Readings To Draw From In The Attachment McKinneys I Need You
Readings To Draw From In The Attachment Mckinneys I Need You To
Readings to draw from: (In the attachment) — McKinney’s “I Need You to say “I”: Why First Person is Important in College Writing.” — Ocean Vuong’s Surrendering — Gee’s Literacy and Discourse Linguistics Objectives: — Put different forms of essays in conversation with each other — Successfully analyze and interweave quotes in writing — Critically investigate the formation of communities
What to do: We have spent the last few weeks discussing the formation of a community through both personal and academic channels. We’ve read both creative and academic works discussing what it takes to “fit into” a community, so now I’m asking you to take this a step further. How do the pieces we’ve read inform Gee’s idea of a Discourse Community?
Your task is to take at least two of the pieces I listed above and discuss how they work in conjunction with Gee’s Discourse community. This is an opportunity for you to take multiple different readings and put them in a conversation with each other. What would Gee say about Vuong’s classroom experience? How would your classmates feel about McKinney’s elevation of the word “I” in college writing? To summarize: the goal of this piece is to help you establish your expertise in joining the discourse community of Composition.
Use the pieces we have read throughout the semester so far to analyze Gee’s discussion of discourse communities, and report on the potential difficulties of accessing a discourse community and how to work around them. As a disclaimer, the words of the more successful scholars we’re reading are important, but I’m trusting your words as well. Utilize the readings to help you make your point, but know that you don’t just have to “agree” with one of the readings and tell me why. I want to hear your analysis.
How to do it: This assignment can absolutely be completed in a 5 page academic essay in which you discuss how to enter and work within a discourse community. This essay should contain well-integrated quotes or paraphrases from the readings listed above. Combine the essay with discourse community and diagnostic essay in the attachment.
Paper For Above instruction
The concept of discourse community, as articulated by James Paul Gee, refers to groups sharing common goals, language, and practices that define their social identity and membership. Engaging with Gee’s framework, alongside the writings of McKinney and Vuong, offers an insightful exploration of how individuals negotiate their place within communities, especially within academic environments like college composition.
McKinney’s “I Need You to Say ‘I’” emphasizes the importance of personal voice and the expression of individual identity through the use of the first person in academic writing. This suggests that authentic self-representation can serve as a bridge into a discourse community by establishing credibility and fostering genuine communication. McKinney’s emphasis on the personal “I” underpins the notion that mastery of discourse involves not just language skills but also the ability to craft a unique voice that aligns with community expectations.
Conversely, Ocean Vuong’s “Surrendering” offers a poetic perspective on vulnerability and the relinquishing of self-imposed limitations to connect deeply with others. Vuong’s insights can be aligned with Gee’s idea of Discourse because he demonstrates that participation in a community—poetic, personal, or academic—often requires navigating emotional and cultural boundaries. Vuong’s openness resonates with Gee’s assertion that discourse communities are not merely about language but also about shared emotional and cultural understandings that facilitate or hinder access.
In analyzing these works together, it becomes apparent that entering a discourse community in college writing involves both the mastery of genre-specific language and the development of an authentic personal voice. McKinney’s educational stance encourages students to adopt a confident “I,” while Vuong’s poetic vulnerability underscores the importance of openness and emotional resonance. Both approaches highlight potential difficulties in accessing discourse communities—such as fear of misrepresentation or cultural barriers—and suggest strategies for overcoming these hurdles, including genuine self-expression and active engagement.
Moreover, applying Gee’s perspective, it becomes clear that successful navigation of a discourse community entails understanding its cultural and linguistic codes while remaining true to one’s identity. The challenge often lies in balancing conformity with authenticity, as students may feel pressured to conform to community norms that seem at odds with their personal or cultural identities. McKinney’s advocacy for the confident use of “I” can serve as a tool for asserting one’s voice, whereas Vuong’s poetic approach might encourage openness that fosters communal bonds beyond mere technical language competence.
In conclusion, integrating McKinney’s emphasis on personal voice with Vuong’s emotional vulnerability enriches our understanding of Gee’s discourse communities. These works collectively demonstrate that entry into a community requires both linguistic proficiency and emotional authenticity, which may sometimes conflict but are ultimately complementary. Recognizing these dynamics allows students to approach their participation in academic discourse with both confidence and empathy, expanding the inclusivity and richness of their communities.
References
- Gee, J. P. (2005). An Introduction to Discourse Analysis: Theory and Method. Routledge.
- McKinney, L. (2017). “I Need You to Say ‘I’: Why First Person is Important in College Writing.”
- Vuong, Ocean. (2016). Surrendering. Copper Canyon Press.
- Street, B. (1994). Literacy in Theory and Practice. Cambridge University Press.
- Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation. Cambridge University Press.
- Bourdieu, P. (1991). Language and Symbolic Power. Harvard University Press.
- Hymes, D. (1972). “On Communicative Competence.” In J. B. Pride & J. Holmes (Eds.), Language and Social Context. Penguin.
- Gee, J. P. (2011). How to Do Discourse Analysis: A Toolkit. Routledge.
- Hooks, B. (1994). Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom. Routledge.
- Baker, C. (2011). Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. Multilingual Matters.