Essay

discussion1.docx

In a minimum 250 words, write a paragraph that answers the following questions: What does the word "literacy" mean to you? How does Gee define discourse? What is a discourse "identity kit"? Why does Gee believe that discourses are "inherently ideological"? Do you agree with him? Disagree? Both? Why? (Use examples and explain)

用不少于250个单词的篇幅回答以下问题:

“读写能力”这个词对你来说意味着什么?

Gee如何定义话语? 什么是话语身份工具箱”?

为什么Gee认为话语“本质上是意识形态的”?

你同意他的观点吗?不同意?都有?为什么?(举例并解释)

in his meaning is “a socially accepted association among ways of using language, of thinking, and of acting.”

From the article, the author Gee shows the words “literacy” is the first words he defined, in my opinion, I think ‘’literacy” is means a person's ability to read and write, even his ability to social. If people lose literacy, they can not survive well in society. And the words “discourse” in his meaning is “a socially accepted association among ways of using language, of thinking, and of acting that can be used to identify oneself as a member of a socially meaningful group or ‘social network’.” The discourse “identity kit” is in a language environment to master the language.

In this article, Gee said “discourse are inherently ‘ideological’. They crucially involve a set of values and viewpoints in terms of which one must speak and act, at least while being in the discourse; otherwise one doesn’t count as being in it.” The reason is when you come across something, you have ability to make judgments, whether right or wrong you have your own values. You can use discourses to comment or express your views, such discourses are ideological.

After reading this article, I was agree with Gee. I'm impressed the words “identity kit”, because for example, if you live in The United States, it's normal for you to speak English, and you might also speak more different languages, like Chinese and Korean. But if you live in The United States, you only can speak Chinese, there is a little bit strange, because it’s a English speaking country. I have learned a lot of knowledge through this article. I think this article is very helpful to my study.