Blog #7

                I have had such a hard time deciding what discourse community I wanted to write about. Since there are several discourse communities that I am very interested in but I am still not sure which one I would enjoy writing about. After finding out that it is important to question and research discourse communities that are currently running rather than the activities of these communities in the past, I was stuck. Although the past can give us all a little glimpse into the discourse communities that I wanted to write about, it will not be sufficient enough to explain current or even future direction of those discourse communities. Here are the ones I was thinking of:

Economics

Since this is my major, I was very interested in was APEC (Asia-Pacific Economics Cooperation). This is a big group formed with 21 countries in order to improve and sustain stable economic growth for Asia-Pacific region. This involves a lot of those countries in Asia to unite and create meetings to support free open trade and investments to help economic development. The countries joined as separate entities into a community working side by side with the WTO (World Trade Organization) to improve trade and economic conditions for those Asia-Pacific countries involved. Their board members are appointed almost yearly and their membership is very exclusive. Besides the facts, I have always wanted to dig deeper into this organization because Vietnam and Thailand are members – I feel connected to these two members because I might decide to invest in their growing economies in the future. This will help me gain insights into the various involvement and the improvements that these two countries have made to date. I don’t think I can get answers from members directly, so I think it is best if I do a lot of research about APEC current projects and possibly finding answers through my research.

Restaurants

This discourse community is very fun for me to talk about because I want to own a restaurant in the future. I was a hostess and have worked my way up to waitressing a while back. I have an idea what the common goal is for each restaurant I have worked at. There is a sense of separation sometimes between the workers and the employer but I think the common goal at the end of the day is to make as much money as possible and create great experiences for diners no matter how difficult it is. I went through what it was like to be an employee but I have yet to experience what it is like to be an owner or even someone higher up in the restaurant. This is why is discourse community had my interest because it seems different at each of the restaurants I work at. I have friends that are still servers/waiters therefor, the only issue is to find a restaurant owner and/or someone in a higher position at a restaurant to ask the questions regarding about creating a successful business in the food industry.  

 

Feminist Movements (Pro-choice)

As many of you must hear, there is an ongoing debate between members of the pro-life and pro-choice movement. It is obvious what the common goals are between these two movements. I have read and learned a lot about issues regarding hidden or illegal abortions due to economic or suppression issue when it comes to women in many countries. However, it seems like America itself is suffering from the split itself. There were many violent attacks on abortion clinics and abortions doctors from many radicals who wants to take away the rights that women have with their bodies. I grew up with very strict beliefs and values regarding the creation of life but I began to learn about the suppressions that women continue to endure today when it comes the choices they have with their bodies. I strongly feel that I have to support the pro-choice movement because women have suffered long enough throughout history. I was more heart-broken when I watched recent documentaries that involves illegal abortions and unsafe health choices that these women are left with. I am interested in finding out about the groups involved in the pro-choice movement and choosing the one I would like to write about. This is possible for me to do because I am sure it is not hard to contact the members to question them about their strategies along with their discourse community and the research will be very enjoyable to do.

                Overall, I think this project will be a lot of work and these discourse communities are the ones I am very fond of. I have yet to think of the question(s) I want to answer but I will continue to narrow down the discourse community that fits best and work on the question after. Regardless of the choice of discourse community, I hope to gain a lot of information that I can carry through into the future. 

Bog #6: Identity Kit

When I was born, I was introduced to my primary discourse. The community and culture I was surrounded by shaped and formed my thoughts along with beliefs. There, I learned how to act and talk certain ways when I was around certain people. It is an eye-opener when I think about this because rarely do I ever have to consider what my primary discourse was. This reading by James Gee made me think deeper about my discourses associations.

Being bilingual for example, my first language is Vietnamese and English is my second. I can remember the time when I entered into school without knowing barely any English and I still find it funny how I made it through. But I think it was society’s way of telling me to adapt or I am going to be left behind. I pretended to understand whatever the teacher was talking about and quickly picked up the attitude of the students around me. At certain points, being nice was not good enough anymore because of the language barrier. My mushfaking was when I started to repeat common terms the other students were saying and eventually learning the definition as I start to use it in sentences (the dictionary was my savior). Now, I know that this was the beginning of my secondary discourse.

I realized I not only have to talk the talk but walk the walk in order for me to be credible. I began making friends because I was able to pick up some communication skills and joining different activities at recess. I know there were some kids who made fun of me but there were others who were very supportive. I think if I didn’t try to break down the barrier and pretended I was one of them, I would have had to eat lunch alone for a very long time.

This is all to say that till this day, I still mushfake it every time I am in unfamiliar environments. I am an introvert and I feel like I am living in a world full of extroverts. I mushfake by blending in and staying back instead of voicing my opinion unless asked to do so. I would rather observe because I think the extroverts have got it covered on the speaking front. I try to not draw attention to myself because I find it a waste of time to communicate unimportant things and it takes too much effort out of my day.

This does not mean that I won’t speak or I am timid or shy, I am just more comfortable around the discourses that I am used to. I do not mind having to answer questions when asked but it is funny that I would rather ask questions at the end of class or when people aren’t focused on me so much. Whenever I try to join a new discourse, I am very nervous and it daunts on me that I have to mushfake to get rid of my anxiety. I have to try to fit in just as I did when I was trying to learn English. Though I know that I will not master perfectly all the language and attitude of each discourse completely, it feels good to be able to continue learning and be accepted in a community. This also leaves me with the satisfaction that I am adapting to my surrounding through various ways and leaving behind the anxiety of any “social change” I encountered.

Blog #5

                This week’s readings have a special place in my heart, especially the one by Amy Tan. I moved to America when I was 9 and I started out speaking barely any English. In ninth grade, I had help learning English from my classmates and I felt so alone because I could not connect with them. Communication was key and the genres that I was surrounded by, is foreign.

                I could relate to Any Tan when I speak with my parents. I often translate for them whenever we go out because they speak broken English. I can see that they are at a disadvantage when they cannot communicate their thoughts thoroughly with other people; it’s frustrating. I have to call credit card or insurance companies for both my parents if there was a discrepancy with the bill. It is weird to think about it because that is how my family communicates at home – in both Vietnamese and broken English. I could definitely see that those who aren’t familiar with my background would be very confused. I never really noticed until I read the article.

                In high school, English was not my strongest subject but I managed to slip into an AP English class my junior year; I have no idea how that happened and how I survived it. I was the girl who got the lowest score whenever we had a writing assignment because I could not get it right even if my life depended on it. This is one of the reason why I fear English and Writing classes so much. I began steering myself towards communities that were more accepting like math, science and fun electives. My parents even put me into the after school tutoring place called Kumon. There, they gave me tedious spelling homework that I did not need however, I naturally gravitated towards the math homework given, because it is “universal” as there is only one right answer.

                I felt like high school was much more focused on how you could communicate and fit in with your peers the best. Being “cool” or “fitting in” was better than being correct because I can understand the slang and lingos invented for us teens to hang around each other. Looking back at my old English journal, all I can think of is how illiterate I was but my peers could understand me. When I spoke with my teachers, it was formal yet, the formality and correctness barely ever presented itself on my academic papers. Boy, do I feel bad for my high school English teachers.

I did not learn much about English and writing until I entered college. I remember my first English professor who had to work with me step by step to make sure that I was improving. I connect with people on a deeper level in college because I began to form a circle with those who have the same life goals as I do. The conversations I carry now are not about what songs are hip but rather what our passions and what we learned about the world.

Through discourse community, I exited my high school clique and entered into various different communities as I entered college. I understand those students who were pushed in other direction of English that Amy Tan wrote about. I wish there were some other way for immigrants and foreigners to not feel like such an alien when it comes to learning English. Today, the communities I am involved in relates to where I am at in my life – very relevant. The people who I surround myself with have the same lexis and we often communicate with the same genre(s) which helps me maintain my membership in my discourse community. 

                                

Discourse Community

            This article was so difficult for me to understand and I can understand the forehand warning about how dry it is. I had to repeatedly read it over and over yet, I am still trying to understand it as I write this blog. I feel like the beginning of every blog or paper I have to write it takes me a couple hours to days to form the right thoughts which really stinks.

Discourse Community consists of:

1. A broadly agreed set of common public goals
2. Mechanisms of intercommunication among its members
3. Uses its participatory mechanism primarily to provide information and feedback
4. Utilizes and hence possesses one or more genres in the communicative furtherance of its aims
5. Acquired some specific lexis
6. Has a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant content and discoursal expertise

From my understanding, it was said that a discourse community share a “cluster of ideas”, in which contribute to the group’s knowledge as a whole, it then made me wonder if this is why it can be confused with speech community. It is confusing because when I think of a speech community, I think of a group of people who shares the same lingos/genres and often communicates that way inherently. A discourse community also consists of members who speaks and know a specific lexis. But that is probably the only similarity between the two.

As a “discourse community is not well defined as yet, but like many imperfectly defined terms, it is suggestive, the center of a set of ideas rather than the sign of a settled notion”, it made me realize further that a discourse community is indeed “functional”. It is functional because the sociorhetorical discourse community consists of members who agree on and pursue goals rather than to discuss or socialize. I had to separately look into the dictionary and other internet sources to understand the difference between a speech community and a discourse community and I am glad because it helped me tremendously.

When applying what a discourse community is, I think of myself in various classes at San Diego State. When I join a classroom, I experience a common goal with other students such as passing a class and hopefully, graduating. Within the classroom, we are able to discuss ideas and give feedbacks to each other and our professors. In addition, depending on what major and class I am in, I am always required to understand and communicate the genre(s) with my fellow classmates. For example, in my Economic class, we are able to speak and understand about the “demand and supply” genre while being able to casually explaining it to those who aren’t familiar with the terms and are new to the subject. The survival of each major depends on how much a major itself can attract or persuade new potential members in joining its community.

I think the many genres within our discourse community is impressive such as the use of emails, social media and meetings in order to achieve the common goal we have. I get invites to groups on Facebook when I attend a certain class and when I open the discussion forum, I see a chain of communication in various types of genres such as questions, study guide and class information that can help further each and every single one of us to our common goal. Which is a very neat concept as we are functioning individually but as a whole group, we specify our specialties.

Unlike a discourse community, I can think of a speech community as a group someone was born into or involved in just for the basic human needs of socialization to survive. Such groups such as the Nazis, KKKs or cults are example of a speech community that comes together for a goal(s), however, such common goal(s)/belief(s) are often outdated and not relevant in today’s society. Their chain of communication is narrowed with falsely believed information passed onto their vulnerable and misinformed members. However, they do seem to have a common genre(s) when speaking about their commonality towards their goals. 

Memes

 It is funny now that when I think about memes, they practically run the internet. When I feel bored or need a laugh, I just start browsing on either Facebook or Instagram to look for memes. Often, I run into the ones that I have seen before and enjoy a laugh once again. But when I run into a new trend of memes, it is hilarious. The most recent ones that I have seen my peers use are along the lines of, "This is (insert name), be smart like (insert name)". These memes typically describe what a person does and states whether or not it is a smart thing to do. 

 Now, these memes may be a way for our current world to express ourselves, especially when the internet has given the power to allow us to be anonymous. These memes surfaced along with the Kermit the Frog memes, Pepe memes & the oh so famous I ain't got time for dat memes. It has been somewhat of the internet sensation and it has allowed people to identify themselves by reading those memes. The memes let people know that they are not alone with the feelings, actions or even thoughts that they are having. That is why we often see people laugh at the memes that they identify with or relate to the most.

 Sometimes, I realize when I have seen enough of a certain wave of memes, there is a new wave that has surfaced and before I know it, the internet and people I know are all over it. It starts to become overrated and the trend starts again with a new wave of memes. It has definitely become a market for us to start creating different ways to entertain our minds and sell products. 

 My final thoughts are, I like memes, memes has become part of our lives. As a student, we often feel lonely and lost in our quest to the goals we want to achieve but memes help us find a part of ourselves and let us know that we are not alone in all this. They let us know that we are not the only one who is feeling broke or struggling in school. It is a good form of laughter and encouragement for us to live just a little longer before we become adults. 

Devitt: Genre Awareness

When I think of genre, it is the typical categorization of a certain topic such as music, books, television show or movies as seen on Netflix. According to Devitt, teaching genre without engagement might ruin the way we think about street smarts vs. school smarts, it emphasizes stereotypes and puts labels on those who aren’t as educated or connected in the subject. At SDSU, the genres that I have encountered the most in my major are research papers, scientific papers/reports, analysis papers/reports. In my life, I have found that I often have to write my emails to various people in both professional and unprofessional tones. I think in today’s society, we also encounter social media type of genre that is a combination of people we know sharing their style of the genre that was taught to them most and it have somewhat stemmed their ideologies and beliefs. The purpose of these genre is allowing me to achieve different things in my life whether it is good grades, a favor from someone or a message that I want communicated with different individuals.

We often thing of genre as a set category but when Devitt speaks about genre awareness, it makes me think about the many different ways we can be looking at genre. Devitt talks about instructions in genre, no matter how detailed, will always be incomplete. This itself will ruin the experience of fully fulfilling a genre writing assignment. I feel this is in most of the classes that I have taken my whole life, where teachers are very strict upon the style in which we write in certain papers because of the “instructions” given for a genre of writing they are assigning to us.  Secondly, Devitt also talks about taking a genre from a typical learning place and put it in another—her example was, “learning business genre in technical writing courses rather than in actual workplaces” (340). I do believe that most of what we are taught is learning in the environment that it is supposed to be, but if we remove the stereotypical place we are learning certain genre from, would that change our views and perspectives? In addition, many teachers choose to teach in their comfort zone and this creates a power structure that channels information the teacher knows into the student and therefor, passing down their ideologies. This I will further explain below.

                “When a writer takes up a genre, they take up that genre’s ideology” (339)

                The genre a teacher decides to teach often will limit the students’ world to many other different genres. When teacher themselves believe in certain ideologies that a genre offers, it often will pass on to the student. Devitt seems to be advising teachers to take a neutral stand when it comes to the genre they choose to teach. I understand where Devitt is coming from but I also think it is important to be taught genres that will actually benefit many of us students in our future careers. I say this because we often have to learn many things on the job and with no help of school, we have to adjust quickly or else someone else will take our spots. Some of the things we learn on the job should be taught in school in order to prepare us better for the real world. So often, teachers try to have us see things from their views, our opportunities to engage and be aware of the subjects and genres learned is hindered.

                When Devitt speaks of “existing power structures and dynamics” (347), I think she is talking about how genre help people identify but also assume. The structure in which genre is taught shows where it came from. One of the example I can think of is during slavery, slaves used to mix some English into their native language to speak to their masters. However, this made them look like they we not educated individuals to the whites but they made their own language and genre. The same can be said about someone who grew up in certain areas and are accustomed to certain traditions but if it is seen as foreign, we often dismiss it or categorize it instead of embracing or engaging with a rhetorical point of view. 

A little about me

Hi guys,
  It is really hard to talk about myself in a blog because I don't think I have done this since the days of Myspace but here goes...

 My name is Tien and I am an economic major here at SDSU. I was born in Vietnam and grew up there for about 10 years then my parents decided to move us to the US. Since I grew up in Vietnam, I did not get to watch a lot of the cartoons and Disney movies that a kid in America would have watched when they are young. Which means that I had to catch up on a lot of good movies and morning cartoon shows when I was in my teen years.

  It took me a while to decide on Economics as a major. Purely because there were so many choices that I was interested in but I guess Economics won my heart. Most of the time, a lot of us feel pressure from our peers and our parents to go a certain routes in order to be cool or make more money. I have tried to take all the chemistry and biology classes that I could but I really hated chemistry. I despised it so much that I think I failed every single test in college and ended up dropping the classes. When I see or hear younger people pursue a career because of the money or the coolness of it, it drives me crazy. I wanted to be a fashion major too but I realized that it did not capture my attention enough to stay involved.

  I am a person that enjoys staying home and watching a show. I like to sleep and play video games when I can. However, I do also enjoy the occasional hike to be able to see the beautiful scenery that is offered by nature. My favorite hike right now has to be Elfin Forest in Escondido; it is a short hike but I get to see the dam and the lake at the top.

  I also like to cook and eat which is very bad at times because I got food poisoning over the weekend. The hardest part for me is trying to figure out what I ate that caused me to be so miserable. It was this really nice seafood restaurant I went to with my friends in Harbor Island that had a wonderful view and I ate some oysters(raw). I ended up at the doctor's yesterday morning and contemplated going to class this morning. I really wish food did not have this bad side because I feel like I should be getting sick more often. I try to stay healthy but I find it hard to have any control when I am always around people who can cook.

  This is my last semester at SDSU and I am hoping that I finish strong because I have barely survived some of my classes. Looking back now, I am surprised I was able to make it this far. It seems like it was just yesterday when I first stepped onto campus as a transfer student. I think most people on campus have the same goals as I do when I comes to going to college to find their passions and to receive a degree they worked so hard for.

Well, that's all for now, until next time. Thanks for reading!