Homework for September 9th: Read and annotate two articles and then respond to three of the five provided questions.

Question #1: Gee defines Discourses (capital D) as “saying (writing)-doing -being-valuing, believing combinations” (6). Why is this “combination” important for Gee? Gee offers a couple examples. Offer your own example of a Discourse in your response.

Combinations of saying (writing), doing, being, valuing, and believing are important to Gee because the emphasis that he puts on Discourses is that they are a learned social construct. To interact socially, one cannot write a thoughtful piece if they don’t value the same things that their readers do. Someone cannot exist within a social circle without consistently doing actions that are held appropriate by the social circle. Gee states “Discourses are not mastered by overt instruction”.  One can be taught how to write, how to act, gestures to use, and clothes to wear, but they have to master putting them together appropriately. To do this they have to interact within the social circle to see how others interact and hold themselves. Combining all these factors in the correct way leads to Discourse mastery.

 

Question #2: Gee writes, “While you can teach someone linguistics, a body of knowledge, you can’t teach them to be a linguist” (7). If so, how does one become a linguist, a sociologist, a biologist, a veterinarian, a historian, etc?

One becomes a linguist by actively participating and interacting with others who describe themselves as linguists. They cannot become a linguist themselves until they can fluently interact with other linguists. Discourses change over time and new subDiscourses arise as new generations mature and as the acceptability of words change.  To become a linguist, one is adding a secondary Discourse to their arsenal. Gee said, “we acquire [secondary Discourses] fluently to the extent that we are given access”. The more the “linguist in training” is able to interact with other linguists, the quicker they will become an actual linguist in Gee’s eyes.

 

Question #3: Cuddy’s research explores nonverbal communication, as she tells us (para. 4). Why is this nonverbal behavior important to those who would be in the Discourse of business? Be sure to provide evidence from Cuddy in your response.

Business is all about power. The business world is run by those in power and everyone wants to be in power. By using the nonverbal behavioral cues that are associated with power one can show themselves as well as their Discourse peers that they are in a position of power or are working on getting there. Cuddy tells us that, “if someone is being really powerful with us, we tend to make ourselves smaller”.  In the business world, one would want to either mirror the person that is giving powerful nonverbal clues or they would want to watch for others that are making themselves smaller in their presence. As a member of the business Discourse, knowledge of when to be powerful and when to close up a little bit is also important. Cuddy discusses cortisol levels and in the business world, there are stressors left and right. If one feels confident and powerful, chances are their cortisol levels are going to be lower as well.

 

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