When and Where did I find the word: I found this word in our course text (Daniels, Zemelman & Steineke, 2007) Chapter 5 on page 114. The authors state: "It is the author's responsibility to make sure that spelling, punctuation, grammar, usage, and presentation are not just correct but exemplary, even felicitous."
Full Citation: Daniels, H., Zemelman, S. & Steineke, N. (2007). Content-area writing. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann
What is means: I honestly do not remember ever coming in contact with this word. The sentence above didn't really help me to define the word, so I of course had to turn to an outside source. According to dictionary.com felicitous means that one is "well-suited for the occasion, as an action, manner, or expression; appropriate." It is also defined as "having a special ability for suitable manner or expression, as a person." Based on this definition, when the authors use the word felicitous in the above sentence, they are meaning that the text that a writer produces should be appropriate, and suitable for the intended audience or occasion.
Level of Familiarity: Like I said before, I honestly do not remember ever coming across this word before. Once I saw it in this weeks assigned reading, I had to know what it meant.
Do I Want to Know This Word Well and Why? Yes, I want to know this word. When I came across this word I was immediately stumped. I tried to figure it out using context clues around the word but nothing came to mind. Once I was able to define it, I wanted to use it.
Do I Think Others Should Know This Word Well...if so WHO and WHY?: I think that my future students, my fellow peers in LTED 625, and whoever else is reading this blog should know this word if they don't already. Felicitous is a fun word to say and "well-suited" to use in many different conversations.
I did not know this word either, and I agree, it's a word I think I should know and would want my students to know too. It reminds me of conversations about considerate and inconsiderate texts, particularly as it relates to expository texts. When reading or teaching expository texts, we can discuss or acknowledge whether or not the author acknowledges their audience, has been felicitous. These are conversations that we can have in the classroom when students experience ease or struggle with a text. Now that I think of it, it also reminds me of Kucer,'s (2005) discussion about the reading process being a two-way process, that the reader and the writer
ReplyDeletehave responsibility.