Language, Discourse, and Literacy

Seth Graves

“To exist, humanly, is to name the world, to change it.” ~Paulo Freire

Rhetoric scholar James Paul Gee writes, “Language is a misleading term; it too often suggests ‘grammar.’” So what is language, then? At a much more basic level, language refers to an interaction recognized by a specific community. Kenneth Burke asserts that language is “a symbolic means of inducing cooperation in beings that by nature respond to symbols” (43). That includes words, of course, but this definition of language opens up some new possibilities: An image, a gesture, a line of computer code, or even an emoji can all function as language when they become forms of symbolic exchange in communication.

Language brings with it an imprint of the society from which it originated. As long as language isn’t regarded as “dead”—i.e. no longer used by any group, such as Latin today—then language is ever-evolving based on the way it gets used. Language shapes what we perceive to be our reality: What language we have and use affects the way we think—for example, based on the ways expressions and thoughts are constructed in that language. If you want an example, just think of a word you use that your parents don’t. Language is an adaptive human instrument, and those who use it also determine its future.

When a group shares a common set of language-use practices, this forms a discourse—and the group that uses it makes up a discourse community. James Paul Gee writes, “Discourses are ways of being in the world; they are forms of life which integrate words, acts, values, beliefs, attitudes, and social identities as well as gestures, glances, body positions, and clothes.” (Gee 6-7). Discourse communities may be related to professions, such as biologists or doctors, or may refer to social groups, such as Dominican-American residents of New York City, or users of the web forum Reddit.

Literacy refers to one’s knowledge of a discourse. That includes but is not limited to written language. Up to the 1970s, literacy was traditionally regarded as the ability to read and write in a given named language (such as English or French), but since then, the definition of literacy has broadened to the ability to utilize language within a specific discursive space, within or beyond named languages. Think of literacy as a word that can be easily made plural: There are multiple “literacies,” such as digital literacy, rhetorical literacy, cultural literacy—that refer to an understanding and ability to participate in the literacy practices of a discourse community.

Literacy is connected to how people use texts (different value systems for legal writing, religious writing, or fan fiction). It’s a “social phenomenon” about how one participates with language in social groups (Gee). One aspect of gaining literacy skills is in understanding the genre conventions of the kinds of language used in a given discourse community (can you write a video game FAQ? can you write a film review without “spoilers”—a genre convention?).

One’s social environment affects what literacies they acquire and and how they acquire them. For example, generally, “Standard American English” (SAE) is taught in the American schooling system schools, while other forms of English exist alongside it, such as regional dialects or African-American Vernacular English (AAVE).

Literacy acquisition and practices can be controlled and have a strong relationship to power. They can shape ideology. For example, applicants for citizenship in the United States have to take an exam that requires a certain, local kind of knowledge—and more understanding of American history than many who are already American citizens have today. Literacy can also be withheld to oppress others. Consider how slaves in the antebellum South were violently outlawed from reading—and how Jim Crow laws after the Civil War once again attempted to use literacy as a means of controlling African Americans.

Literacy is also shaped by our understanding of what is possible. For example, how might digital literacy practices change if you could only go to certain websites based on what your specific internet provider (and, perhaps, whatever company owned that provider) allowed? If we could only go to, say, a few apps and not the World Wide Web, how might that shape the way we think about what’s possible online?

As you can see, “reading” and “writing” can be much more complex than they seem. You can learn about yourself by examining your own literacy practices and developing a metacognitive awareness of why you write, speak, and act within the context of your own life.

Works Cited

Burke, Kenneth. A Rhetoric of Motives. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1969.

Freire, Paulo. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Trans. Myra Bergman Ramos. New York: Herder and Herder, 1970.

Gee, James Paul. “Literacy, Discourse, and Linguistics: Introduction.” Journal of Education 171.1(1989): 5–15.