Every time people interact with each other, they must choose what words to say and how to act. To do this, they use experiences and must consider who exactly they are communicating with as behaviors yield different results in different circumstances. For example, it is unwise to act similarly with a businessman or doctor as one would a friend. James Paul Gee refers to grouping of behaviors as “discourses.” Gee defines discourses as “ways of being in the world; they are forms of life which integrate words, acts, values, beliefs, attitudes and social identities as well as gestures, glances, body positions and clothes” (Wardle 484). In addition to acting and speaking alike, groups of people share beliefs and values as well. In order to observe …show more content…
All participants in the tournament exhibited comparable languages, actions and beliefs that would not be applicable in other situations. They specifically molded their behavior in order to feel more included. After defining a single discourse, Gee goes on to segment them into dominant and non-dominant varieties. A dominant discourse “brings with it the (potential) acquisition of social 'goods'” (Wardle 485). They are a way of being people follow with the intention of gaining money or fame. A non-dominant discourse serves to feel more connected to a group, but does not gain an individual anything else. For example, doctors have a dominant discourse, while people who go bowling on the weekends have a non-dominant discourse. Starcraft 2 tournaments follow this separation. Commentators earn money and therefore use a dominant discourse. However, even though the language viewers use is near-identical to that of the commentators, they are not also a dominant discourse. The commentators are required to act more professionally and entertain an audience. Their abilities to speak clearly and keep current knowledge about the game are highly valued. Conversely, the tournament viewers' discourse only allows them to effectively communicate with other viewers. They do not stand to procure or forfeit any social goods. This reinforces Gee's idea that a discourse includes all aspects of a person and not just
Discourse communities are groups of people with a unique point of view. There are many discourse communities around your everyday life. These communities are part of the entire human environment. Many discourse communities are distinctly large due to all the societies wanting the same things. My discourse communities are mostly Facebook.
William Trevor uses the force of time to produce a stark contrast between the earlier locale of the boys’ childhood and that of adulthood. For example, the latter scenes of adulthood are during winter on a chilly November night for the greater part of the current timeline. With these subtle details about the time of day and year, a mood of coldness and faint solidarity begins to materialize. While Trevor writes that Wilby is up through the night alone, the reader can sense that is not unusual from mentions of his marital status and that he reads a lot, drinks a lot (127). The darkness of the night and repetitive detail of a blinking light suggests a metaphor for the darkness cast over the character’s life as well as the
The constant desire to understand the function of language and discourse facilitates positive individual and social change. It is discourse analysis’s unique and innovative method of interpreting reality and giving meaning to social constructs through language that has pushed it to the forefront of modern psychology and presented a critical challenge to existing dominant paradigms such as behavioural and psychoanalytical, highlighting its potential to become the new dominant paradigm in psychology.
In order for something to be a Discourse Community it has to fulfill many requirements including a broadly set of common goals, communication between members, a way to provide feedback, possesses at least one genre, has a specific lexis, and has a threshold of members with a suitable degree of relevant content and discoursal expertise (Swales). After observing this group of people I have come to a decision that they do in fact represent a Discourse community. The groups broad set of goals woul...
At Children’s First, our mission is to keep a safe, healthy, prosperous environment for children. Being a part of this community, I know firsthand what it takes to maintain an ideal setting for children to grow. It is essential for the caretakers to communicate, share information, and work together to put the children first. This core goal of ours, along with my own experience, analysis, interviewing, and observation demonstrate that Children’s First Daycare is a discourse community according to Swale’s six characteristics of a discourse community.
Communication is the foundation of any society. Humans are interactive beings that must communicate in order to survive. Humans develop communication skills as infants; learning to yell when something is needed, cry when something is painful, and smile when feeling happy. As babies age they learn words; eventually learning to compose sentences allowing them to express their feelings or desires. Humans finally learn to communicate within different parts of their life with different forms of communication such as letters, spoken, visual, and more. As one ages, they become aware of the different rules of communication used with certain people and situations; such as learning to speak to a teacher in a different manner than how one talks to their friends. While doing this, people are unconsciously starting to learn how to conform in the different discourse communities. Discourse communities are an essential part of life, and learning to communicate in those communities is just as vital.
Football is a discourse community I am involved in where the members have similar goals and expectations. As in, what Swales describes a discourse community as groups that have goals or purposes, and use communication to achieve these goals”. In his article “The Concept of Discourse Community” (Swales 466-479) Swales argues for a fresh conceptualization of discourse community, especially as a distinct entity from the similar sociolinguistic concept of speech community, and building upon the foundations of that argument defines discourse community in his own. In the Conceptualization of Discourse Community he talks about the six defining characteristics of a discourse community. The discourse community I am part of is playing and coaching football.
To examine various discourses, it is crucial that the idea of discourse and the way in which discourses operate is clear. A discourse is a language, or more precisely, a way of representation and expression. These "ways of talking, thinking, or representing a particular subject or topic produce meaningful knowledge about the subject" (Hall 205). Therefore, the importance of discourses lies in this "meaningful knowledge," which reflects a group’s ideolo...
Social norms are the rules of behavior that are acceptable within members of a society. They are acceptable expectations that must be followed by a group or society. Some social norms are flexible according to the environment or situation. These norms also vary within different cultures, social groups, and social classes. Interactions provide the social setting for appropriate behavior and is the basis for the social roles that individuals play as a member of a social group. As each social role is portrayed, a proper behavior must manifest to fit the expectations of that role. These basic terms of social norms, interactions, and roles are associated with the Symbolic Interactionism Theory, which focuses on the actions of an individual and the social interaction that individual contributes to. The framework of the theory is dependent upon the social interactions between individuals and the meaning that is given to their actions.
There are many different types of communication, whether that be group, mass, or interpersonal communication. For the purpose of this paper, the identification of interpersonal communication is necessary. Interpersonal communication is the involvement of direct communication between two people. There tends to be three stages involved in such a process. The personal, phatic, and intimate stages. Nonverbal and verbal methods are used in this type of communication. People often define themselves as communicators by ways in which they communicate. For example, when I am communicating with family members I may talk with more expression and use more nonverbal communication. However, when I am with peers, I may communicate in ways similar to them. This may mean less nonverbal communication. I think when we define ourselves as communicators it is important to know who we are. The experiences and personality of a person should make up who they are and how they like to communicate. I see myself as an active communicat...
Communication is a crucial aspect in people’s everyday life. Everything from word choice to personal perception can influence the interactants’ behaviors and styles of communication. Kim’s Contextual Theory of Interethnic Communication depicts the many layers and facets that attribute to the communication between two people belonging to different identities or groups. While there are four layers to Kim’s theory, this paper will focus on the behavioral aspect. Kim’s theory will be analyzed and explained through the lens of associative and dissociative behaviors.
Power use is around us whether noticed or not. Power in Discourse Analysis is a medium to achieve an end. The end is for stronger of the two sides of the discourse. Power in discourse analysis is the use of language in a discourse allowing the person who acquires knowledge and high status in the discourse takes control of the discourse thus having the higher power. In the following paragraphs, I will discuss nature of power argued in Discourse Analysis, attempts made to define ‘power’ in social research and discuss the different types of power.
Wodak, R. (1997) ‘Critical discourse analysis’, in T. van Dijk (ed.) Discourse as Social Interaction, London: Sage.
James Paul Gee defines 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’” in his article What is Literacy (1). After defining discourse, Gee compared the word to an “identity kit”. A person’s identity is subsidized into social and personal identity and social identity is broken down even further into type (characteristics) and role (actions). A person might have to take on different roles throughout their life and therefore their social identity may change. Just as the world around us and definition of the word literacy changes and evolves, so do people 's discourses. Technology has empowered people and allowed them to become what they consider to be literate. Context and interpretation both play important roles in the definition of literacy. Context dictates the literacy and identity of the situation and how people interpret different discourses changes the definition of literacy. Most people would consider literacy to be the ability to read and write, but there is more to it than
As humans, one of the most frequent instinctive activities that we partake in is socializing. Our lives revolve around socializing with other people in our society in order to satisfy our many needs. In order for everyone’s needs to be met, we must all work together as a group. In society, there are many different types of groups that influence all types of different aspects of our lives. These groups are very influential throughout our lives because they influence as well as alter our views, choices and other factors of our lives on a daily basis.