Discourse is formed when people who share common values, beliefs gathers. A person who is a part of certain discourse could engage in multiple discourses as time passes. Primary discourse is the foundation for many other discourses and one can be automatically included in this discourse. Secondary discourse does not come easily as primary discourse. Examples of secondary discourses could be sports, club activities, jobs or businesses. These groups have standards that separate outsiders and insiders. If certain person in the group do tasks without meeting the standards of discourse, he is considered as faker or an imposter. Gee and Cuddy explains about their own way of getting into the secondary discourse.
Nonverbal behavior is one of the key factors to those who are going to enter the discourse of business. In the business field it is important to interact with various people and confident attitude is essential. Showing full range of power non verbal is important for one to gain the literacy of business. In Gee’s passage, he implies about his own definition of ‘Literacy’. If a person is fluent in the discourse of the business, he has the literacy of business. He suggests notion of ‘Mushfake’, and provide mechanisms for gaining the literacy of a discourse. He said “partial acquisition coupled with meta-knowledge and strategies to ‘make do’ “. Meta knowledge is pre selected knowledge. One can use their knowledge from other discourses to fake being a part of the new discourse. Gee explains ‘apprenticeship into social practices through scaffolded and supported interaction with people who have already mastered the discourse.’ as process of becoming a member. Everyone who is trying to gain the literacy of the discourse go through the process what Gee says ‘Mushfake’. Cuddy agrees with this argument by saying “we could get people to fake it and it would lead them to participate more”. One can gain the chance to become a part of a discourse by mushfaking it. However Gee claims mushfaking cannot make a person become an ultimate part of the discourse. If one cannot acquire discourses through active social practice, and it is difficult to compete with the people who have already mastered it, Gee says true acquisition will rarely happen and only “mushfake discourse” which is only partial demonstration of the discourse is possible. One can fake that he has certain discourse, but in reality he does not. Only with an inborn ability and guided practice can make a person master the literacy of certain discourse.
This idea contrasts with Cuddy’s idea. She emphasizes the idea of performing nonverbals. Nonverbals govern the way we think and feel ourselves. Our bodies change our minds and minds change behavior and behavior can change the final outcomes. She implies about powerful people saying “they are more assertive and more confident, more optimistic”. One can feel powerful by posing power nonverbals which is faking it. She says one can fake as if he has a particular discourse and this will eventually lead him to the mastery of the discourse. Believing in oneself and practicing will result in the mastery. This gain of literacy will happen only if he survived a competition and hard work. I think not only in the literacy of business, but also in language Cuddy’s idea applies. There is an American student named ‘Tyler Josef’ from Vermont who is living in South Korea. He graduated Chicago University and that’s the place where he first studied Korean language. After that he moved to South Korea for graduate school and got degree in diplomacy. He can use proper grammar flawlessly and the level of word usage is not like those who speak Korean as a second language. In the TV shows he can even use Korean metaphor to explain certain concepts and Koreans are often stunned by his fluency. He even lectures in Korean in front of native speakers who are considered as the masters of Korean language discourse. His ability is not inborn though, during high school years he struggled with reading that he had to meet with an academic counselor to solve this problem. His story is a good example of Cuddy’s claim where she says “realized that she had not just faked it till she made it, she had actually faked it till she become it”. His story is an exact opposite example of Gee’s view on becoming literate in certain discourse. At first Gee could regard Tyler as a ‘pretender’ among the discourse of Korean language. However he improved the fluency of speaking Korean through years of participation and practice. This made him become literate in the Korean discourse. In Gee’s standard Tyler entered into the discourse at late timing, but still a lot of Koreans regard his ability of speaking Korean is as fluent as native speakers. There are even people who thinks he speaks better Korean than themselves. He surpassed those who were in the discourse since they were born. I think a person can gain a literacy of discourse through competition and hard work like Tyler. There are many other fields including sports where Cuddy’s idea can be applied.
