How Discourses Influence Reward and Punishment

From my understanding of Gee’s Literacy, Discourse, and Linguistics: Introduction, language is less about grammar and more about the combinations of what you say, how you say it, who you are, what you are doing, what you value, what you believe in, the tone you use, etc.. However, he expresses that the word “language” alludes to “grammar,” and proposes the term “Discourses,” which refers to the communities created by these combinations. Discourses are split into 4 different types: our Primary Discourse is the one we first learn in our early home life and the one we first use in our interaction with the rest of the world outside of our homes, Secondary Discourses are the ones we learn and become members of in our exploration of the outside world, Dominant Discourses are Secondary Discourses that award to its members “goods,” such as “money, prestige, status, etc.,” whereas Non-Dominant Discourses are Secondary Discourses that only award solidarity with that Discourse. If I have understood correctly, this means that each Discourse uses its own “language” or “literacy” as well as its own way of behaving and so on. Discourses also practice gate-keeping, to keep non-true members out. I think the main issue Gee identifies is that the Discourses associated with school and institutional education also partake in this gate-keeping, keeping the “goods” away from anyone who is not a member. This is a form of discrimination, as Discourses cannot be taught later in life and only through “apprenticeship,” so certain students, such as minority students, are unable to access the Discourse community and its advantages. His theories are complex and difficult to understand at times, but I think the general message is that Discourse communities have much more influence on who succeeds than we recognize, which is an ideology I agree with. I believe that, if my understanding of its definition is correct, Discourse communities create an unjust system of reward and punishment that values complicity over diversity. Therefore, the existing structure of education is in need of much change, just like the rest of the world, but this notion is not a new one and its scale is probably too large and unfathomable to be realistically considered by any one person, unfortunately. Still, I like Gee’s suggestion for teachers to at least attempt to teach their students to be aware of Discourses, and to therefore cease in the reaping of its benefits, even if part of the very definition of Discourse is that it cannot be taught in a classroom.

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