"Yagelski helps us see that literacy in all its complexity is not just a means to something else–whether the refinement of taste, personal growth, job mobility, the practice of citizenship–but is itself a sufficient center for secondary and postsecondary studies. To my mind, the major contribution of Literacy Matters is Yagelski’s argument for a curriculum and pedagogy that explore the ambivalent and powerful role that literacy plays in all of our lives."

–John Trimbur, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Literacy can empower students, but it may also limit their understanding if taught without regard for the context of their lives. Using his encounters with students–in high school, college, and state prison classrooms–as well as his own experience, Robert Yagelski looks at the sometimes ambiguous role of literacy in our lives and examines the mismatch between conventional approaches to teaching literacy and the literacy needs of students in a rapidly changing, increasingly technological world. He asserts that ultimately, the most important job of the English teacher is to reveal to students ways they can participate in the discourse that shapes their lives, and he offers a timely look at how technology has influenced the way we write and read.