James Paul Gee introduces to readers what he calls a Discourse. A Discourse, is not what you would define it as in a dictionary. “Discourses are ways of being in the world; they are forms of life which integrate words, acts, values, beliefs, attitudes, and social identities” (Gee 6). So basically everything someone says, does, and feels contributes to the Discourse they’re in. An example of a Discourse is a teacher. When someone thinks of a teacher generally they connect that word with certain words. A teacher acts professional in their Discourse with the belief that they must teach children. They do things that teachers do; They create a curriculum, give assignments, teach students, and grade students. These are all the factors that put them in the teacher Discourse. Any proper teacher would fall under these basic guidelines. Similarly the IMRAD talks about identities in writing. The IMRAD states “Each Journal has its own style; but they all have their own Instructions…” Basically IMRAD defines what Gee defines as a Discourse. IMRAD is saying the authors have a style that they write in which I would argue is the writing’s Discourse. To understand this writing you must understand the author. This factors in to another idea of Gee and Christina Haas.
One of Gee’s main points in his writing is that to be literate in something isn’t just knowing the words and their meaning but how to apply them when speaking. Perfect grammar does not mean that the sentence is correct even if it would be in another situation. “It’s not just what you say it’s how you say it” (Gee 5). In other words the things you say depend on the situation you are in. Gee uses an example of entering a bar and approaching a built, tattooed, drinking buddy. This person wouldn’t ask his buddy with perfect grammar for a match as he cleaned his seat and sat down carefully, instead he would plop in the seat next to his buddy and say “Gimme a match wouldya?” (Gee 5). So to talk to people the right way in a situation you must understand their Discourse, they way they talk, think, act, and believe. Similar ideas appear when Christina Haas talks about being literate. She states “to become literate is to learn the patterns of knowing about, and behaving toward…” (Haas 43). What this means is knowing the words being said or written isn’t going to make someone literate. Instead one must learn the author or speakers Discourse (Gee’s idea of a Discourse) towards the topic they’re speaking about. So understanding the way you are suppose to speak to someone or interpret someones texts becomes easier and is a lot more understandable when you understand their Discourse. You speak and act differently to people based on what you know about them. You talk with respect to a parent and if you were reading a document written by a mother you would read it differently than a document written by a kid who got kicked out of the house for bad behavior. You would also talk to this person differently than you would a mother. These are the points both Gee and Haas are making when then talk about being literate.
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