A "Discovery of Competence" Course - Blog 3 (Summary)

Chapter 7 in The Discovery of Competence, “Extending Competence,” builds off of the project described in Chapter 6 where students research language by listening in on conversations in the workplace. The students in Chapter 7 have told a story to the class then written out the story. In this act, they think through what needed to change between the oral and written forms. The students then do research in the discourse community that exists when family and friends get together and re-tell familiar stories. The chapter describes two examples of this research, stories told about a grandfather’s life in Ireland (recounted by a single teller, the mother or aunt) and the group telling of story about a dog that the children let kill the neighbor’s cat. In the process of gathering and writing down these stories, the students learn both the function of language in their families (one to pass down family history and culture, and another to transmit shared values and reassure members of the group) and learn how stories turn into literature through the act of writing.

Key points from the chapter:

• Students are studying “how language works in the world around them” (124) by discovering the difference between spoken and written versions and, later, by focusing on the context in which stories are told.
• James Britton defines two types of discourse:  transactional and poetic. Transactional is the language that happens in order to get things done in the world. Poetic language exists when the spectator evaluates or comments on experience.
• The stories the class compiled and wrote were gathered into a collection that students were asked to study. Students organized the 30+ stories by noticing different types of stories and different functions of language (the style, the topic, the context and use of such stories).
• Research was done by keeping a notebook of observations. Students sometimes recorded dinner conversations or holiday gatherings. Students also chose different communities to focus on:  home, workplace, church, daycares, restaurants, Al-Anon meetings, etc.
• The process of gathering, transcribing, writing and reflecting on these stories made students more competent readers. Students learned to become “strong readers” (Richard Rodriguez). That is, they were able to engage with readings in new, more in depth ways, because they had become familiar with modes and uses of language in communities.