Literacy, Discourse, and Linguistics: Introduction by James Paul Gee

Discourse communities are all around us—we all belong to a discourse community. A discourse community is a body of persons who share common and unique modes of communication or discourse (“Discourse Community”). In order for a community to identify as a discourse community, the community must possess six defining qualities that categorize it as a discourse community. As defined by John Swales, a researcher and professor of linguistics, discourse communities “have a broadly set of common public goals, mechanisms of intercommunication among its members, participatory mechanisms to provide information and feedback, one or more genres in the communicative furtherance of its aims, an acquired lexis, and a threshold level of members with a

In “Sponsors of Literacy,” author Deborah Brandt attempts to explain literacy, its history, and how there are influences that form the way we learn and practice literacy. Brandt argues that the forces that influence an individual’s literacy are sponsors of literacy. Some “forces” that Brandt discusses are influential people, such as parents, siblings, teachers, and mentors. Other forces can include culture, race, gender, language and location, access to technology, and politics. Brandt described several events in our history to help define what exactly a sponsor of literacy is. She spent several years interviewing people from all walks of life to find their unique literacy history and used them as examples in her writing. Varying ages, backgrounds, and sponsors indicate that literacy changes with each generation and is viewed as a valued commodity.

Gee’s entire assessment of discourses is the highlight of the essay. According to him, discourses cannot be imbibed or simply learnt in traditional classrooms, they cannot be taught to a person but rather they are what one learns through his experiences and social interactions. Since his experiences may encompass a great variety of social interactions and discussions with people from different spheres, these discourses are not very singular and may have conflicts among themselves. It is eventually the amalgamation of discourses that a person experiences that ultimately shape

What is a discourse? Describe two competing discourses of childhood and suggest the ways that they can have an impact on children's lives.

Next, the topic of Primary Discourse was investigated in a research article by Mays (2008). Mays articulates that the discourse, or language used in the curriculums and assessments, is so different from the primary discourse that young learners have been exposed to, that minority and ELL students are overrepresented in “at-risk,” “developmentally delayed,” and “not ready to learn” groups. Being put in these groups puts that at a disadvantage in acquiring literacy skills. Mays cited “Discourses (capital “D”) are ways of combining and coordinating words, deeds, thoughts, values, bodies, objects, tools, and technologies, and other people (at the appropriate time and places) so as to enact and recognize the specific socially situated identities and activities. (Gee, 2001, p.71) Many teachers use curriculums that were designed from a “white, middle class, ‘mainstream’ model” and this creates challenges for ELLs from diverse backgrounds to achieve success. The role of the teacher becomes essential and powerful in this

Literacy plays a huge role in many people’s lives everyday, whether it is learning how to read and write for the first time or writing a five-page essay for the hundredth time. We experience literacy differently and have our very own unique stories on how it has impacted our lives and had made us who we are today. It is an essential aspect that I use in my everyday life, such as in relationships, daily interactions with others, and learning. It has become such a powerful aspect and human right in which it allows one to speak his/her mind and in some cases express their opinion to the world. My personal literacy history has shaped me into who I am today because without my experiences I would not have been able to gain the confidence and

Before one ever starts attending school, their very first lesson is to become literate in the language they speak. From reading sentences to reading paragraphs to reading novels, we try to achieve literacy. However, some of the greatest public speakers and writers did not achieve it through the way most people did. This is shown in the literary works of Frederick Douglass, Malcolm X, and Sherman Alexie. Like these people, literacy isn’t achieved by simply going to school. It’s achieved through great perseverance and through great tenacity.

Beaufort’s concept of writing expertise says that a writer should not limit their writing to one specific writing style or structure. While Beaufort’s concept of writing expertise doesn’t directly contradict Wardle’s concept of writing practices, Wardle suggests that assimilating to your community is more important for integration into said community. In comparison, Beaufort is saying when a writer limits themselves to one writing style, they become less competent than someone who has practices different writing styles. Gee feels that during acquisition of Discourse, if a lack of fluency develops or that Discourse is not fully learned, then one cannot fully engage in Discourse, and can never become a member of that community. Hence becoming a pretender or an outsider for that Discourse. Gee’s argument is evident when Alan’s story is read. He never fully engaged in Discourse, hence he never became a member of that community. Alan remained an outsider for the discourse community and was unable to gain any meaningful authority in his workplace. Gee’s argument of Discourse is consistent with Wardle’s view of expert

Literacy plays a huge role in my daily life. Every single day I read and write. Whether it’s writing an email or reading a text message, class assignment, discussion board, etc. My literacy journey is unique because I have had different experiences. As a result, this is how my literacy journey has let me to be the reader that I am.

Just like everyone starved for a safe community, the Discourse Community serves a place to build trust, respect, and communication skill. According to Merriam Webster dictionary, the word discourse means to express oneself especially in oral communication. Discourse community should be a place where one can live comfortably as it own self and not concealing its’ negative side. It should be a place where everybody treated each others like a family and where one can express its true feeling. Bethel Worship group is a community that I joined three years ago and still an active member there. Bethel Worship group is one of the department that Bethel Baptist Church If a person wanted to join a certain group, then “a person must learn the typical ways people in that community communicate and argue” (P30). This paper will prove that I successfully joined the Discourse Community through my logical appeal, emotional bonding, and my credibility.

In recent weeks all of us have been introduced to the essay “What is Literacy” written by Linguist James Paul Gee in 1987. Within this document we learn Gee is going to employ his learned skills to provide a ‘useful’ definition for the word literacy. Prior to providing us this insight, however, Gee must educate the reader on various definitions, idea and numerous theories in an effort to provide support for his conclusions and ultimately woo the reader into believing the postulations he makes. It is my belief that while Gee is eventually able to turn the reader to his way of thinking, he is not able to as eloquently as he would like. In fact, upon closer examination, I

Life is like a massive highway that have infinite routes anyone can choose take to reach some type of designated goal. Those various routes lead to distinct exits, where one can discover a group or groups that share similarities dealing with viewpoints, beliefs, or understanding towards a particular goal. These groups can be identified as discourse communities. According to, “The Concept of Discourse Community,” in the textbook, Writing About Writing, John Swales stressed that in order to be classified as a discourse community the group has to have all six defining characteristics. Swales emphasized, “A discourse community has a broadly agreed set of common public goals, mechanisms of intercommunication among its members, uses its participatory mechanisms primarily to provide information and feedback, utilities and hence processes one or more genres in the communicative furtherance of its aims, acquires specific lexis, and has a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant content and discourse expertise” (Swales, 221-222). Keeping this key detail in mind, there is numerous type of discourse out there.

Our view of literacy upon commencing this course, was that it is the ability to read and write. Our understanding of it however was partially true because, reading and writing are essential of any person’s literacy, but reading and

John Swales (1990), professor of linguistics, defines a discourse community as an exclusive group of people brought together by a common goal. According to John Swales (1990), every discourse community has six characteristics that makes them a discourse community. Overall the group must have a shared goal, in which they communicate with each other through different genres and lexis they have developed; genres are different types of communication that the group employ and lexis is the specialized language utilized by that particular discourse community. They also tend to have a hierarchy within the group and require individual group members to truly participate to be counted as a part of the discourse community. (p. 471-73)

Discourses are the “social and cultural practices through which individuals and groups use language to establish their identities…they provide ways of being, thinking, acting and using language so that people can identify themselves in social and cultural networks” Discourses affect peoples views on all things, for example, two different