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.