This quarter alone, has been one of the most interesting areas of school with the idea of literacy and methods of communication. It is so intriguing to acknowledge just how much an average individual changes their modes of speaking and shifting discourse gears in their normal day-to-day routine. Taking the time to really listen for my own shift in discourse has proven that I myself actually shift discourse gears everyday. Aside from someone who swaps between one language and another, I change discourses just within the English language. A great example of this, is in my writing: both in class note taking, and the daily communication through text messages. Looking at my class notes alone, there are several instances where I begin to write out complete sentences, and then almost immediately begin to make abbreviations, and simple codes that stand for a more complete or complex thought. This is done involuntarily in a way that helps me to gather as much information and transfer it from ear to paper and ink, while still being caught up with what is being discussed in the class. Text messaging is a great example of this kind of code making in literacy today. It doesn’t matter how professional a situation or person is, because in the “community” of text messaging, it is easier, faster and more room efficient to make abbreviations, or spell words wrong on purpose, so long as you get your message across. In my own personal experience in this circumstance, I was texting my friend, who was actually once my high school AP English teacher. She presents herself as a very intellectual and “grammatically sophisticated” individual in her work environment, and even occasionally outside of the work environment. I have noticed that this image of sophisticated language discourse immediately changes when she communicates through text messages. Almost every word is spelled wrong, or incorrectly abbreviated, but the fact of the matter is, I still understand exactly what she is communicating.
Another important kind of shifts in communication takes place within my own household. This year, I rent a room from one of my old assistant coach and his family. They have a 16 month old little boy named Spencer, who has been taught several different signs (of actual sign language) in order to communicate what he wants. He knows the signs for words or phrases such as “Hungry” “more food” “bottle” “bath” and “diaper change”. It is interesting for me to sit and observe Spencer and his mom communicating with one another. Spencer’s mom shifts from speaking verbally, to strictly making the hand gestures in order to help Spencer to have a smooth transition from not being able to speak, to speaking pretty fluently.
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Shifting discourse is interesting to observe in our own lives. I too use a crazy sort of shorthand similar to texting-style when I take notes during class. I am however, the slowest texter in the world! It's partly because of my phone, it's a Motorola Razor. (Tell everyone you know it lags!!) There are times I would rather have email correspondences instead of phone conversations because I know I type fast.
ReplyDeleteBut we all shift discourses depending on who we are speaking to and the nature of the topic.
It's interesting that you mention the lack of proper grammatical use while texting. I once took part in a study that asked participants to write for an hour for three days about personal events without no instruction on how to write. It was found that a majority of people wrote their sessions without grammatical regard and in shothand. The writings looked like page long text messages or online instant messaging.
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