Readers Response #17

In the article, Identity, Authority, and Learning to Write in New Workplaces, Elizabeth Wardle introduces the concept of tools when it comes to discourse communities. She does a study on a new employee, Alan, fresh out of college, trying to communicate in his new workplace that sees himself above everyone else. How he perceives himself has a lot to do with discourse community, because he feels as if he doesn’t need to change his habits to fit this specific discourse community. Alan illustrates that some people are not perceived as members, just tools.

Wardle’s article can be compared to Swales, Gee, and Devitt et al. Like Swales, Wardle identifies and defines what a discourse community is. She also covers the concept of genre when it comes to discourse community like Gee. Wardle is very like these authors when it comes to the role discourse communities play. But she is also very different than them. She introduces the concept of tools. She says “In reality, he was hired in a support staff position, as a “tool” to fix things the faultly needed”. (528) Also, Alan’s identity had a lot to do with this factor. Because he viewed himself as higher authority he refused to change the way he wrote emails and the other staff saw him as unimportant and was oblivious to the work he actually did accomplish. This also relates to Gee’s statement that you cannot “more or less” a discourse. Wardle goes against that by saying you are not either in or out of a discourse, but you can be used as a tool to the discourse community.

Readers Response #16

In the article “Materiality and Genre in the Study of Discourse Communities” by Amy J Deviit, Anis Bawarshi, and Mary Jo Reiff they all contribute their own ideas to make the claim that genre analysis can help students that are trying to comprehend the different discourse communities there are. Genre analysis not only allows better comprehension but it also helps students become more familiar with the genre that comes along with the discourse community.

I can relate this article to many articles that we have written. Such as Swales and Baron, all three articles deal with the concept of what a discourse community means to them. They also cover the fact that there are many other factors that come along with discourse communities. Like Devitt, Bawarshi, and Reiff, Swales introduces the idea of genre to us in his article.

I thought that reading this article was help prior to the starting of project three. I think it is very helpful to discover all the possible claims made about a discourse community. This will help further understand and clarify what exactly a discourse community is. It can also help with picking what specific discourse to study.

Project #3 Topic Proposal

A discourse community is often looked to be a certain community that has its own set of rules that often differ from other communities. The discourse community I choose to study is cheerleading. This fits the six defining characteristics of a discourse community perfectly.

1. A discourse community has a broadly agreed set of common public goals. With being a cheerleading, comes great responsibility. Prior to the season starting, each cheerleader is required to read and sign a set of rules, before they can even get handed a uniform, go to a practice, or basically be a part of the squad. These rules entitle how a cheerleader is expected to act in public as a leader. It includes what the purpose of being a cheerleader is, how a cheerleader is supposed to be presented, and what kind of person they expect you to be.

2. A discourse community has mechanisms of intercommunication among its members. Although there is a captain of the squad, each cheerleader has the right to voice her opinion. The squad usually makes decisions as a squad. This can include decisions about what uniform or outfit to purchase, what routine to perform, or even what cheer is called out next.

3. A discourse community uses its participatory mechanisms primarily to provide information and feedback. Every squad has a captain for that exact reason. Although everyone has almost an equal amount of input, the captain provides information to the coach for feedback.  The captain often makes the routines, and the coach gives feedback on what is working and what needs worked on.

4. A discourse community utilizes and hence possesses one or more genres in the communicative furtherance of it aims. As a cheerleader you had to not only cheer your team on to victory, but compete with other squads and just be a role model for other students in the school. A cheerleader has many jobs outside of just cheerleading and puts in a lot of time and commitment.

5. In addition to owning genres, a discourse community has acquired some specific lexis. Something lexical that outsiders wouldn’t understand is the words associated with cheerleading movements and dances. We often use this terminology that others wouldn’t understand such as: High V, Low V, Daggers, Touchdown, T, Checkmark, etc., when referring to specific movements.

6. A discourse community has a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant content and discoursal expertise. Every year in the cheerleading community there is a try out process. This process is very important to cheerleaders. One bad try out could cost your position on the squad. During try outs the top seven or so cheerleaders with the highest score make the squad. You go through a three day camp and learn the material that you will be judged on at try outs. During try outs you perform the material to the best of your ability. You will be judged on not only the material, but your appearance as well.

I am very interested to share my knowledge about cheerleading being a discourse community. I am very well informed about this certain discourse community because I have been a cheerleader for seven years, including captain for three of those years. I am curious about not only sharing the information that I know, but learning and looking at cheerleading in such a different way. I was thinking I could interview my very own high school coach and possibly a fellow cheerleader or myself if possible. A text that I can analyze would include the cheerleading handbook which includes the mission statement, goals, expectations, and regulations.

Readers Response #15

In the article “Literacy, Discourse, and Linguistics: Introduction” by James Paul Gee introduces his definition of a discourse. He argues that you cannot “more or less” a discourse, you are either viewed as a member or you aren’t one at all.

Gee’s article can relate to Swales article “The Concept of Discourse Community”. Both authors make it their main point to give their own definition of what a discourse truly is. Swales has his clear six characteristics of what a discourse is and Gee takes a different approach by introducing the fact that everyone is born into a discourse and any after that is only secondary.

Before You Read:

1. Two activities that I take part in that are very different are yearbook and a hobby of mine, following certain television shows. I think they both differ when it comes to relation. There can always be a possibility that a popular television show can be brought up in yearbook or be covered as a story.

QD:

1. When Gee says that you can speak perfect grammar and yet be wrong I believe he is trying to explain that perfect grammar can differ with your location or the discourse community that you are a part of. I think this does for the most part conflict with what we are taught in school. Educators teach only one side and to them that is the only real “right way”.

Overall, I really enjoyed Gee’s argument. I think that in a way he has a good point to make. I think that there will never be a set “right way” even if it has been portrayed that way. I thought the article was very interesting and liked the stand that Gee took.

Reader's Response #14

In the article, “The Concept of Discourse Community” by John Swales is as the title explains it. Swales’ redefines what a discourse community is to him. Swales’ comes up with six characteristics that a discourse community has to have. He also demonstrates that discourse communities all use genres.

I can relate “The Concept of Discourse Community” by John Swales to James Porter’s “Intertexuality and the Discourse Community” because they both mention how the discourse community has an impact on writing. Porter argues that what we write is shaped by our specific discourse community and Swales challenges that a little bit with his definition of a discourse community.

Before You Read:

2. I come from a city where there are so many Greeks; we get off of school for their holidays. I remember going to a Greek fest, and although being friends with many Greeks in my town, I felt a little out of place. They have never made me felt this way, but being the only one of color in a whole building can cause some discomfort.

QD:

5. As silly as it sounds, the only discourse community I can relate to is being a cheerleader. As a cheerleader, you must sign an agreement of public goals, or expectations. As for participatory mechanisms primarily to provide information and feedback I was captain of the squad and that position not only meant leading, but providing info and feedback to my coach. The different genre’s I was exposed to on the squad was that being a cheerleader you were held up to a certain expectation as a leader. A specific lexis that was required was creating different and various routines. Lastly, the threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant content and discoursal expertise would be the try out process.

I enjoyed the article, “The Concept of Discourse Community” by John Swales. I really liked the concept of the six characteristics of what makes a discourse community. I can easily relate what Swales was presenting to discourse communities that I have been apart of.

Readers Response #13

In the article, “The Sticky Embrace of Beauty”, Anne Frances Wysocki questions the way that we see beauty and what deciphers beautiful from not beautiful. Wysocki believes the conflict to be the fact that we often link social views to our individual views. She explains the effect visual advertisements have on the eye.

I can relate Anne Frances Wysocki’s “The Sticky Embrace of Beauty” to Stephan Bernhardt “Seeing the Text” tremendously. Both authors focus on the way a text is presented and the effect that it has on its readers. They both introduce the idea that the visible features of written text have an impact on how students comprehend or understand what they are reading.

QD:

2. Wysocki sets up her article very different than most. She has various headers, bolded texts, underlined texts, highlighted texts, and often uses her own format when writing. I think the way she presents the article helps me, as a reader, feel more interested to what she is saying. As Bernhardt would explain it, this text is not a low-visual text. It has more characteristics as a visually informative text. Wysocki includes a variety in mood and syntactic patterning, emphasis controlled by visual stress of layout, type, size, spacing, and headings, and it is also localized; each section is its own locale with its own pattern of development by arresting reader’s attention.

3. The Peek advertisement does interest me a bit. It has a very scandalous and interesting look to it that would draw me in. I wouldn’t personally want to read a book including erotic and sexual photographs.

AE:

2. I believe that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I don’t think that beauty is determined universally, many people have many different opinions that vary by the person. Wysocki introduces the idea that beauty is something that we construct together but forced by social forces to think otherwise. I agree with Wysocki’s idea that if we build the qualities of beauty, then we can potentially see the beauty.

MM:

1. I believe that Wysocki’s statement, "There is no question that there is a certain necessity to effective visual composition because a design must fit a viewer's expectation if it is to make sense… but if design is to have any sense of possibility—of freedom—to it, then it must also push against the conventions, the horizon, of those expectations" (97), applies to her article because the readers have specific details draw them into a text. I believe it applies to many other visual arts because presentation has a lot to do with who will be interested in it.

I enjoyed reading “The Sticky Embrace of Beauty”. It is always refreshing to read an article that isn’t the same format as the rest. I think that it helped Wysocki’s argument and helped understand what she was trying to present a lot more with how she presented the text itself.

Readers Response #12

 In the article, “From Pencils to Pixels: The Stages of Literacy Technologies” by Dennis Baron focuses on the effect that technology has on literacy. Baron does research on the history of different writing technologies. He introduces the fact that even pencils can be considered as technology and that writing never lacked technology. Baron shows the reader how technology and literacy intersects.

I can relate Baron’s article to Debrah Brandt’s “Sponsors of Literacy”. Both authors introduce the fact that literacy has a big impact on what resources you have and what social background you come from.

Before You Read:

2. My definition of technology is basically a new and faster version of something. Some examples include books to kindles, computers to laptops, and landline phones to cell phones. I think anything that is an upgrade of something else can be considered technology.

QD:

2. I agree with the fact new technology changes and shape the nature of writing. I believe as the world’s technologies grow the concepts and resources make writing a lot easier and more available to a wider audience. I do agree with this fact, technology is growing rapidly every day and is a lot different now than from when I was kid.

I really enjoyed this article about the effects technology has on literacy. It made me want to redefine what exactly I thought technology was. It also made me really think about what were actually doing when we write.