- The purpose of this chapter is to “contribute to the development of understandings and policies that build more respect and recognition for service workers to help ensure it does not become equated with servitude.”
- To be literate of the menu at Lou’s, you must have a literal interpretation of the words in the menu and also a knowledge of specific practices, such as how the food is made.
- In order to “get the jump” on customers, waiters will use long and overly-complicated descriptions of food or use magic words (ones that will confuse the customer). Waiters do this to gain control and authority over the customer in the conversation.
- The author is Tony Mirabelli and his intention is to “contribute to the development of understandings and policies that build more respect and recognition for service workers to help ensure it does not become equated with servitude.”
- the secondary purpose is to contribute to the argument that literacy extends beyond reading and writing to include communication and situations of any socially meaningful group that involves language being used in multiple ways
- The intended readers for this text is the other members of Mirabelli’s academic community.
- the use of very specific terms that are familiar to this academic community shows that there is no other intended audience because they would not be able to understand these terms
- The subject matter is literacy in restaurant work
- the author uses examples from his time at Lou’s Diner, such as specific menu items, the author shows events by describing specific conversations with customers, and the author explains his methods of research which involved field notes, tape recordings, and historical literature
- The author starts by describing the widely accepted definition of “literate” and then moves in towards arguing for a more extensive definition that involves adding communication, as well as understanding text, to the definition of “literate”
- The author appeals to reason by using arguments like “waiters can’t be stupid or illiterate if they can understand this complex menu”
- The author does invoke emotion by showing bad reviews from customers, which make the audience feel bad for servers
- The author relies on his reputation as a server to prove that he is trustworthy and knowledgable about working in a restaurant
- The text is structured like an academic article and the genre would be informative/academic
- This text does succeed in accomplishing the author’s purpose
- This text persuaded me to view literacy as more than just understanding a text
- I believe that this text will convince others that waiters deserve more respect because it shows that their jobs are harder than most people imagine
- The author is Tony Mirabelli and his intention is to “contribute to the development of understandings and policies that build more respect and recognition for service workers to help ensure it does not become equated with servitude.”
- The writer is Tony Mirabelli
- The issue is the view of server image
- The gap is the literacies involved in being a waiter/waitress
- The intended readers are academics
- The lexis of this piece is accessible and down-to-earth
- The discourse community is academics in English studies
- The author’s qualifications are that he has a Ph.D. in Education in Language, Literacy, and Culture and works at the University of California-Berkeley
- The mechanisms of communications: an essay in an academic anthology
- Feedback: response papers, book reviews, emails, citations, and journal responses
- This is written discourse because it forces interaction through writing by creating an argument
English 2089 