Western Culture

Post is of two assignments

1:critical response

Bakhtin, M. M. (1986). The problem of speech genres. Attached Files: File Bakhtin, M. M. (1986). The problem of speech genres (cropped)-2.pdf (582.907 KB) Read Mikhail M. Bakhtin’s ?The Problem of Speech Genres.? As you do, think about what he is saying about the nature of human communication. How does viewing speech as divided into genres–as we would divide movies, television shows, and books by genres–influence our understanding of human communication? Imagine a waiter or waitress taking your order at a restaurant. Can you predict the conversation? If so, then you have some idea of what a speech genre is, a pattern of speech that is so conventionalized that you know what to expect from it before it occurs. Is the generic nature of speech not what allows communication to occur in the first place? Think about a typical day at work. What speech genres do you use most often to communicate with others? What genres do they use to communicate with you? What genres do you use at home with your spouse or with your children? How does our familiarity with these genres help promote or hinder our understanding of each other? What does Bakhtin mean by the fiction of the listener? How is human communication more similar to a dialogue between people than a lecture? What is the nature of a dialogue? Say you’re talking to a friend who is genuinely listening to you. Are you the only one communicating in this moment? Is not your friend’s thoughtful silence, body language, etc., also communicating? Are you not modifying your words based on your knowledge of your friend’s preferences, background knowledge, experiences, etc.? Is your friend not formulating his/her response (whether it be a verbalized reply, a shrug, or silence) while he/she ?listens? to you? Do you talk to your colleague about work the same way you talk to someone who doesn’t understand what you do? As you read Bakhtin, attempt to apply the concepts he advances to your own life and work context. Think about a school, for example. How do speech genres govern what happens in a classroom at your school, on the playground, in the principal’s office, in a faculty meeting, in a board meeting, etc.? What advantage does Bakhtin’s notion of an utterance have? Nystrand et al. (2012). When recitation becomes dialogue Cazden, C. (2001). Classroom Discourse Attached Files: File Cazden. Classroom Discourse.pdf (4.713 MB) This reading is excerpted from Cazden’s book Classroom Discourse, which she wrote for teachers, administrators, researchers, and others. It’s more accessible in tone than her academic writing. It describes the differences between IRE/IRF (initiation-response-evaluation/initiation-response-feedback) and dialogic classroom discourse patterns. As you read Chapter 2-4, reflect on your own experiences in a classroom (both as a student and as a teacher). Do you recognize the discourse patterns she describes from your own experience? How does she analyze these patterns? Is her analysis of them helpful in giving you tools to process how to analyze your own discourse patterns? How does reading her analysis of classroom discourse patterns provide an example of how you can think about and analyze discourse patterns in your professional context (e.g., in your classroom, in colleague’s classrooms, in faculty meetings, in board meetings, etc.)? What changes would you like to make to the discourse patterns in your own professional context after reading Cazden, if any? How will you make them? Cazden Dialogue Trans?r?pts (Handouts from Class)

2:Western Culture

Discuss at length the various and varied colonial responses to Western imperialism, possibly comparing India with the several African states.

African states