Gee

Before You Read

Mushfake: prisoner made items such as shanks or handmade weapons, prison slang for items owned by an inmate that are illegal, synonym for 'faking it'.

Summary

In James Gee's article "Literacy, Discourse, and Linguistics: Introduction" he talks about literacy, apprenticeship, metaknowledge, and mushfakes. In his article, Gee argues that you can't more or less embody a discourse-your're either recognized by others as a full member of it or you're not. He also discusses the different views and interpretations of linguistics. The audience of this article can be anyone who is in a discourse community and wants to learn more about them and the importance and relevance of being in one. 

Synthesis

Gee's article on discourse and linguistics can easily be compared to Swales article on the concept of a discourse community. Gee talks about the importance of being in a discourse community as well as the other ways people view things in a discourse community. Swales talks about the different aspects of a discourse community and what you need to do to be in one. Another article that compares to Gee is Pollan. Pollan talks about how the discourse communities affect the factory farm industry. This compares to Gee because Gee also talks about how being in a discourse community can affect how others see you and how they interpret things. Lastly, Gee can be compared to Glenn because he also discusses discourse community and the importance of being in one. 

Dialectical Notebook

Response	Quotation
I agree with this quote because personally, when I think of the word language, I think of all the things that go with it like grammar, spelling and everything else.	“’Language’ is a misleading term; it too often suggests ‘grammar.’” (pg. 483)
I like this quote because it both describes what a discourse community is, and emphasizes how to be apart of one.	“We acquire this primary Discourse, not by overt instruction, but by being a member of a primary socializing group (family, clan, peer group).” (pg. 485)
This quote is important because it relates the importance of the definition of literacy to the social side of discourse communities.	“I believe that an socially useful definition of ‘literacy’ must be couched in terms of the notion of Discourse.” (pg. 486)
I agree with this quote because metaknowledge is a very important part of advancing in a discourse community.	“Metaknowledge is liberation and power, because it leads to the ability to manipulate, to analyze, to resist while advancing.” (pg. 490)
I agree with this quote because a child is not going to understand these traditional accounts of literacy because they have deep conceptual problems.	“Traditional accounts of literacy are going to have deep conceptual problems here, because they trouble themselves too much over things like books and readings.” (pg. 494)

MM

Gee's claims have helped me understand my experiences and other people experiences differently because he has showed me how everyone has their own experiences and we all see and interpret things differently. I can use some of this knowledge in another setting such as if someone is trying to explain something to me. I will use my knowledge of literacy and discourse communities to better understand people.

Thoughts

In conclusion, Gee's article on literacy, discourse and linguistics did not help me very much. Most of the information was repetitive and went on for to long. Although the article was not bad to read, it was not very exciting or interesting. From the little that I did learn, I can use it in my future experiences with linguistics.