Blog 6: My Identity Kit

If you have seen how I behave in class, then you would have realized that I am pretty shy. At least around people I don't know or am not comfortable with. I consider myself an introvert. I rarely ever talk in class unless I am being called on. Although I pay attention in class and often have things I want to share, I only say it in my head because I am too shy to share my feelings. There's something about raising my hand that is just really difficult for me. Sometimes I’ll raise my hand, and then chicken out and pretend I’m actually only scratching my head or stretching.

Likewise, speaking in public is also very uncomfortable for me. I remember in 7th grade when I gave my first ever in-class presentation on my own, I was so ridiculously scared that my hands started trembling intensely. So intensely that I tried to get my hands to stop shaking by telling them to stop shaking in front of the whole class. It didn't work, unfortunately, and my friends enjoyed making fun of me for that presentation for the longest time. 

As you can see, I don't interact well with strangers. I am an introvert. However, I was a salesperson as my last job. If you look up the description of a salesperson, some of the things you will see are: extroverts, outgoing, and confident. Pretty much everything I am not. However, I was very good at my job. I excelled, actually. Within one month of employment, I became one of the top five salespeople in the Southern California region in my department. 

How did I do so well when the type of person I identify myself as is the complete opposite of a salesperson? I realize now that it was because I was good at mushfaking. I acquired the identity kit of a salesperson, “which comes complete with appropriate costume and instructions on how to act, talk, an often write, so as to take on a particular role that others will recognize" (119).

During my job, I was not the shy Ngoc that some people may see me as. I interacted with over 100 customers during each shift. I approached people first. I was the person that initiated the conversations and kept them going by exuding an outgoing personality. I went up to complete strangers and engaged in conversations about practically anything and everything. These are things I don’t do at school. These were things I only did at my job.

Why did I do this? It was because I knew I needed to act this way, talk this way, and dress this way in order to succeed as a salesperson. I needed my identity kit to be able to do the things I would otherwise have not done. It was the only way I was going to be able to do well at my job. Without this identity kit, I would have probably done horribly and gotten fired or quit my job.

In a way, my identity kit as a salesperson has influenced who I am outside of my work environment. I am still shy, and far from being an extrovert or the type of person I am at work. However, I have become more outgoing. I sometimes raise my hand to share in class now. I am also less nervous during presentations. I am not as awkward when talking to people. I am more comfortable talking to strangers. I would not say that my mushfaking turned into the real thing, but it did affect me and change me into who I am today. 

Blog #5

Maybe I was lucky and chose the right school, but I could not relate to what Vicki Madden was talking about in “Why Poor Students Struggle.” I understand where Madden is coming from with regards to how poor students are failing to graduate college because of the difference in their worlds at school and at home, but I just could not relate to it. I do not consider my family poor because I am not exactly sure what being poor means nowadays as the income gap continues to widen. We are not exactly in the middle class either, but we are getting by every month with what we have.

Perhaps it was easier for me to adjust to college life at SDSU because there are more people who are like me than there are those who are not. Most of my classmates live alone as opposed to living with their parents like I do, so they are simply getting by each month on the hourly wage they make. There are some people who are exceptions because their world is entirely different from mine, but I do not associate with them (not on purpose, it just happened that way) so I never had to deal with my world being compared with theirs.  

Financial aid covered my tuition and also gave me extra money for my books and living expenses, so the hardest part about going to school for me was the struggle of getting out of bed in the morning after staying up late the night before (like I am doing now as I am writing this blog at 1:30 AM…). However, the thought of not graduating college has never once crossed my mind. Rather, my mind was filled with thoughts like, “I need to graduate in 4 years or less,” and “Can I squeeze in an extra minor or major within four years?” My upbringing and especially my parents are the reason why I think this way. Graduating college is like eating or drinking water to me. It’s something that is going to happen no matter what and I can only think of a few things that is going to stop it, like the world ending.

SDSU is not exactly an elite school so the income gap here is not as big as say, the Ivy League schools. Maybe I would be able to relate more with what Madden is saying if I were in such an environment. Perhaps it is also my pride in my accomplishments thus far and my confidence in my abilities that I don’t question myself about whether I have the right to be here.

I will say though that how I act at home is different than how I act at school. Being the only English speaker of my household, I am the person in charge of everything such as paying the bills or contacting people when a problem arises. My parents depend on me so that is who I need to be at home. Meanwhile, there aren’t people relying on me at school so I don’t have that type of responsibility. Instead, I have to be outgoing and network with others because it is important to make connections while in college. This is especially true for my career field as a marketer since we depend on connections to move up the ladder.  

Overall, I think the most important thing for kids in lower socioeconomic background is for their parents to be supportive of their education. While I understand that those whose conditions are worse than mine will need to work in order to help their family, it is still possible to graduate if their family is supporting them. There are online classes and classes at different time of the day, so it can work if they are motivated and have supportive parents. 

Discourse Community

Recalling that we have a 10 page paper to do at the end of semester on discourse community, I became more interested in this blog assignment. I feel like I understand the meaning behind discourse community a little better now, so the paper is not as frightening. Although the idea of it being 10 pages is still causing me to cry a little inside. With that said, let’s get into the topic of discussion. John Swales defines discourse community as “the center of a set of ideas.” However, he points out that the precise definition of discourse community is very unclear, “'Should discourse communities be determined by shared objects of study, by common research methodology, by opportunity and frequency of communication, or by genre and stylistic conventions?” The vagueness creates questions as to what is considered discourse community and what is not.

As a result, he came up with the following six defining characteristics to identify a group of individuals as a discourse community:

1. A discourse community has a broadly agreed set of common public goals.
2. A discourse community has mechanisms of intercommunication among its members.
3. A discourse community uses its participatory mechanisms primarily to provide information and feedback.
4. A discourse community utilizes and hence possesses one or more genres in the communicative furtherance of its aims.
5. In addition to owning genres, a discourse community has acquired some specific lexis.
6. A discourse community has a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant content and discoursal expertise.

Based on Swales’ six characteristics, the students in my marketing classes and I can be considered a discourse community. We have an agreed set of common public goals – to create value for customers through marketing.  We also have several mechanisms of intercommunication – emails, texts, and Google Docs to name a few.  We use these mechanisms to provide information and feedback regarding group projects, lectures, and exams. Additionally, we have and use multiple genres to further our goals, such as through websites and blogs. We have our own lexi, which includes marketing terms such as SEO, engagement, 5 Cs, and context marketing. This lexi allows us to communicate with one another effectively because we understand the concept and meaning behind it. Meanwhile, other discourse communities would probably not understand. Lastly, the diversity in our class includes members that are older, employed and have a wide knowledge of marketing as well as young members who are still trying to learn more about marketing. As a result, we are able to learn from each other which allows for the community to exist. For instance, I have learned so much from fellow classmates who are already employed and have much more experience than I do.

Swale’s six defining characteristics of a discourse community is very broad and allows for many groups to be considered a discourse community. The characteristics stated are left open and can be applied to most groups. For example, there is no specific genre or lexi a group needs to use, as long as they have their own. Some of the characteristics are also very general such as having mechanisms of intercommunication among its members and using those mechanisms to provide feedback and information. This occurs between most groups of people. Even our RWS305 class can be considered a discourse community since we meet all the criteria listed.

Although I am not exactly sure about the criteria for our final paper, it makes me feel much more reassured and confident that I will be able to write about most groups of people, because most likely, that group can be defined as a discourse community.