February 20th Homework

Swales Summary
In this article, The Concept of Discourse Community, John Swales generates his own concept of what he calls discourse communities. He argues that there are six characteristics that are necessary for identifying a group of people as their own discourse community. Groups are formed depending on common interests, and Swales describes this as "genres". These genres allow people to stay on topic and make sure that those who join the group understand the criteria of this group.

1.

•  Goals are set by the discourse community that point out its morals, beliefs, expectations, and aspirations. My athletic teams are a discourse community that have the same expectations...to win each game.
• These communities have their own communication styles that they use to send messages to all their members. In sports, we have a way of communicating while playing so we know what each other is doing. (eg hand signals)
• Certain forms of technology and print sources, such as newspapers and books that interest the group's common interests, provide a way of obtaining information.
• Based on opinions of the group and the changing values of the original discourse community, the individuals will adapt and expand their expectations.
• Communities have their own vocabulary, such as grammar that keeps others from gaining information.
• Discourse communities are experiencing shifts of members as people pass away, leave, or become wiser. As my friends and I get older, we have adapted to new interests and began hanging out with different people.

3. No, a first-year college classroom would not count as a discourse community, but a graduate class would because once you have been in school with the same people for over 4 years, you will more than likely share common goals and interests.
5. A discourse community I belong to is my high school basketball team. We all share common goals, such as winning each game and getting better each and every day at practice. Our lexis is combined in signals or names that we all know, usually plays. Our genres that are recognizable by our members, are texts that show basketball plays step-by-step with X's and O's.

MM
No after reading this, I do not notice anything different about my own reading experiences.

Swales Response
This article was a boring read for me, although it did prove some interesting points about discourse communities. I learned a lot from this article and now when I write for certain discourse communities I will understand how to present my information better.

Gee Summary
In his article, Literacy, Discouse, and Linguistics: Introduction, James Paul Gee attempts to prove that the main focus for literacy studies shouldn't be language, or literacy, but social practices instead. He argues that Discourses, with a capital D, are combinations of saying, doing, being, valuing, and believing and that we all acquire some sort of Discourse throughout our life, normally early in life or in peer groups.

3. Discourse with a capital 'D' means the combination of saying(writing)-doing-being-valuing-believing and discourse with a lowercase 'd' means connected stretches of language that make sense. I think this makes sense because Discourse evaluates all forms of expressions instead of just through language.
4. Primary Discourses are the ones we first use to make sense of the world and interact with others.
    Secondary Discourses are gained after our initial socialization within our home community,  
    non-home-base social institutions, such as local stores, churches, schools, and other organizations.
    Dominant Discourses are secondary Discourses that bring potential acquisitions of social goods,
    like money, prestige, and status.
    Nondominant Discourses are secondary Discourses that bring solidarity with a certain social
    network, but not greater value in status or social goods.
5. This means that if you don't display an identity then you're a pretender or beginner. The implications of this are, for example, if you don't display fluency in a Discourse then you're marked as a nonmember of the group.
6. He shows that there is a similarity between the relationship of Discourse and identity by saying that while you are in that certain Discourse, you develop a growing ability to say, do, value, and believe within that Discourse. You show your identity within the Discourse community.
7. Gee is saying that when someone is taught, within their Discourse group, how to communicate correctly, other members will interrogate them based on the language they use. I have seen a few of my friends act completely different when they are with friends they grew up with because while they were in that Discourse, they communicated differently to fit in with the rest of the members.
8. Dominant Discourse "tests" happen to provide group members with the assurance that they have friends that can relate to them. I think it is a way of fitting in with the rest of your group.
11. Metaknowledge is the sum of what has been perceived or discovered and it is valuable because it allows a combination for successful students and successful social change.
12. I know I am a part of my church Discourse because we all share the same values and believes.

AEI
2. While I am in my primary Discourse I express myself without worrying about grammatical usage and I normally use phrases that my family would only understand. My tone of voice normally stays the same because I don't get to excited or flustered about anything; my values are almost identical to my parents and brother because I was raised that way and I want to stick to them.
In my academic Discourse I try to be more grammatically correct when writing or talking and since nobody would understand some of my phrases, I stray away from using them. My tone of voice is a lot more argumentative while in this Discourse and my values usually stay the same, although I am willingly to learn about other students values.
The sources that overlap are my values, while the rest alter a little bit while I am in an academic Discourse.
4. I navigate between these different Discourses by sticking to my beliefs and values, but changing what I talk about or do within each Discourse. Like within my team Discourse, I become extremely competitive and I probably give more effort to reach a common goal, compared to when I am with my classroom Discourse.


Gee Response
I thought this article was interesting because it made me evaluate all my different groups and think more in depth about how I act and speak while I go from one Discourse to the other. Some of the questions within this article were difficult to answer, but I definitely learned a lot while reading about Gee's perspective on Literacy, Discourse, and Linguistics.