Jiang
Meng
Professor
Liz
WRT
103
09/17/2013
In Gee’s passage, literacy is defined by firstly
understanding the point of discourse. Discourse is a method to socially
identify somebody by language use, thinking and behavior,etc. Discourse is not very
common in America while it is popular in Europe.
To help us
further interpret what discourse is, Gee deeply explain several characteristics
and properties of discourses. 1) One must “do something” to let him be
identified. 2) Discourse can be criticized but the one who criticize it must be
in one of the all discourses. 3) The position of one discourse is closely
related to other discourses. 4) One can accept conflict values between two
different discourses at the same time. 5) Discourses are related to social
power and hierarchical structures.
Then, Gee again points out the differences between
learning and acquisition. Learning is taught by someone by a model consciously.
Acquisition is self-acquire something naturally and subconsciously. From
finding, we know that learning is good for knowledge and acquisition is good
for practical skills and performances. In Gee’s words, “We are better at what
we acquire and we consciously know more about what we have learnt. “(Page 257, Gee
James). No one can get knowledge without either one kind, but the successful
person should make a good balance between learning and acquisition. Literacy
now can be defined mostly as the second discourse. First discourse is all thing
about our primarily born-to-be gaining like race. The second discourse is some
derivatives related to first discourse but it can be go beyond and independent
from first. Second discourse is non-intimates connection. Because the
differences in first discourse, two children can differ a lot in the ability of
acquiring. The home background can cause a child easily acquire knowledge while
others are learning.
Finally, Gee claims we should let acquisition
occur in all the school to all kinds of children (both mainstream and non-mainstream) and boost it.The school
should also plan courses to combine learning and acquisition in a better way.
Works cited
Gee James. “What Is Literacy?” Language
and Linguistics in Context. Eds. Harriet Luria, Deborah Seymour, and
Trudy Smoke. London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2006.257. Print.
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