In Chapter 1, Gee explains his definition of a Discourse, and introduces many different possibilities and examples of a Discourse. Chapter 2, Building Tasks, is about the idea of different building tasks within language. Gee states, “Each time a person uses language, that person does so in ways that fit the conventions (are ‘grammatical’) and that, at the same time, are unique, expressing what that person has to say and how they have chosen to say it” (Gee 31). He is explaining that there are many different ways to say one thing, and that different ways are chosen depending on the circumstances and the expected audience. This closely relates to Nair and Nair’s idea in “Organization of a Research Paper: The IMRAD Format” about how to correctly word the title of a research paper depending on the intended audience. Nair and Nair give the example, “. . . a title such as ‘Plant species found in homegardens in region A of country B’ was probably appropriate for an article some 20 years ago, but is demanding to a reader today . . . if the title suggests innovative investigation such as ‘Does nearness to markets affect species composition of homegardens?: A case study from region A of country B’ . . . has a much better chance to attract the attention of the discerning, busy reader” (Nair and Nair 15). They are trying to explain that people 20 years ago have a much different Discourse than people today, and would therefore need a differently worded title to fit their needs. This is the same idea as Gee’s in Chapter 2 about saying things differently depending on the intended audience.
In Chapter 2 of Gee’s “Introduction to Discourse Analysis: Theory and Method”, he introduces the idea of seven building tasks of language. These building blocks can be compared to Haas’ idea of a rhetorical frame. Gee states, “Whenever we speak or write, we often . . . construct or build seven things or areas of ‘reality’ . . . In turn, since we use language to build these seven things, a discourse analysis can ask seven different questions about any piece of language-in-use” (Gee 32). Gee is introducing the idea that when we speak or write, we form seven things that make up whatever it is that we are speaking or writing. Those seven things are significance, practices, identities, relationships, politics, connections, and signs and knowledge. These seven building tasks can be used to explain Haas’ idea of a rhetorical frame. She explains, “Elements of a rhetorical frame include participants, their relationships and motives, and several layers of context” (Haas 48). A rhetorical frame is the background of a writing that includes “authors, readers, motives, relationships, and contexts” (Haas 48). The purpose of a rhetorical frame is to better understand the author’s motives for their writings as well as the conditions behind them, or the intended audience. This is very similar to Gee’s building tasks. His idea of the seven building tasks can be what makes up a rhetorical frame. Overall, Haas and Gee have very similar ideas about the different aspects of the writer that go into the writings.
