Everyday Writing

SECTION 1:

Type of Text and Purpose of Writing

Everyday writing is defined as any writing that is carried out in the daily lives of an individual (e.g., Barton & Ivanic, 1991). (4)

...everyday writing can range from writing a formal multipage academic paper to jotting down a phone number or making a list. (4)

Using ethnographic methods, researchers identified three prevalent purposes of everyday writing:

• personal communication (e.g., Barton & Hamilton, 1998; Kalman, 2001),
• organizing one’s life (e.g., Barton & Hamilton, 1998; Fishman, 1991; Kalman, 2001)
• record keeping (e.g., Barton & Hamilton, 1998; Munger, 1999; Schryer, 1993) (4-5)

...each of these purposes of writing is related to a specific type of writing. The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) recognizes several types of text in their national assessments of adult literacy, including documents, prose, and hybrid.

• Documents are defined as noncontinuous text. Lists, bills, job applications, and so on are examples of documents.
• Prose is defined as continuous text that includes at least one sentence. Stories, news articles, descriptions of merchandise, and so on are examples of prose.
• Hybrids are material that contain both continuous and noncontinuous text. Medical forms with a space for at least one full written sentence to explain one’s history is an example of a hybrid. The particular labels presented here (i.e., prose, document, and hybrid) are defined and used by NCES for specific purposes rather than the ways labels may be normally understood. (5)

Of special note here is that each of these purposes of writing is related to a specific type of writing:

• Much of the research reveals that personal communication often takes the form of prose. (5)
• Whereas writing for personal communication generally takes the form of prose, writing to organize one’s life often takes the form of document. (6)
• Writing for record keeping often takes the form of a document or hybrid. This form of writing often occurs in the workplace (e.g., Munger, 1999; but does not have to, see, for example, Barton & Hamilton, 1998; Brandt, 2001). (6)

...the particular advantages of the types of text used to communicate each purpose becomes clear.

• ...writing to organize one’s life (e.g., a grocery list, an appointment note) is often intended primarily for the writer’s benefit or for the benefit of one close enough to the writer that he or she can verbally explain the written document.
• Prose increases the number of words in the text, thus reducing the flexibility associated with the graphic presentation of the words.
• ...record-keeping material is often in the form of documents or hybrids. These documents, though containing much shorthand as well, are standardized (e.g., a bill, credit card receipt, a medical record form, etc.). Such documents rely on the reader’s familiarity with the conventions of the document (Cohen & Snowden, 2008) to reduce ambiguity. (7)

SECTION 2: Working Status and Medium of Writing

the demands of the work environment on structuring all behavior, including writing, may be great enough to significantly affect the daily writing production of working individuals compared to nonworking individuals. Similarly, the increasing use of computers, both in the home and work place, together with the new opportunities to write that computers afford (e.g., social networking websites), may also play a great enough role in people’s lives to influence the daily production of their writing. Indeed, these two factors, working status and writing medium, may interact in interesting ways. (8-9)

As Brandt (2001) states, “Writing not only documents work but also increasingly com- prises the work that many people do” (p. 148). (9)

the time and type of writing of working individuals may vary greatly compared to that of nonworking individuals. (9)

With increasing prevalence of computers comes an increas- ing prevalence of new opportunities to write afforded by new media (Brandt, 2001), for example, social websites (e.g., Facebook, MySpace), e-mail, blog- ging, user reviews of products, and so on. These new opportunities to write may influence workplace and home writing differently. In the work environ- ment, computers are likely used for most work-related writing tasks, includ- ing documents. At home, computers are likely used for more personal and social writing tasks. (10)

Complicating this issue is the age of the user. Those individuals who make use of the new opportunities to write afforded by new media likely write more often and more often on a computer than do individuals who do not make use of the new media opportunities. (10)

younger demographic groups will have more access to electronic social media and other electronic writing opportunities than older demographic groups do. As such, younger demographics will likely write more and more on electronic medium than older demographics do. (10)

In sum, the writing demands of the work environment may be great enough to influence the overall writing production of workers versus nonworkers. In addition, the work environment likely demands higher use of written produc- tion on computers than does the home environment. Finally, younger demo- graphics will likely spend more time writing on a computer than older demographics do. (10)