'Literacy, Discourse and Linguistics' by James Paul Gee: Summary, Analysis, Meaning

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A summary of “Literacy, Discourse and Linguistics” by James Paul Gee
The field of linguistics has always been a hotbed of research over the last century. Many theories have been postulated and with them, many more counter-theories have been formulated. As such, this is one of the disciplines that have a rich heritage of research. One of the topics that has consistently featured in these studies is the issue literacy vis a vis the cultural background. While many early studies posited literacy as just the acquisition of language, the perspective has changed more so with the contemporary researchers. The theory posited is that the focus of literacy studies should not be primarily on what level of language the learner has acquired but more specifically on how well they are able to integrate the words learnt in their social practices (Gee, 1989). In essence, the writer argues that the language is more than the grammar acquired and its use but on the social practice of the same. This summary posits that the activities involved in language are more important than the grammar that the classroom emphasizes.
In the article, Gee emphasizes that literacy is not just about saying words correctly. The author notes that many people have the right grammar but eventually, they are maladapted when they face some situations that call more than grammar. The term social values is coined this time in the context of language learning to imply that there has to be values, beliefs, attitudes, and acts that will go along with the words if at all the literacy is to be acquired. These values are defines as Discourses and the writer continues to delineate how these vary at different levels of language growth. A Discourse varies from individual to the other and examples include being a teacher, a soccer player, a man or a woman among others. A cursory glance at these Discourses when juxtaposed with language use clearly support Gee’s hypothesis.
At the early stages, everyone comes into contact with their family context a...