James Paul Gee, an American researcher, has introduced a new profound concept of literacy. Moreover, this concept consists of viewing literacies as Discourses which redefines how individuals, all around the world, interact with each other. Ever since then, researchers have used this notion to interpret and decode numerous other articles from different authors, such as June Jordan who is a teacher and essayist. Combining these two compositions, I will be able to explore Jordan’s experiences of teaching with her African-American students while binding Gee’s terminology and concepts. Accordingly, Gee’s approach to defining literacy as Discourses allows a better comprehension through means of providing great descriptions/examples, creating analogous …show more content…
This means that the words combined in sentence must correlate to the correct context. Whether individuals interact as teachers, students, family members, employees, or friends, the communication varies when exposed to different social groups. Gee also states that Discourse could be “forms of life which integrate words, acts, values, beliefs, attitudes, and social identities as well as gestures, glances, body positions, and clothes” (Gee 7). Consequently, everyone has some sort of identification through these Discourses that we utilize daily to socialize and interact with others. Nevertheless, Gee defines the term of Discourses and leaves it for the audience to determine what their primary Discourse and secondary Discourse are by providing …show more content…
As Gee illustrates, dominant secondary Discourses are Discourses in which one would pursue “social ‘goods’” (Gee 8). There are many forms of social ‘goods’ including, but not limited to, money, prestige, or even social status in modern society. An example of this definite Discourse would be two individuals in the same job speaking in a professional voice due to the fact that both persons would be considered a worker and are currently gaining income for their services. On the contrary, a non-dominant secondary Discourse would be considered to be Discourse in which an individual is involved in a particular social group; however, this individual does not have the desire to gain the benefits of social ‘goods’ (Gee 8). An example of this would be one who volunteers at a non-profit organization to help the community with no intentions to obtain a reward for his or her efforts. Nonetheless, an individual must create connections to fully comprehend the meaning of Gee’s concepts and that is exactly what I