Carefully read Literacy, Discourse and Linguistics: Introduction by James Paul Gee. Identify his rhetorical situation: - Dissertation Example

Download file to see previous pages... He asserts that language is not just about grammar but a combination of Discourses like doing, believing, valuing and saying (Gee 5). He further explains that Discourses are ways of being in the world and are forms of life since human beings always talk and posse’s attitudes which dictates their behaviors at all times. The genre of this writing is descriptive essay which describes the various importance of language as a communication tool in daily life, the format of the article is well organized and arranged in a logical manner for easier understanding to the reader. Gee, primary claims are that literary studies should not be language or literary but social practices due to its socially important and cognitive interesting consequences. This is true because a person can know perfectly the grammar of a language but fails to use the in proper context during communication process. He explains that a language is not what you say but how you say it that determines the good mastery of language (Gee 5). A sentence may have a good grammar but its wrong regarding the context in which it’s said. What you are and do in expressing yourself in a sentence is of great importance in determining the success of your communication (Gee 6). Disclosures are forms of life with integrate words, acts, values and beliefs with social identities like gestures, glances and body positions together with the clothes one wears. Trained linguistic learn to speak, think and act like in a particular manner and to recognize others also acting and thinking on particular manner. Discourse is acquired in just like the way on acquires the second language and are not mastered by overt instruction but by enculturation. The discourse without capital “D” is connected stretches of language that makes sense and therefore is different to Discourse with capital “D” in linguistics (Gee 5). I agree with Gees contention that some conflict and tension will always be present between the various discourses. This is because there is always a conflict in the values, beliefs, attitudes, interaction styles and the uses of language and this is known to bring a lot of conflicts in the way human beings interact with one another. This brings inconsistency in their cognitive or social viewpoint. The upbringing also contributes to the variety of discourses acquired by different people since it instills in them a discourse with is different from one child to the other. The primary discourse acquired when one grow up largely depends with the environment and since environment differs from one place to another, most people have different discourse and this is the source of conflict between them. The acquisition of the primary discourse is never liberating due environment one is exposed to which changes everything in due to unavoidable peer pressure which in turn controls the nature of his perception. When one grows up, he moves from one place to another like churches, schools and other social institutions which also instill in them different values depending on the environment. In these places, one forms peer groups which in turn commands and demands from them leading to change of discourse. Secondary discourse allows one to think critically about the primary discourse due to the interference in between them. Primary discourse can also be transferred to secondary discourse leading to further interference between them. A good example is the primary disco ...Download file to see next pagesRead More