Language As

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Language As Social Practice

Essay Notes Date Due- 8th April 2004 Julia
Ireland Student number 11307056
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Major Themes

• Discourse Communities
• Socio-cultural approaches to language and
  learning
• Context of Schooling

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Introduction

• We learn to do literacy as we learn how to
  behave and belong in our families and
  communities (Breen et. al. 1994). This is a key
  concept in the study of literacy both in the
  classroom and in the home environment.
• Literacy- not only the ability to read but also
  the ability to comprehend what is being read as
  well as being able to write in the same manner.

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Major Theme One Discourse Communities

• A Discourse Community can be described as A
  group of people who share the same beliefs and
  values which are reflected, to a certain extent,
  in their various meaning-making systems.
• (Love et. al., 2002)
• In any type of Discourse a person can be
  considered an insider or an outsider- a member or
  a non-member.
• Insider- familiar with the subject and language
  used by other members of that community.
• Outsider- unfamiliar with the subject matter and
  language used by the members of the discourse
  community.

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Major Theme One Discourse Communities (cont.)

• James Gee (1991) defines a 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 of social
  network
• These Discourses can be classified into two
  certain types of discourses
• Primary Discourse- Home Environment (language
  spoken, social values and Cultural Values.)
• Secondary Discourse- Other groups in which you
  join later in life. (Sporting Teams, School
  Environment and Charity Organisations.)

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Major Theme One- Discourse Communities (cont.)

• Acquisition
• The process of acquiring something
  subconsciously
• by exposure to models and a process of trial and
  error,
• without a process of formal teaching. This is
  how most
• people control their first language. (James Gee,
  1991)
• In the primary discourse of family, acquisition
  is used to manage your first language and also to
  obtain knowledge about culture and beliefs.

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Major Theme One- Discourse Communities (Cont.)

• Contrasting to Acquisition is Learning. James
  Gee (1991) defines learning as
• A Process that involves conscious knowledge
  gained
• through teaching, thought not necessarily from
  someone
• officially designated a teacher. This teaching
  involves
• explanation and analysis, that is, breaking down
  the thing
• to be learned into analytic parts.
• The concept of learning is mainly present in the
  secondary discourse group.
• Some Cultures value learning while others value
  acquisition for example, Australian Culture vs.
  Tradition Aboriginal Culture.

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Major Theme Two - Socio-cultural approaches to
language and learning

• The way we learn language in our primary
  discourse communities affects the way we act,
  behave and talk in our secondary discourse
  communities.
• Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) developed by
  Lev Vygotsky. It consists of a range of tasks
  too difficult for children to master alone but
  which can be learned with the guidance and
  assistance of adults or more-skilled children
  (Santrock, 2004, pg.230)
• ZPD consists of two levels.
• Lower level- where the child is at with no
  guidance
• Upper level- where the child could be with
  guidance.

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Major Theme Two - Socio-cultural approaches to
language and learning

• Concept of Scaffolding, also developed by
  Vygotsky. A teacher helps a child with a certain
  aspect of a subject and as the student competency
  increases the teacher gives less guidance and
  lets the student apply their own knowledge of the
  new concept they have learnt.

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Major Theme Three Context Of Schooling

• Teaching/Learning Cycle- Set of five key stages
  considered necessary to develop learning (Love
  et. al., 2002). These five stages are
  Engagement, Building Knowledge, Transformation,
  Presentation, and Reflection.
• Concept of Scaffolding introduced again. There
  are three strategies that support this in
  classroom context, they are Diagnosis, Planning,
  and Withdrawal.
• These concepts are important due to different
  discourses in the school (in Australian society).
  
• Literacy is important in the concept of
  schooling as children arent only going to learn
  it with a teacher directly talking to them but
  also through social interaction. It needs to be
  embedded into their everyday activities, for
  example having desks in blocks instead of rows
  helps them to develop social skills.

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Conclusion

• Our first exposure to literacy is through the
  primary discourse communities. This gives us
  basic knowledge of how to do literacy.
• Throughout our lifespan we come into contact
  with different discourse communities. These build
  on our primary discourse.

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References
Gee, JP 1991, What is Literacy, in Reuniting
Literacy, Mitchell, C Weller, K (eds.), Beigin
and Ganey, New York. Love, K, Pigdon, K, Baker,
G, Hamston, J 2002, Built Building
Understandings in Literacy and Teaching, 2nd
Edition, CD-ROM, The University of Melbourne,
Melbourne. Santrock, JW 2004, Child Development,
10th Edition, McGraw Hill Companies Inc., New
York.
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