati and Urdu. Both were practicing Muslims, but she was from southern California, sometimes regarded by northerners as too laid-back. The groom was attended by his two best friends from high school, one of Mexican- Jewish-Anglo parentage and the other of Chinese and Japanese descent via Hawai'i and Sacramento.[1]

Pratt uses the wedding as a segue to expose American myths about language. Pratt systematically challenges four common misconceptions about language learning: the willing rejection of heritage languages by immigrants, American hostility to multilingualism, the limit of second language learning to early childhood, and the need of language expertise solely for national security. With each misconception Pratt shows how these factors have come together to create a resistance to language learning that has helped cause the national security crisis that the Critical Language Institutes are trying to solve.

Pratt shows hope for changing the public discourse and outlines four ideas that need to be promoted in order to encourage language acquisition in America. Pratt sees a need to correct ideas about mono- and multilingualism. Americans need to be shown that monolingualism is a handicap and that relying on others willingness to learn English will simply limit transcultural communication to "all but the most limited and scripted" exchanges [2] Pratt also calls more encouragement of heritage language learning and using local non-English linguistic communities to fulfill needs in language learning and transcultural understanding. Along with using heritage communities, Pratt wants to see educators place more emphasis on advanced language competency and create a pipeline to encourage those who are skilled in language acquisition. In order to bring about these changes, she calls on her fellow academics and other LEPs (linguistically endowed persons) to change how we discuss language learning in American public discourse.

Works by Pratt

  • Toward a Speech Act Theory of Literary Discourse. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 1977. ISBN 0-253-37006-X. 
  • Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation. London: Routledge. 1992. ISBN 0-415-02675-X. 
  • Critical Passions: Selected Essays. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. 1999. ISBN 0-8223-2248-X. 
  • Nomadías (2000). Des-escribir a Pinochet: desbaratando la cultura del miedo en Chile. Santiago: Universidad de Chile, Facultad de Filosofia y Humanidades. 

References

  1. ^ Pratt, Mary Louise. "Building a Public Idea about Language." Silver Dialogues. 2002. http://silverdialogues.fas.nyu.edu/docs/CP/306/pratt.pdf paragraph 1.
  2. ^ Pratt. "Building a Public Idea about Language." paragraph 9.

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Pratt — is a surname, may refer to:* Al Pratt (baseball), American baseball player * Atom (Al Pratt), fictional comics character The Atom * Andy Pratt (baseball), American baseball player * Andy Pratt (singer songwriter), American singer songwriter, the… …   Wikipedia

  • Louise Brooks — circa 1926 Born Mary Louise Brooks November 14, 1906(1906 11 14) Cherryvale, Kansas, U.S …   Wikipedia

  • Mary Carr Moore — (6 August 1873 9 January 1957) was an American composer, conductor, vocalist,[1] and music educator of the twentieth century. She is best remembered today for her association with the musical life of the West Coast. Contents 1 Early life 2… …   Wikipedia

  • Mary Carr Moore — (geborene Mary Louise Carr; * 6. August 1873 in Memphis, Tennessee; † 11. Januar 1957 in Ingleside, Kalifornien) war eine US amerikanische Komponistin und Musikpädagogin. Carr absolvierte zunächst in San Francisco eine Gesangsausbildung bei Henry …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Louise Brooks — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Brooks. Louise Brooks …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Mary Jo Fisher — Senator Mary Jo Fisher Senator for South Australia Incumbent Assumed office 12 June 2007 Personal details Born …   Wikipedia

  • Louise Brough Clapp — Louise Brough Louise Brough (épouse Clapp) Pays représenté(s) …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Louise Fazenda — Dans The Casino Murder Case (1935) Données clés …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Sarah Louise Delany — Born September 19, 1889(1889 09 19) Lynch s Station, Campbell County, Virginia, U.S. Died January 25, 1999 …   Wikipedia

  • Rachel Louise Carson — Rachel Carson Pour les articles homonymes, voir Rachel et Carson. Rachel Louise Carson …   Wikipédia en Français

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”