What is Literacy/James Paul Gee – GradSchoolPapers.com

What is Literacy/James Paul Gee
Reading Questions
1.    How does the author define the word ‘discourse’? Write the definition that he uses, then put it in your own words.
2.    Here are some quote: what do these mean? (in your own words):
a.    “Some other examples of  discourses: being an American or a Russian, being a man or a woman, being a member of a certain socioeconomic class, being a factory worker or a boardroom executive, being a doctor or a hospital patient, being a teacher, an administrator or a student, being a member of a sewing circle, a club, a street gang, a lunchtime social gathering, or a regular at a local watering hole” (p. 135)
b.    “Discourses are inherently “ideological”” (p. 135)
c.    “It is sometimes helpful to say that it is not individuals who speak and act, but rather historically and socially defined discourses speak to each other through individuals.”
3.    What is the difference between acquisition and learning, according to Gee, and how do these relate to his understanding of ‘discourse’ and ‘literacy’
4.    What does the author mean by primary and secondary discourses?
5.    How does the author define ‘literacy’?
6.    How are discourses (and literacies) mastered? (p. 140)
7.    How can you have the ability to critique discourses (literacies)? (p. 140)
8.    How does his presentation of these areas relate to education and literacy?
9.    What discourses do you use (operate within)?
10.
Answers:
1.    The author, describes the word discourse as a socially accepted association among ways of using language, of thinking and of acting that can be used to identify oneself as a member of a socially meaningful group or social network. Discourse, actually, is a way of expression, a form of existance or life of a particluar group, that can be used to identify the individuals in the siciety to whom this way of expression is atrributed. A discourse in the society shows a separation from the normality, a way of doing things whose morality is based on an individuals opinion.
2.    Sentence meanings.
a)    This sentence implies that the mentioned groups and identities: American or a Russian, being a man or a woman, being a member of a certain socioeconomic class, being a factory worker or a boardroom executive, being a doctor or a hospital patient, being a teacher, an administrator or a student, being a member of a sewing circle, a club, a street gang, a lunchtime social gathering, or a regular at a local watering hole are  also examples of discourses as from the perception of the author.
b)    Discourses are inhenrently ideological in the sense that they involve not just a knowlegede of the same but aslo one must intergrate its set of values, viewpoints, and feelings into their life before they count as members of these groups.
c)    Individuals do not define a particuar discourse rather, discourses are the ones that from the lifestyle of an individual where in the society, people are a result of many harmonising or conflicting discourses created and altered over time.
3.    Acquisition, according to the author, is process of getting something subconcioulsy by exposure to the process of trial and error without formal teaching. Learning is a process involving gain of consious knowledge through formal teaching thoguh not necessarilly a designated teacher. Acquisition of knowledge in language through enculturisation or exposure to secondary instituional environment is considered as discourse while literacy is the control practised on the acquired knowledge.
4.    Primary discourse is defined and developed by a small group such as culture with immidiate effect to the exposed individual while secondary discourse is acquired due to exposure to secondary instituional environment that shape the expirience of a person such a school or businesses.
5.    Literacy, according to the author, is the control of secondary use of language or the application of language acquired in secondary discourses.
6.    Discourses and literacies, from most individuals, is mastered through acquistion of the same and not through learning as believed.
7.    Criticism of a discourse can only be done through comparison to another discourse therfore to acquire this ability one must have meta-level knowlegde in both discourses.
8.    Education, formal teaching, provides little, if any, literacy and acqired knowledge rather they present meta-level skills that can be used to critique and decide among several discourses that individuals acquire both in primary and secondary levels. Literacy is therfore not acquired through educational courses but expiriences, discourses, on both primary level at their cultural and family level and aslo secondary level in schools which at many times are in conflit with the values of the previous discourse.
9.    I operate within secondary discourse which inlvolesapllication of acquired and learned literacy and discourse values into the new discourses while using meta-level skills to make decisions among the many presented discourses in the secondary institutions.
Brandt, Sponsors of Literacy– Guided Reading Questions
(read through page 178 – to the section called “sponsorship and appropriation in literacy leaning”)
1.    Who is the author? Where was the article originally published? What does this information tell you about the kind of writing it is?
The author is Deborah Brandt. Routledge published it. The information in the book is descriptive and focuses on the history of literacy and the way sponsorship is important in acquiring literacy.
2.    What does Brandt (the author) mean by “literacy sponsorship”? Find quotes in the text that define this term and also try to put it in your own words. It will be helpful to define “literacy” and “sponsorship” separately as well?
By literacy, the author seeks to make a point on how education is advocated and acquired across the country. Brandt is defining literacy as a key to development and prosperity in the nation. In her literature, she asserts that literacy is the level of technical knowhow in various areas of study and work.
By sponsors, she means “the institutions or agents local or distant, abstract or concrete, who model or impart, support, recruit, extort, deny, and suppress literacy and gain advantage at some point.” Sponsors can be religious, bureaucratic, technological, commercial, or secular.
3.    The author talks about three main people in the article. What information does she give about each of them? What information does she give about their literacy influences and literacy practices?
Dora Lopez:
Raymond Branch:
Dwayne Lowery:
Dora Lopez came from a family that was in the ethnic minority group in the country thus her education was bound to have difficulties. The parents sponsored her literacy though the little they could afford and thus she could only get what her funds could afford. Initially she took the initiative to teach herself English and Spanish from the help of relatives and the bookstores. Lopez’s influences were purely self-interest.
Raymond Branch was came from a family of academics and his life was surrounded by abundance of funds. Unlike Lopez, he could access the best literal information from the same town that Lopez resided. Economic backing was fit to enable him attain any level of literacy since the best was readily available. The same town that was not affluent for Lopez proved a perfect resource center for Branch. His influences were because the family he came from was educated and affluent.
Dwayne Lowery came from a poor family and education was not a priority for him. He even realized that “ god-damn republicans was two words when he was 16 years. He was only interested in sports when he read the newspaper. However, he redefined his literal skill through reignited interest and involvement in the union.
4.    Read the following quotes from the article and try to explain them or summarize them in your own words.
“Literacy booms as one of the great engines of profit and competitive advantage in the twentieth century: a lubricant for consumer desire; a means for integrating corporate markets; a foundation for the deployment of weapons and other technology; a raw material in the mass production of information” (p. 3).
“Literacy, like land, is a valued commodity in this economy, a key resource in gaining profit an edge. This value helps to explain, of course, the lengths people will go to to secure literacy for themselves or their children. But it also explains why the powerful work so persistently to conscript and ration the powers of literacy” (p. 6).
“high-caste racial groups have multiple and redundant contacts with powerful literacy sponsors as a routine part of their economic and political privileges. Poor people and those from low-caste racial groups have less consistent, less politically secured access to literacy sponsors…” (p. 7).
“Literacy booms as one of the great engines of profit and competitive advantage in the twentieth century: a lubricant for consumer desire; a means for integrating corporate markets; a foundation for the deployment of weapons and other technology; a raw material in the mass production of information” (p. 3).
Literacy is key to development and production of prosperous needs in information and economic progress as well as a pillar to defense and technology.
“Literacy, like land, is a valued commodity in this economy, a key resource in gaining profit an edge. This value helps to explain, of course, the lengths people will go to secure literacy for themselves or their children. But it also explains why the powerful work so persistently to conscript and ration the powers of literacy” (p. 6).
Literacy is a universal need the people require and persist on making it available to their children but then the forces that provide these resources rather limit the availability.
“high-caste racial groups have multiple and redundant contacts with powerful literacy sponsors as a routine part of their economic and political privileges. Poor people and those from low-caste racial groups have less consistent, less politically secured access to literacy sponsors…” (p. 7).
There is a different contrast in the rich individuals and the poor. The rich have the access to the best literacy devices while the poor have limited access to the same.
5.    Look at the sections entitled Sponsorship, Sponsorship and Access, and Sponsorship and the Rise in Literacy Standards.
What claims does she make in each of these sections? (In other words, what is the main point of each of these sections?)
Sponsorship:
Sponsorship and Access:
Sponsorship and the Rise in Literacy Standards:
How does she support these claims? (What evidence does she use to support her argument)
Sponsorship:
Sponsorship and Access:
Sponsorship and the Rise in Literacy Standards:
Sponsorship:
In this section, she seeks to deliver the definition of sponsorship and sponsors. The section elaborates what sponsorship is and how the sponsors serve and gain in the end. It is a clear depiction of the sponsors and the way they shape literacy to their advantage making one conform to their structures and themes.
Sponsorship and Access:
Deborah delivers the point on how different enablers vary in terms of access to literacy and how the marginalized groups struggle to gain the same knowledge. In other words, the section elaborates the difference in the way people from different castes access literacy. Moreover, she delivers important view on how self-interest is important in access to information one seeks.
Sponsorship and the Rise in Literacy Standards:
In this section, she implies the fact that people live and learn in a sea of change. The standards keep on changing making it mandatory for every individual to change with the system. The section implies that the individuals are the sole course changers and they alone can divert the course of literacy.
Sponsorship:
She uses the system to explain how sponsors define the way sponsorship works and the way literacy is shaped.
Sponsorship and Access:
Deborah deliberately contrasts two cases of individuals from different castes to deliver the message of access and sponsorship
Sponsorship and the Rise in Literacy Standards:
In this section she uses Dwayne as subject to elaboration of how rise in literal standards work.

 
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