Main points from Gee
Language is a social process
Discourse embodies a group's ways of doing, being, believing, and valuing = an "identity toolkit"
Discourse is learned through an "apprenticeship" (socialization => learning through doing) rather than "out of a book"
Discourses overlap, influence one another and are always changing
Our home/Primary discourse is the discourse of our home community (family)
All other discourses are secondary discourses
Dominant discourses enforce their values/ways of being on Nondominant discourses
Discourses are used for gatekeeping => excluding outsiders
tensions between values in different discourses can cause problems in terms of moving from one discourse to another successfully
Discourses require complete mastery to be counted an insider
Primary discourses can never be lieratory discoures
All writing and reading is embedded in some Discourse
Definition of discourse (in our own words)
Discourses belong to a group and shap the intentions and behaviors of the group. They embody unconscious ways of thinking, related to a setting, and giving "rules" for how to act. Discourses are cultural, and include beliefs and values that are embedded in ways of talking and being.
List of discursive features (what Discourse affects/shapes)
1. patterns for asserting or responding to authority
2. language choices and forms (story forms) => what and how we say things
3. body language, personal space, body position
4. who has the right to speak
5. expectations about who "others" and "other places" are (stereotypes)
6. how to behave + what to believe and think within a given profession, career, nationality, ethnicity, etc.
7. where and when we can say certain things (context)
8. expectations about tone of voice, volume, pitch, how fast we talk and so on
9. attitudes
So it sounds to me like you've got a good hand on this. As we discussed in class, an awareness of how discourses (our home discourses and the secondary discourses we have acquired through experience) function as "gatekeepers" can empower us. If we learn to watch and work more consciously with the "discourses of power" - (despite what Gee says?) we can perhaps, communicate in ways which are more suited to our purposes. Thinking about Discourse will be particularly important to you as you compose your portfolio of writing for your future profession. We will talk about particular ways to apply ideas from Gee as we get closer to the portfolio assignment.
Focus:
Language is a social process
Discourse embodies a group's ways of doing, being, believing, and valuing = an "identity toolkit"
Discourse is learned through an "apprenticeship" (socialization => learning through doing) rather than "out of a book"
Discourses overlap, influence one another and are always changing
Our home/Primary discourse is the discourse of our home community (family)
All other discourses are secondary discourses
Dominant discourses enforce their values/ways of being on Nondominant discourses
Discourses are used for gatekeeping => excluding outsiders
tensions between values in different discourses can cause problems in terms of moving from one discourse to another successfully
Discourses require complete mastery to be counted an insider
Primary discourses can never be lieratory discoures
All writing and reading is embedded in some Discourse
Definition of discourse (in our own words)
Discourses belong to a group and shap the intentions and behaviors of the group. They embody unconscious ways of thinking, related to a setting, and giving "rules" for how to act. Discourses are cultural, and include beliefs and values that are embedded in ways of talking and being.
List of discursive features (what Discourse affects/shapes)
1. patterns for asserting or responding to authority
2. language choices and forms (story forms) => what and how we say things
3. body language, personal space, body position
4. who has the right to speak
5. expectations about who "others" and "other places" are (stereotypes)
6. how to behave + what to believe and think within a given profession, career, nationality, ethnicity, etc.
7. where and when we can say certain things (context)
8. expectations about tone of voice, volume, pitch, how fast we talk and so on
9. attitudes
So it sounds to me like you've got a good hand on this. As we discussed in class, an awareness of how discourses (our home discourses and the secondary discourses we have acquired through experience) function as "gatekeepers" can empower us. If we learn to watch and work more consciously with the "discourses of power" - (despite what Gee says?) we can perhaps, communicate in ways which are more suited to our purposes. Thinking about Discourse will be particularly important to you as you compose your portfolio of writing for your future profession. We will talk about particular ways to apply ideas from Gee as we get closer to the portfolio assignment.
Focus:
What is the focus of your process narrative? How does that focus reply to/expand on the demands for the focus of the assignment? Describe how & whether the ideas and breadth of your focus are a good match for the assignment.
List the points you make to develop your focus. Describe how/whether these points are sufficient to develop your focus? Any points off focus? Any points you need to add?
How does each paragraph connect to/develop the focus?
Organization:
Overall organization: What is the overall “narrative line” of your essay? (chronological description of one or more processes? Discussion of the parts of the writing practice, in order? a story of your growth? a comparison of your writing practices for different kinds of writing? . . .?)
Do you have more than one narrative line? If so, describe how you connect them.
Considering the overall narrative thread of your essay = what is the best organization for the presentation of your points to develop your focus?
What transitions/connections do you make among the different points to develop your focus?
Internal organization of paragraphs:
Do paragraphs lead in with a statement to set up the overall focus of the paragraph and the connection of that focus to a main point or the overall focus?
Does the developing material include analysis, illustration, example, rich description etc to “prove” the idea at the center of the paragraph (or does it simply re-state the overall point)?
Does each paragraph develop a single idea related to the overall focus?
Does each paragraph conclude with (include) a statement to tie the development to the overall point?
Development
Which points are most important to your overall focus? What examples/illustrations from your “data” on your writing process have you used to support those points?
Have you included rich descriptions of your process from a particular composing experience (rather than only general statments about “how you write” for a particular genre)? If you have no descriptions of composing a particular text, what do you need to add?
Which points have the most development? Which points have the least? Are the points with the most development the most central to your overall discussion?
What points need more development?
For next week:
Read: Mike Rose's "Rigid Rules, INflexible Plans, and the Stifling of Language: A Cognitivist Analysis of Writer's Block"
Write: Plan for revising process narrative (post to portfolio)
If you send me your draft process narrative as an attachment to the course email, I will write comments which you can take into consideration as you work on revising your essay.
For next week:
Read: Mike Rose's "Rigid Rules, INflexible Plans, and the Stifling of Language: A Cognitivist Analysis of Writer's Block"
Write: Plan for revising process narrative (post to portfolio)
If you send me your draft process narrative as an attachment to the course email, I will write comments which you can take into consideration as you work on revising your essay.
No comments:
Post a Comment