Re: genre

Judy Diamondstone (diamonju who-is-at rci.rutgers.edu)
Sat, 15 Nov 1997 19:21:48 -0500

Carol, this is helpful. The question suggested by your study
seems to be, how the declarative & procedural "grow up" together
in specific cases.

Thanks.
Judy

.....
>
> In a study I did with Tom Huckin (in the mid-1980's) of a graduate
>student's socialization into an academic discipline , we studied his
>increasing command of the written discourse genres he needed to learn to
>achieve communicative competence in that local setting (which was part of a
>larger research community that one sees most often in the AERA Writing
>Research SIG ). We used the distinction between declarative and procedural
>knowledge to explain our interesting finding that this student's verbally
>expressed knowledge of the field he was entering, i.e., it's literature,
>it's issues, it's problems-- always seemed to be ahead of his command of
>the written texts he was expected to produce for his classes. At the same
>time I can say in retrospect, the declarative and procedural aspects of his
>learning were actually quite imbricated in one another. In other words,
>our distinction was an analytic one that enabled us to point to certain
>changing features in his written texts,which we characterized as evidence
>for increased procedural knowledge.
>This was because he was writing standard ed. research reports with an IMRD
>(introduction/method/results/discussion) structure-- so procedural
>knowledge of his field's research methods was tied into his developing
>knowledge of the conventions for the research report.
>
>When we think about the evolution of those conventions over time from the
>17th century (a subject about which much has been written) we have the
>cultural historical context for how this grad student was 'learning how to
>mean' in the mid 1980s.
>
>Carol Berkenkotter
>
>
>On Nov. 15, Judy Diamondstone wrote:
>
>
>>RE: scripts and genres,
>>I don't know the lit. in cognitive psych, but:
>>
>>In _CP_, Mike cites Karniloff-Smith to suggest a different
>>way of thinking about re-mediation:
>>"iteratively re-presenting in different representational
>>formats what its (the mind's) internal representations represent."
>>
>>If we replace 'representations' with 'genre,' we get for remediation
>>something like, "iteratively re-performing in different situational
>>contexts what the enminded body knows."
>>
>>I'm not sure what this "does" for us, other than remind us of the
>>constituents of The Generic: persons, situations, and historical
>>practices. It also vitiates against the in-the-head view of
>>cognition. But then I wonder if it might do any good to keep
>>operative the distinction between declarative (representational?)
>>and procedural (practical) knowledge. With such a distinction in
>>view, any "genre" would be instantiated in both knowing that
>>(such and such components need to be included in this act) and
>>knowing how (what the enminded body knows to do).
>>
>>[I am assuming in either case the tool-ish nature of genres/scripts.]
>>
>>Judy
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>At 08:53 AM 11/15/97, you wrote:
>>>As I understand Cultural-Historical Activity Theory, it would not
>>>accommodate the view that scripts reside strictly within the head. Mike
>>>takes this up in Cultural Psychology--see pp. 124-131 where he develops the
>>>idea that scripts and schemas are secondary cultural artifacts that
>>>"partake of both the ideal and the material; they are materialized and
>>>idealized (reified) in the artifacts that mediate peoples' joint
>>>activities."
>>>
>>>
>>>At 04:04 PM 11/14/97 -0800, you wrote:
>>>>David,
>>>>
>>>>Well, first of all, a script is an entity that resides entirely in the
>>>>head, is it not? Whereas a genre would seem involve persons, environments,
>>>>and interactions between them.
>>>>
>>>>-------------------------
>>>>Dr. Gerald J. Balzano
>>>>Dept of Music
>>>>Teacher Education Program
>>>>Laboratory for Comparative Human Cognition
>>>>Cognitive Science Program
>>>>UC San Diego
>>>>La Jolla, CA 92093
>>>>(619) 822-0092
>>>>gjbalzano who-is-at ucsd.edu
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>Judith Diamondstone
>> * NOTE CHANGE OF AREA CODE * (732) 932-7496 Ext. 352
>>MAILING ADDRESS:
>>Graduate School of Education
>>Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey
>>10 Seminary Place
>>New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1183
>> * NOTE CHANGE OF ZIP CODE *
>
>
>
>

Judith Diamondstone (732) 932-7496 Ext. 352
Graduate School of Education
Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey
10 Seminary Place
New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1183