I think you make a very good point with your comment about recurrance in
concptualizing genre as "iterative re-performing what the enminded body
knows in different situational contexts."
It's also a very good question you ask about the breakdown between the
distinction between declarative and procedural knowldge.
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
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