In the article assigned by James Paul Dee, we learn their views on literacy, discourse, and linguistics. To summarize, they believe that literacy goes way beyond just reading and writing. It can involve basically any subject and it moreso has to do with identity and how we fit into society. Dee explains discourse as, “a sort of ‘identity kit’ which comes complete with the appropriate costume and instructions on how to act, talk, and often write, so as to take on a particular role that others will recognize.” At first, I didn’t fully understand where she was getting at with her definitions until we talked about it in class. Literacy is how knowledgeable you are about something (could be anything) and fluency involves knowing more detail. You can be fluent and literate at something but if you’re just literate you cannot be fluent.
There are two different types of discourse. The first one, with a lowercase d, is a conversation about a certain topic amongst a group of people. The second one, with an upper case D, is a community, “Saying (writing)-doing-being-valuing-believing; A way of being in the world, encompasses beliefs and attitudes, culture.” In a discourse community, you’ll see people with the same beliefs and passions about whatever the discourse is about. Talking about Discourse was the most interesting me because you hear it all the time on social media, “mental health discourse” “Taylor Swift discourse”, etc. But that was discourse with a lower case D and there really is a big difference between the two that people don’t know about. Now I can finally understand when someone asks me if I’m apart of the … discourse, I now know they’re either talking about a certain community or just conversations. Click here for some good examples on this topic.
The article about English majors was interesting. I hadn’t realized all the major and minor technical advances the world has made. Especially with English. It makes me excited to think about where else we could go, and how, as an English major, I can contribute. The woman born in the 80s got technology easier than the one born in the 60s. Some teachers that were born in a earlier time take more time and can refuse to use technology. Whereas kids these days are used to it because it’s their primary discourse. For this reason, students can become more advanced than the teachers, who work reluctantly with technology. Some students learn everything at home, while others learn it all at school.
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