Running Head: GATEKEEPERS OF LITERACY 1

Literacy Sponsors as The Gatekeepers of Communities

Eli J. Estrada

University of Central Florida

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Introduction

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between literacy sponsors and

discourse communities. The first is the AMC Dine-In Theatre at Disney Springs, the second is

La Iglesia De Dios, Incorporada in Kissimmee. According to the definition provided by Swales,

both are indeed discourse communities. The AMC Dine-In Theatre is a professional discourse

community, a company whose main goal is to make money and whose members work to satisfy

customers. La Iglesia De Dios, Incorporada is a social discourse community, whose main goal is

to connect large groups of likeminded people.

Community 1

I am employed in the AMC Dine-In Theatre at Disney Springs, which I will refer to as

AMC. It is a Professional Discourse Community. It meets Swales’ six defining characteristics

outlined by Ann M. Johns (2017) in her essay “Discourse Communities and Communities of

Practice,” which are as follows:

1. [It has] a broadly agreed set of common public goals.

2. [It has] mechanisms of intercommunication among its members (such as

newsletters or journals).

3. [It] utilizes and hence possesses one or more genres in the communicative

furtherance of its aims.

4. [It] uses its participatory mechanisms primarily to provide information and

feedback.

5. In addition to owning genres, [it] has acquired some specific lexis.

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6. [It has] a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant content

and discoursal expertise.

(p. 321)

AMC, as a for-profit company, has the obvious overlying goal of making money. The

employees, as part of the AMC professional discourse community, share that common goal. As

employees in the customer service industry, they share the common goal of making sure

customers are satisfied with their AMC experience. This goal is met daily through the proper

completion of tasks by members of the community: Prep cooks prepare ingredients to the

standards set by the company, servers take customers’ orders, line cooks prepare food to the

standards set by the company and to the specifications set by the customer, entrée expediters

ensure that orders are fulfilled properly and that they are brought to the customer in a timely

fashion, drink expediters ensure that drinks are served and brought to the customer in a timely

fashion, food and drink runners bring orders to customers, bussers clean theatres and bring back

dirty dishes, and dishwashers wash the dishes and bring them to the line and prep cooks. If any

complaints are brought to the attention of any employees, a manager is called to resolve the

issue.

AMC uses an online service to manage shift scheduling, called Hot Schedules. It is a

website that features a week-by-week schedule for employees as well as hosts both individual

and mass messaging. Managers and supervisors use the mass messaging feature to inform

employees of policy changes, upcoming employee events, and general notices. Employees may

use the individual messaging feature to communicate with managers and supervisors regarding

specific concerns.
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In the AMC breakroom, there are often several posters with relevant information posted.

Some are notices of policy changes and others are reminders of policies that often get

disregarded by employees. The posters all share the same format: an all-capitalized greeting

(ATTENTION AMC EMPLOYEES), the message, and an all-capitalized thank you.

AMC employees work in a fast-paced food service environment, and often use word

shortenings to save time and breath in conversations with each other. These word shortenings

have over time become so commonplace that many simple sentences may not make sense to

outsiders. Phrases such as “Tell dish to run silver,” “no room in the window,” “hot down the

line,” and “sharp ‘round the corner” are the most common.

In Johns’ (2017) analysis of authority and rule breaking within discourse communities,

she mentions that “Understanding these rules, even if they are to be broken, appears to be

essential” (p. 336). This point is visible in almost every, if not every, community, and AMC is a

gleaming example of it. Employees are required to wear black work pants, and undershirts are to

be either white or black and not have sleeves longer than the uniform shirts provided by the

company. Black non-slip shoes are required to enter the kitchen, but as long as the shoes are

black management won’t ask. Employees are not to smoke right outside the employee entrance

doors, but it is done anyway. All these little things are things that everyone knows but choose to

ignore. Even though the dress code is a matter of solidarity and meant to ease the process of a

customer identifying an employee, many employees find it restrictive and unnecessary. Even

though non-slip shoes are required as a safety measure, many employees feel like it is

unnecessary. The dress code is something covered in the initial interview, and every employee is

informed of it. The smoking restriction is not a company matter, but one relayed down from

Disney Springs management. The smoking isn’t visible from inside the building, but it is slightly
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visible from the main walking area that guests come through on their way to the orange garage.

Employees who smoke there decide that it is an unreasonable request that they smoke elsewhere

because the designated smoking area is a far walk from the doors and because guests shouldn’t

be close enough to the doors to see them smoking in the first place. The doors are far enough

down a Disney employee only path that guest presence is rare and suspicious.

Literacy sponsors, as defined by Deborah Brandt (2017) in her essay “Sponsors of

Literacy,” are “any agents, local or distant, concrete or abstract, who enable, support, teach,

model, as well as recruit, regulate, suppress, or withhold literacy – and gain advantage by it in

some way” (p. 72). Put simply, literacy sponsors are anyone or anything that gain an advantage

by affecting someone’s access to literacy. The ways in which literacy sponsors affect someone’s

access to literacy are often through controlling admittance and acceptance into discourse

communities. The manager that made the decision to hire me at AMC was the literacy sponsor

who controlled my admittance into the AMC discourse community. They allowed me to join and

began my enculturation process. They told me to only wear black work pants, to only wear non-

slip shoes in the kitchen, and they supplied the uniform shirts required for work at AMC. The

coworker who trained me, however, was the literacy sponsor who controlled my acceptance into

the AMC discourse community. They completed my enculturation process, which consisted of

mostly them demonstrating proper procedure while explaining how to get away with doing much

less and then explaining that they recommend only doing so when absolutely necessary despite

many other coworkers doing so regularly. They made clear which rules were made to be broken

and which rules were not to be broken under any circumstance. They taught me how to

understand the AMC lexis. Because of them, I was accepted as a true member.

Community 2
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I am a member of La Iglesia De Dios, Incorporada in Kissimmee, which I will refer to as

LIDDI. It is a social discourse community, and much like how Sandra Cisneros (2017) describes

her home in “Only Daughter,” its meetings will often feature members “talking too loud and at

the same time, … because that’s just how we are” (p. 103). It meets Swales’ six defining

characteristics of a discourse communities. LIDDI is a Pentecostal Christian church, and as such

has a set of common goals shared by the Pentecostal Christian community of practice and the

greater Protestant Christian community of practice and the even greater general Christian

community of practice. One could consider the ultimate goal of Christianity as to attain every

human’s belief, shown by the bible verse Mark 16:15. The members of the LIDDI discourse

community, however, share much more specific goals as well. To reach out in the local

community by handing out informational pamphlets, preaching in public spaces, handing out free

bread, and handing out spare clothes; to strengthen and affirm the faith of current members by

holding weekly services, holding weekly bible study sessions, organizing “retiros,” and praying

for each other; and to reach out beyond the borders of our country by contributing monetarily to

missions established in the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Mexico, Nicaragua, Columbia, Panama,

and India.

LIDDI, Kissimmee, is part of a greater network of LIDDI churches that share doctrinal

beliefs, called a congregation. The congregation is broken up into regional districts, labelled with

letters. The congregation publishes an official monthly magazine that features pictures and

descriptions of any congregation-wide events or notable district-wide events. There are also

numerous Facebook groups dedicated to local churches, for local members to communicate;

semi-regions, for members of churches in regions within the officially designated regions to

communicate because some of the regions are unreasonably large; regions, for members of
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churches in the same region to communicate; and a congregation-wide Facebook group for

interregional communication.

LIDDI writes its own bible study textbooks, to standardize belief and knowledge behind

the belief. These textbooks are different from generic textbooks found in Christian bookstores

insomuch that they go into detail on topics exclusive to LIDDI doctrine. These topics include

why women in the LIDDI congregation wear veils, why men are to keep clean shaven, why

members are not to get tattoos, and what theological interpretations about the rapture its

members are to adhere to. LIDDI also writes its own tracts, because tracts from other

congregations will have different doctrinal teachings in them. LIDDI, Kissimmee, uses the bible

study textbooks and tracts written by the congregation. This difference between LIDDI genres

and general Christian genres can be demonstrated clearly using terms found in Keith Grant-

Davie’s (2017) essay, “Rhetorical Situations and Their Constituents.” Grant-Davie identifies the

“audience addressed” (Davie, 2017, p. 497) and the “audience invoked” (Davie, 2017, p. 497)

when discussing the role of the audience in the rhetorical situation. He explains that the audience

invoked is the audience that writer had in mind when writing, and that the audience addressed is

the audience that actually read the writing. General Christian genres invoke and address two

different audiences. They invoke Christians interested in learning about the Bible and doctrine.

They address not only them, but also people interested in learning about Christianity but aren’t

Christians themselves. LIDDI genres have smaller invoked and addressed audiences. They

invoke members of the congregation who intend to teach and learn the doctrines of their

community, and address both them and Christians of other denominations who are curious as to

what LIDDI doctrine is.

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The LIDDI lexis is a very large one, aided by the fact that all of the terms are in Spanish.

Someone who doesn’t speak Spanish would have no hope of understanding even the most

commonplace phrases. Even for native Spanish speakers, though, there are terms that are likely

not to be understood. Among these are several common “call and response” phrases. A member

singing or preaching or otherwise addressing the entire church will call out a signal phrase or

signal word and the rest of the members will respond accordingly. Examples of call and response

phrases are “Quien Vive? /Cristo!”, “A su nombre! /Gloria!”, “Y a su Gloria? /Mas Gloria!”,

“Misiones es/Compromiso de todos”, and “Sin Santidad/Nadie vera el Señor.”

While Johns does not go into more detail than to say, “a threshold level of members” (p.

321) when quoting Swales, I am confident that LIDDI, Kissimmee, meets the sixth

characteristic. There are four reverends who are permanent members, and one who is visiting

until it is safe for him to return to Puerto Rico. There are two certified evangelists. There are six

certified bible study professors. Our pastor is the regional presbyter, which means that he has

been recognized by the LIDDI congregational leaders as a reverend and pastor who can be

trusted with the responsibility of overseeing all the LIDDI pastors in Florida. There is an

immense wealth of “relevant content and discoursal expertise” (Johns, 2017, p. 321). These

people are recognized authorities on the biblical concepts central to our specific beliefs, relevant

content, and are trusted to advise their fellow members who have less certainty in those things,

discoursal expertise.

The evangelist who was preaching the day I converted to Christianity was the literacy

sponsor who controlled my admittance to the LIDDI discourse community. They convinced me

to join and began my enculturation process. They told me to repeat a prayer, “la profesion de fe.”

The copastor was the literacy sponsor who controlled my acceptance in the LIDDI discourse
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community. They completed my enculturation process, which consisted of a three-month-long

class that covered all the doctrinal points exclusive to LIDDI and what it meant to be a member

of the church. They made clear what it means to be Christian and what it means to be a member

of LIDDI. Because of them, I was accepted as a true member.

Discussion

Taking a closer look at the communities mentioned above and my experiences joining

them, it becomes clear that there is a distinct similarity between the particularly influential

literacy sponsors I encountered in each. For both, there was a sponsor who admitted me, and a

sponsor who accepted me. These members of the community decide which outsiders are given

the chance to become members, and through that decision also decide which outsiders are

granted access to whatever exclusive resources and privileges are offered to members of the

community. In return, members are to trade “their labor and deference” (Brandt, 2017, p. 75). In

the AMC community, I was admitted to begin working. In this respect I traded my labor to gain

admittance. After I was trained by my coworker, I learned how to act in the presence of fellow

members of the community. In this respect I traded my deference to gain a proper place in the

community and eventually receive a paycheck. In the LIDDI community, I was admitted to begin

worshipping regularly in the congregation. In this respect I traded a bit of labor through

committing to a 45-minute drive at least once a week, and a bit of deference through committing

to only worshipping at certain places of worship, all to gain admittance. After finishing my

doctrinal course, I learned how to act not only among the members of the congregation, but also

to act the same way outside of the designated places of worship. In this respect I traded my

deference to gain access to the many social networking opportunities offered only to members of

the LIDDI community.

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Literacy sponsors not only control an outsider’s entrance to their respective communities,

but also members’ membership in other communities. Members of the AMC community are not

to be members of any drug-related discourse communities, or their access to the AMC

community will be terminated. They are also not to be member of any other movie theatre

discourse communities, or their standing within the community will suffer. The Regal

Entertainment Group discourse community is viciously ridiculed within the AMC community

regularly. Members of the LIDDI community are not to be members of any other religious

discourse communities, or their access to the LIDDI community will be terminated. Membership

in any discourse community that contradicts the values of the LIDDI community will result in

termination of access to the LIDDI community.

Conclusion

Through this exploration of the communities I find myself in, I have realized that literacy

sponsors are the gatekeepers of the modern world. They man the portcullises of discourse

communities and decide who to grant entrance to. Like the dual portcullises of the most

protected castles, larger communities do not leave it up to one gatekeeper to protect the integrity

of the castle. First an outsider is admitted, like the raising of the outermost portcullis, then they

must also be accepted, the raising of the innermost portcullis. If they are not accepted, they may

be subject to attack by members of the community through arrow slits in the walls, the modern-

day equivalent being mockery or even perhaps more violent forms of rejection or exclusion.

Outsiders are denied acceptance when they refuse to conform to the norms set by the discourse

community.
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REFERENCES

Brandt, Deborah. 2017. “Sponsors of Literacy.” Pp. 68-99 in Writing About Writing. 3rd ed.

Edited by E. Wardle and D. Downs. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s.

Cisneros, Sandra. 2017. “Only Daughter.” Pp. 101-105 in Writing About Writing. 3rd ed. Edited

by E. Wardle and D. Downs. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s.

Grant-Davie, Keith. 2017. “Rhetorical Situations and Their Constituents.” Pp. 484-509 in

Writing About Writing. 3rd ed. Edited by E. Wardle and D. Downs. Boston: Bedford/St.

Martin’s.

Johns, Ann M. 2017. “Discourse Communities and Communities of Practice.” Pp. 319-342 in

Writing About Writing. 3rd ed. Edited by E. Wardle and D. Downs. Boston: Bedford/St.

Martin’s.