Conceptual Memo

Based on Brandt’s thesis on the sponsorship of literacy, I would say that the school is the major sponsor for the international students. Overtly, school is the place where the child starts learning how to read and write. But, it also continues building the student’s knowledge, personality, philosophy, and their look toward the world. An example of this, lectures inside the classroom along with the textbooks. Both those two can determine the path that the student follows and thinks within. Therefore, in my research I’ve focused mainly on the role of the school to examine the students’ literacy. So far I can say that my previous assumptions were true, meaning, that the international students spend much of their time inside the campus and keep themselves busy with studying. A number of the students whom I interviewed have maintained that there are many departments in the school helped them promote their literacy, like, the writing center and the library. Again, in my research project, I’m not going to tackle the difficulties that the students face but I will try to discern the intangible reasons that shape the students’ literacy. In brief, Brandt’s idea of the sponsorship gave a firmer ground to my argument on questioning the international students’ literacy and the skills that they have developed after they arrived to Texas A&M- Commerce.