Feb. 20th Homework

Swales Summary:
In his article "The Concept of Discourse Community", John Swales discusses the 6 guidelines included in a discourse community. He also argues that discourse community doesn't have a clear definition and gives a definition of what a discourse community really is and gives examples. Swales also argues that there are many different discourse communities, but all in all, the definition of discourse community stays the same.

QD: 1, 3, 5
1. The six characteristics of a discourse communities according to Swales include:
A: The community shares common goals. An example is that my volleyball and softball team shared a discourse community because we all shared the common goal of winning games and learning the game in the same way.
B: The discourse community has a certain way of communicating with each other and has a set of standards that they follow. An example of this is with me and my friends. We all have a specific way that we talk to each other and we have inside jokes that only we understand and for people that aren't in our group don't really understand what we're saying.
C: The discourse community has a way of receiving and giving information. The example I would use with this is in America, it's very common now a days that if you need to get something out, you just send a text message or e-mail to that person and they send you one back and that's just an effective way to communicate.
D: A discourse community uses their own type of language so that another discourse community can't copy them. An example would be that someone may use bigger words or something in a paper so that whoever is trying to copy them won't be able to understand what they are saying, therefore unable to copy them.
E: The discourse community forms their own language in a way that only the people in the community understands what is being said. An example of this is during softball, we had plays that had special names that only we knew what meant.
F: The people in the community must be on or around the same level to actually contribute to the community. An example is like when your learning something new in math class and your in a group, you need to be on the same level of understanding to get the job done.
3. According to Swales, a first-year college classroom would not be considered as a discourse community because they are more focused on their own views and opinions and aren't around each other enough to have the same views. However, with a graduate class, they could be a discourse community because they have been around each other for many years and have learned to share common goals.
5. A discourse community that I belong to is my group of friends. We all basically have the same goals, which is to get through college and make a better life for ourselves, as well as being teenagers and having fun when it's acceptable to. Our lexis is basically like our inside jokes, which have a lot of meaning behind, but someone that isn't really a part of our group won't understand. Our genres is how we set our prioritizes.

MM:
There was a lot of things that I was already pretty aware of when it came to discourse communities, but I did learn a little more about them because Swales gives pretty good examples and made it easier to understand.

Swales Response:
I really enjoyed reading this article, because it gave me a better understanding of how discourse communities work and made me think about the discourse communities that I'm involved in.

Gee Summary:
In his article "Literacy, Discourse, and Linguistics", James Paul Gee attempts to show the difference between Discourses and discourse communities. He argues that people must be fluent in order to engage in a Discourse and it can't be taught, but rather, can be learned if someone sits and listens carefully for some amount of time.

QD: 3-8, 11, 12
3. According to Gee, Discourse (capital D) is a combination of saying (writing), doing, being, valuing, and believing. Discourse community (lowercase d) is more focused on the language of the whole community. This makes sense to me because it is very well distinguished and he gives very clear definitions and examples.
4. Primary Discourse: The one we first use to make sense of the world and interact with others.
Secondary Discourse: Social institutions commands and demands one or more Discourses and we acquire these fluently to the extent that we are given access to these institutions and are allowed apprenticeships within them.
Dominant Discourse: Secondary Discourses the mastery of which, at a particular place and time, brings with it the acquistion of social goods, such as money, prestige, and status.
Non-dominant Discourse: Secondary Discourses the mastery of which often brings solidarity with a particular social network, but not wider status and social goods in society at large.
5. "Discourses are connected with displays of an identity" means that Discourse is mainly about one's identity. The implications are that you need to have a certain identity to be a part of a certain Discourse.
6. Each Discourse has their own sets of beliefs and values that they were taught to believe in. This ties in with Discourse and identity because within every Discourse, you have to have a certain identity.
7. What he is basically saying is that members within a certain Discourse have their own language and they can clearly tell when someone is not from their community because they may not talk the same or be able to effectively talk to other members in the community. An example of this is during softball, whenever the other team would call out plays, no one on my team ever knew what they were about to do, because that was part of their Discourse.
8. I think Discourse "tests" happen because many countries/cities may not like outsiders in their territory and it could be beneficial because it's very obvious when someone that is not part of your Discourse and they could kick those people out.  
11. Meta knowledge is having to translate another language in relation to your own language and it cause you to become more aware of how your first language works.
12. I know I'm a part of my Discourse because I understand the language of my group and I can effectively communicate with them in ways that we all understand.

AEI: 2 & 4
2. The primary Discourse I was born into was New Lexington, which is in Perry County. Outsiders typically think of Perry county people as "hicks" and "hillbillies" and basically like to say that we aren't the brightest people around and that we have a "southern accent". Outsiders also believed that our school systems weren't any good and didn't prepare us for the real world, which I'd definitely have to disagree with both of those statements. We do have that "country" side to us, but that doesn't make EVERYONE "hicks", "hillbillies", or "stupid". Also, my school did a very well job of preparing me for college. It's just a bad sterotype that we have been labeled with.
4. The Discourses that I'm mainly involved with is my schooling Discourse and my family/friends Discourse. With my schooling Discourse, I act in a very professional manner, but with my family/friends, I tend to goof off a lot and joke around. I know better than to goof off with my schooling. I navigate through this by knowing when and where specific behavior is acceptable and when it's appropriate to do it.

Response:
I actually liked this article because it gave me a much better understanding of Discourses and it made me better understand my own Discourses that I'm involved in.