Judith Hebb MIXED FORMS OF ACADEMIC DISCOURSE : A CONTINUUM OF LANGUAGE POSSIBILITY

"Academic Discours~ " "Hybrid Discourse"these are contested tenns. Recently, scholars in composition studies have begun to question and problematize the issues of wrihng in academic discourse communities. While scholars are now publishing in alternative discourses, Including "mixed" or "hybrid" fonns, college students are only beginmng to find acceptable spaces for their alternative wrihng styles in academia. T7zis is especially true for inexperienced writers and those for whom English is a second language. If hybrid discourse were viewed along a continuum of linguistic and cultural possibility Instead of according to its proximity to the dichotomies of academic/nonn and nonacademic/" other," the tenn "hybrid discourse" and the wn"fing it descn"bes could become both usefol and valued in the academy. Broadly defined, a "hybrid discourse" is a mix of home and school languages. A term as slippery as "academic discourse," hybrid discourse was loosely defined in a 1999 article by Patricia Bizzell as nonacademic discourses blending with traditional academic discourses ("Hybrid" 11). In a later article, Bizzell asserted that to prepare students now for success in school, it may no longer be necessary to inculcate traditional academic discourse. Rather, what is needed is more help for students in experimenting with discourse forms that mix the academic and nonacademic, or what I have called "hybrid" forms of academic discourse. ("Basic Writing" 5-6) Bizzell refined this position by questioning the term "hybrid" because it is" at once too essentializing and too suggestive of independent "'parent' strands" ("Basic Writing" 4). She also advocated a stronger classroom pedagogythat writing instructors should find ways to encourage "mixed" forms in their teaching ("Basic Writing" 4). While I agree with Bizzell's pedagogical admonition, I would like to propose that the term "hybrid discourse" need not be as negative as Bizzell claims. If we were able to change our perspective and think of hybrids as disJudith Hebb is Assistant Professor of English and Spanish at Atlanta Christian College, where she is Chair of the Department of Humanities and General Studies, directs the writing program, and teaches first-year composition, upper division English courses, and Spanish. She has published in English Journal and has a forthcoming article in Academic Exchange Quarterly. ©Journal of Basic Writing, Vol. 21, No.2, 2002