Identity, Authority, and Learning to Write in New Workplaces by Elizabeth Wardle
When being taught to write a certain way and format, it is hard to stray away from it and tossed into a new environment with different rules and expectations. This results in complaints popping up that students can not write well after graduation or can not follow the set expectations of a certain job environment. One may think they could simply ask, however there is an “invisible” barrier between the newcomer and those who are already set in the environment. We can see real life examples of this as well. Transitioning from high school to college, and from college to a job. I can say the same applies to me. Going from high school to college, my writing format and style was also expected to change. I was assigned to express my thoughts and ideas more instead of sticking to one single argument. Doing compare and contrast papers are not as popular in college compared to high school. Even certain writing assignments required me to start including my perspective on the situation instead of summarizing what an author wrote. There is a sense of separation, similar to a hierarchy within a community. Involved are “modes of belonging”. They are engagement, imagination, and alignment. These are levels of belonging that newcomers tend to select from. Engagement is seen as a “common enterprise”, a building relationship between the new ones and the more seasoned ones. Imagination, seen as the newcomer including themselves as an added source to the system. An “extended identity” or sorts. Lastly, the alignment. Alignment is finding common ground, trading information and sharing.
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