Blackboard Exercises
What Is Literacy
Description
In “What Is Literacy,” James Paul Gee investigates the definition and the meaning of literacy by examining other related terms such as “discourse,” “learning,” and “acquisition.” Gee opens by mentioning the following as characteristics that define “discourse:” “discourses are inherently ideological,” they are “resistant to internal criticism,” “discourse-defined positions” function as standpoints, each discourse values certain view points and marginalizes others, discourses are very much integrated in the power structure of society (30-31). Since the meeting point of all conflicting discourses is the individual, Gee examines ways individuals come by the discourses they control by highlighting the distinction between “acquisition” and “learning.” Gee believes that most of the skills that we come by are a mixture of subconscious acquisition and conscious learning (32). In defining literacy as “the control of the secondary uses of language,” he examines the distinction between primary discourse, experiences within the immediate context of home and family, and secondary discourse that includes the uses of language beyond our primary discourse. Mastery is associated with acquiring, not learning. He believes that there is no such thing as “learning literacy” since through experiences outside the classroom; children are capable of “acquiring literacy.” The learning that they are getting in schools gives them “the meta-level cognitive” and linguistic skill that functions as the foundation needed to criticize other discourses. Gee concludes that more research should be done to find ways to help non-mainstream children to master literacies and enable them to critique their secondary discourses. He calls for redefining “mastery” in a more sympathetic way that takes into consideration non-mainstream children who, due to their conflicts, have difficulty acquiring “the standard sort of full mastery” (38).
Author
Lana Oweidat
Date of Upload
11/3/09