The Fortunate Reader: The Value of Organization, Evidence, and Audience
In “The Fortunate Traveler: Shutting between Communities and Literacies by
Economy Class,” Suresh Canagarajah wrote about his bilingual experience. He was
born in Sri Lanka, where he lived and studied until he left to continue his graduate
studies in the United States. It was during his early years that he began studying
English. His parent spoke English, rather than their native Tamil when they did not
want their son to know what they were talking about. Later, he studied in the United
States as a graduate student, and eventually became an English Professor in the
University of Jaffna. Growing up in a bilingual Tamil-English Family, he stated,
“English was a language of secrecy, …show more content…
3
Feng
The author’s audience is made-up of two types of readers. The first audience is a
teacher of English. During this article, Canagarajah used many academic words such
as “postcolonial” (Canagarajah 28), “chronologically” (Canagarajah 28), “meta-
textual” (Canagarajah 28), and “meta-discursive commentary” (Canagarajah 28).
These academic words were very difficult to understand, but these words can be
understood by some people whose English in a higher level. Ganagrajah used these
high-level academic words to improve article’s authority and reliability.
The second audience Canagarajah wanted to address is the English language
learner. He used many personal experiences regarding learning English. For example,
“When I moved to the USA for my graduate studies, many of my sources of cultural
shock pertained to text construction. I found the instructor’s red pen used a bit too
much for my liking” (Canagarajah 28-29). Canagarajah used a similar experience
with English learners to have students recreate the same feeling they had
In “The Fortunate Traveler: Shutting between Communities and Literacies by
Economy Class,” Suresh Canagarajah wrote about his bilingual experience. He was
born in Sri Lanka, where he lived and studied until he left to continue his graduate
studies in the United States. It was during his early years that he began studying
English. His parent spoke English, rather than their native Tamil when they did not
want their son to know what they were talking about. Later, he studied in the United
States as a graduate student, and eventually became an English Professor in the
University of Jaffna. Growing up in a bilingual Tamil-English Family, he stated,
“English was a language of secrecy, …show more content…
3
Feng
The author’s audience is made-up of two types of readers. The first audience is a
teacher of English. During this article, Canagarajah used many academic words such
as “postcolonial” (Canagarajah 28), “chronologically” (Canagarajah 28), “meta-
textual” (Canagarajah 28), and “meta-discursive commentary” (Canagarajah 28).
These academic words were very difficult to understand, but these words can be
understood by some people whose English in a higher level. Ganagrajah used these
high-level academic words to improve article’s authority and reliability.
The second audience Canagarajah wanted to address is the English language
learner. He used many personal experiences regarding learning English. For example,
“When I moved to the USA for my graduate studies, many of my sources of cultural
shock pertained to text construction. I found the instructor’s red pen used a bit too
much for my liking” (Canagarajah 28-29). Canagarajah used a similar experience
with English learners to have students recreate the same feeling they had