Social discourse ----> literacy

It is important to acknowledge that there exists more than one type of discourse in a person's life and as mentioned by Gee, "All humans, barring serious disorder, get one form of discourse free, so to speak, and this through acquisition". The one discourse that Gee refers to is one which we commonly refer to as our native or mother tongue language, that is a socio-culturally determined way of using that particular language to communicate with intimates - whom Gee defined as people whom we share a great deal of knowledge because of a great deal of contact and similar experience e.g.family, relatives. However, this primary discourse would from group to group because of the diversity that influence our discourses - race, religion, socio-economic backgroud and etc which in turn accounts for the different ways in which we make sense of our experience. Hence, the language that we use actually shapes the way we view the world (the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis). This is important in literacy as it involves meaning making, and linking it to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis mentioned earlier, it would mean that based on the language or types of language we use, it would affect the way we interpret meaning or make meaning. This is where Hybridity is comes in and plays an important role in literacy.

Because of the diverse background of our students and the type of native language that they are exposed to at home, they would bring with them to the classroom certain ways of viewing their experience which brings about different ways of making and interpreting meaning. In school, we are exposing students to another form of discourse, which is probably linked to another way of viewing things. Hence, the third space allows teachers to help students merge and link the experiences and meaning that they have brought from their home to the larger academic discourse. Hybridity and third space therefore allows educators to bridge the gap between the meaning made by students through their personal experiences and native discourse to that of academic discourse. However, I think this can only be done if teachers are aware and observant of the going-ons between students in the classroom. Only then can we find "seizable teaching moments" to bridge this gap to allow for better meaning making development for students and for teachers.