blog 17

Summary:

In Penrose and Geisler’s article Reading and Writing Without Authority, they conducted a study of two people and there writing styles. One was a freshman english student and the other was a philosophy doctorate student. Both the people wrote a paper on the same topic, paternity. When they were done they looked at the overall paper and how authority was used. The researchers concluded that as age increases your authority and confidence in you writing also increases. I think that the main point of this article was to show how different two papers can be at different levels of education.

Questions:

3. Janets view knowledge and Rogers view of knowledge are both very different. Since Janet is just a freshman, she probably had to go and gather a lot of info from the internet and books to write this paper. She had to do this because she probably does not have a lot of prior knowledge about the topic. However Roger probably did not have to do as much research because he is older and has a lot more knowledge in general than a freshman student would.

4.I think this was the case because any freshman English student would trust a published author rather than themselves. Also she does not want to come up with her own points or ideas that she doesn’t know if they are true or not, but she knows for a fact the what she is reading is true.

5. I know that my writing is more like Janet’s. First because we are both freshman English students, and I can relate better to her problems with writing. Also, I do not have the knowledge that Rogers has to just be able to sit down and be able to produce a great paper. It takes a lot of time and effort.

MM:

I think next time I write a paper I will try and focus more on how I write and what I am saying and also try and be more confident with my ideas. I have learned that when the writer shows confidence in there writing and shows that they know what they are talking about that reader will be more likely to listen.

Response: Overall I think that this was a good article for us to read. It showed me that become a great writer takes a long time and its not something that I will be able to accomplish in my freshman English class. And also that confidence and authority a really big part of writing, which is something I need to focus more on.

blog 16

Wardle summary: In Wardle’s article Identity, Authority, and Learning to Write in New Workplaces, she argues that people do not understand how much identity and authority influence our writing. She talks about a man named Allan, and she goes through and each step, the workplace, identity, outcome, and authority. She states at the end that leaning to write in new communities is very hard, Allan being a good example he was having a hard time learning new skills and identifying with certain groups.

Questions:

3. I think that the reason that Allan did not have success was because he refused to change into what the community wanted him to be. This conflict could have been handled by him trying to change and doing what the community wanted or said.

4. I do think that this is possible to use language unconsciously. Most people are not able to filter everything that comes out of their mouth all the time, so sometimes I think that it could be considered unconscious.

5. I think that I agree more with what Gee is saying in context with Alans situation. The reason that Alan did not want to change his beliefs or ways was because I think that he thought the discourse community was wrong for him, so therefore he did not go along with it.

6.I think that Alan is considered to be a tool. I think this because he was used as data and facts that Wardle collected, not an actual part of the community.

7. An example I can think of would be a teacher getting out of line with a student. Like if a teacher swore at a student or hit them, they may lose there job which would cause them to lose there authority over thestudents.

MM: I think that they stress authority so much because as a write you need authority for people to believe and listen to what you are writing.

Reflection: Overall I really enjoyed reading this article. The main thing that it made me think about is how I need to be more authoritative in my writing so that I can better get my point across.

Final cover letter and link project 3

With this project we were trying to explore different literacy sponsors and decide which one we believe to be the best through our research. Our main point of this project was to show the different literacy sponsors and how the affect people in the ways they learn. We supported our ideas through research, one of our main research methods was interviews and we also used the Brandt reading. The way that we addressed counter arguments in this project, was by exploring many different literacy sponsors rather than just one. I think that there a many parts of our project that are working well. First, I think that we did a good job introducing our project and stating what it would be about. Also, I think that we did a good job explaining each literacy. There are also a few parts of the paper I think that we could work on. I that the conclusion is the main thing that may need some work because I think it could wrap up our project better. After people look at this we want them to think to themselves what their greatest literacy sponsor was when they were younger and how they influenced them. I think that if we were given more time we would have put in all of our interviews, but we ran out of time and were only able to get one edited and put in the project. For when you are going through our project there are a few things you should know. First when you get to a slide with a video you have to hit play for it to play. Also when you get to a slide with a speaker on it, click on the speaker then click play to listen to the audio. 

blog 15

Johns Summary: In Johns article Discourse Communities and Communities of Practice, she talks about how communities of practice and discourse communities relate and tie into each other. She states what it is to be in an academic community and what they are like. After she talks about both communities, she goes into talking about the conflicts that can occur with them.

Questions:

1.     There are many problems that Johns outlines in her article with discourse communities. First, is that everything costs money and that many people who do not have it at their disposal, which may cause them not to join at all. Second she talks about authority within the community. Authority causes people do disagree about who should be in those certain positions. Also, when discourse communities change it can cause problems because people do not like change when they have been doing one thing for so long.

2.     I think John is saying here that when people grow up there values and beliefs may change. I think an example would be like someone changing religions because of a new person in there life.

3.     I think that Learning to write and speak in a new way at college is like a new discourse community. I think that when coming to college, I learned a new way to write and threw the rest out the window. Also since I am not from around here, you learn a new way to communicate from people from around here.

4.     I do think that Johns views on these things impact your identity. I think that as you grow learning and the way learn helps you to discover more about yourself. I also think that the way you learn and when you learn things can change your views and beliefs.

5.     I don’t think I have had much authority in college to write what I want. It is always the same way, you have an assignment sheet and you have to follow what it says. You never get to fully do what you want and express yourself.

6.     It is considered a minefield because you always want to follow the rules because you never know how far you can take it without getting a bad grade. I have been punished many times for breaking rules that I did not see fit for the paper. What happened was that I was forced to fix it or I would not get a good grade.

MM: Understanding what Johns is talking about can help in becoming a part of a new discourse community by trying to decide if it is really the best thing for you mentally and financially. I also think it can be bad because you can be persuaded to think certain things that the groups believe.

Johns reflection: Overall I thought that this was a good reading. At parts I found it a little hard to follow and understand where she was going with things. I think this was helpful in making me think about all the writings we have done in class, and how much freedom we have had with them. 

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Swales Sumamry: In Swales article The Concept of Discourse Community, he comes up with his own idea of what a discourse community is. His main argument is that there are six different characteristics to tell the difference or identify discourse communities. Swales also describes what he calls genres which he says are the groups certain interests which make them a part of that group of community. I think Swales main point of his article was that different people are part of different discourse communities and that it is hard to enter them without extreme knowledge about it first.

Questions:

1.

- Each community has its own style of communication to determine group members. Example would be deaf people use hand signals to communicate.

-Books and technology provide a way for the group to get information that theya re interested in.

-Goals are set by each community to make a point of what they would like to accomplish. Example would be sports teams trying to win as many games as possible.

-Communities have changing values because of new people leaving and entering which causes there to be new ideas. Example would be a company when the boss leaves there may be new rules and goals.

-Each community has there own vocabulary. Example would be how people talk differently in different states.

-The communities experience the passing, leaving, or getting older of members which causes shifts. As people get older they adapt new talents, friends, and interests.

3. He would not consider a freshman class to be a discourse community because you have not been together long enough to know each other that well and share a lot of common goals. On the other hand a graduate level class would be considered a discourse community Swales would say because they have been together for four years and share common goals and interests.

5. A discourse community that I belong to is the water polo team here at OU. We all have the same goals of getting better and winning games and also bonding as a team. I think that our lexis would have to be all the plays that we have put together and the names that we call them. Our genres would be when we draw out the plays and the symbols we use for each team when we draw these plays.

MM: I think one think that I notice different is that different writing styles could I guess in a way be considered discourse communities. The reason for this is that there are so many different writing styles all with there own forms, rules, and goals. Such as poetry, the 5 paragraph essay, or a scholarly article.

Swales Response: Overall I really liked this article and I think that it was a good one to read. The first time we discussed discourse communities, I really did not understand them but now after reading it a second time I understand what they are all about.

Gee Summary: In Gee’s article Literacy, Discourse, and Linguistics, he argues that when studying literacy should not be about language or literacy, instead people should focus on social practices. I like the point where he talks about how language can be misleading which is why it should not be considered in literacy. He makes an argument that there is discourse with a capital D. The meaning of this is that there are combinations of saying, doing, being, and valuing that everyone acquires a discourse community at some point in there life.

Questions:

3. The discourse with a capital D is the saying, doing, being, valueing , believing. When its with a lower case d means to connect language so it makes sense. To me this does not really make sense why it has to be upper case and lower without them just meaning two different things.

4. Pimary discourse means that they are the discourse we first used to make sense of the world. Secondary discourse is the knowledge that is gain from our home and family’s. Dominant discourse is the social goods like money, status, and prestige. Nondominat discourse is the certain social network but not greater value in social status.

5. He is say that it means if a person does not display an identity then they are a beginner. If you do not have the discourse of a community then you are not a part of it.

6. This is connected to discourse and identity because he says if you are in a certain discourse that gain all the abilities to be a part of it. This is like showing your identity that you belong.

7. What Gee is saying here is that when you are taught a certain way by a discourse community, others from that community will question you to make sure you should be a part of it. A good example would be how you act differently around your parents and your friends.

8. These tests happen so that group members can make sure that everyone there is a part of it and should be there. The benefit would be that when you give these tests you feel like you fit in.

11. It is the sum of what has been perceived or discovered. Its value is that it allows for success.

12. I consider my self to be a part of my water polo team discourse. I think I am a part of this because we all have the same goals and ideas in mind.

AEI:

2. When I am in my primary discourse at home I would use phrases or language that only my family would be able to understand. Sometimes m tone of voice will go up and down when im mad or excited. I think that my values are similar to that of my family but are not totally the same.

In an academic discourse my grammar and language are a lot different than at home, I talk so that everyone is able to understand me. I think that my tone of voice is usually a lot more calm in the academic setting. The academic discourse will usually not change my values at all.

4. I do many different things to navigate through these discourse communities. First I usually stick to my main values that I believe in. Sometimes I will not show my true values based on the situation.

Gee Resposne: Overall I really liked this article. The reason for this is because it mad me thing about all the discourse communities I am a part of and how much I value each one. I think the main thing that I learned from reading this was that we are a part of many different discourses, some more important than others.