Discourse Communities

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Discourse Communities

• Swales (1990)
• common goals (Sw1)
• common language

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characteristic genres (Sw2)
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specific lexis (Sw3)

• communication practices

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mechanisms for intercommunication (Sw4)
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information feedback (Sw5)
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threshold level of members (Sw6)

• Gee Discourses

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J. Gee, "What is literacy?", 1987, p. 1 By "a
discourse" I will mean 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". Think of a
discourse as an "identity kit" which comes
complete with the appropriate costume and
instructions on how to act and talk so as to take
on a particular role that others will recognize.
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J. Gee, l990, p. 143 A Discourse is a socially
accepted association among ways of using
language, of thinking, feeling, believing,
valuing, and of acting that can be used to
identify oneself as a member of a socially
meaningful group or 'social network', or to
signal (that one is playing a socially meaningful
role.
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literacy control over secondary Discourse

• Community Definition
• 1. Common ways of talking and acting--identity
  kit

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a. representational devices (vocabulary--Sw2)
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b. ways of acting (genres, forms--St4, Sw3)
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c. physical objects (St1)
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d. interpretive strategies (personal
appearance--Gee)

• 2. Characteristic participation structures

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a. Communication channels (two-way)
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b. Activity structures
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c. Dialogue function
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d. Locus of expertise
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e. Power relations

• Implications

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roles
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communication patterns (IRE)
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silences

• 3. Common ideology

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a. Beliefs (Gee)
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b. Knowledge status
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c. Diversity of beliefs
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d. Values (standards) (Gee)
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e. Purpose (Sw1)

• Boundary objects (Star, 1989)
• repositories (St1)
• ideal types, e.g., species (St2Sw3)
• coincident boundaries (St3)
• standardized forms (St4Sw2)
• Exclusion/inclusion (Gee, 1989)
• gt resistant to internal criticism--centripetal
  (G2)
• gt defined in opposition to other
  discourses--centrifugal (G3)
• gt certain concepts, values, viewpoints at
  expense of other marginalize other viewpoints
  (G4)
• related to distribution of social power
  hierarchy (G5)
• no outside discourse position
• inherently ideological set of values about
  relationships between people and the distribution
  of social goods (money, power, status)

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• Theory of splitting (Star, "onions", 1991)

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multiple membership--simultaneously in and out
(Hubbard Randall, Shape of red)
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maintaining the high tension zone
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cost of membership in multiple areas
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multivocality and translation

• Other Discourse Issues
• Analysis of new technology

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• Evolution of discourse communities
• How individuals enter into
• Linguistic Utopias

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Mary Louise Pratt, The linguistics of writing

• Verbal practices associated with women (connected
  to powerlessness or domestic sphere)

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Planting suggestions in the minds of other people
so that they think they thought of it themselves
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Speaking to one person in such a way that another
might hear and be affected in the desired fashion
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In academic writing, gradually building up
evidence toward the main point rather than
stating it at the beginning and then backing it up
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Storytelling as a way of communicating values (to
children, for example)
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Gossip as a means of supporting and surveilling
each other, and as a form of power over men, who
fear this secret network
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Talking often repetitively with one another for
the purpose of maintaining a shared world (small
talk)
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Talking to subjects who dont know language at
all (babies, animals, plants, TV sets, the walls)

• marginalization of speech forms associated with
  women and womens spheres
• imagined ocmmunity
• Discourse Theory Challenges

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Inner
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Outer
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Knowledge
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Epistemology Rhetoric
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Social Relations
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Community Ideology

• Scollons Learning as Cultural Crisis

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• Pedagogical Responses

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Inner
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Outer
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Knowledge
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Meaningful goals Context of Criticism
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Social Relations
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Legitimate Peripheral Participation
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Recognition of contention
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• Responses to Challenges
• Meaningful goals
• Empowerment through critique

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Gee resistant, meta-level, Mushfake
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Wineburg study
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Engstrom context of criticism
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Boomer radical v progressive teaching
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Rethinking Columbus

• Learning communities

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Lave Wenger LPP
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Gabelnick et al college models
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Graff canon debate into curriculum

• Recognition of contention

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culturally-appropriate practices Tharp
Gallimore Mason Au Moll
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Delpit criticism
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not reducing difference to mismatch
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• Questions about Learning Communities

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How can we understand individual learning in a
social context?
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What role does/could/should community play in
learning?
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How can we make educational discourse communities
into more effective learning communities?

• Learning Community Charts

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Participation Structures
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Model
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Activity structure
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Dialogue
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function
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Locus of expertise
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Power
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relations
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Ideology
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Model
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Knowledge
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status
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Diversity
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of beliefs
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Values
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(standards)
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Purpose
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Standard Teaching
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temporal
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standard sequence
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to transmit knowledge
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value asymmetry
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monotonic asymmetry
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seek complete
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Standard Teaching
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pre-established
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heterodoxy -gt orthodoxy
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pre-set global
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learning as explicit goal--thematized cognitive
emphasis
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Learning Community
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spatial
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heterarchical
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process of learning
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recognize difference
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seek balance
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value complementarity
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expect limits
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Learning Community
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socially constructed
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heterodoxy orthodoxy
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emergent local
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learning incidental
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affective holistic
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• Standard teaching model

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(2/3 rule)

• Participation Structure

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Organization time segmented sequenced
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Dialogue to transmit knowldege
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Expertise assume monotonic asymmetry seek
complete
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Power value asymmetry

• Ideology

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Knowledge status pre-established
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Diversity of beliefs heterodoxy -gt orthodoxy
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Values (standards) pre-set global
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Purpose learning as explicit goal thematized
cognitive emphasis

• Learning community model
• Participation Structure

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Activity structure spatial heterarchical
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Dialogue function process of learning
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Locus of expertise value complementarity
expect limits
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Power relations recognize difference seek
balance

• Ideology

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Knowledge status socially constructed
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Diversity of beliefs heterodoxy orthodoxy
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Values (standards) emergent local
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Purpose learning incidental affective holistic
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