The definition of a discourse community is as yet undefined; it does however require a set of specific characteristics, which allow the term to be narrowed until the point when many competing notions are eliminated. It is more a set of ideas, relating to the world of research and academic writing. There are many uncertainties surrounding the qualities and characteristics of a discourse community, many of which rise from a lack of definition. The following research is aimed at reducing confusion by identifying complex ideas and breaking them down. The information provided has been obtained through various sources of conflicting views, further illustrating the complexity of the topic. Many school settings are considered discourse communities, fitting each of the six characteristics.
The six defining characteristics of a discourse community require a set of common goals, there must also be mechanisms of communication within the community as well as feedback among members. Genre is the fourth characteristic, describing the various methods of output. Similarly, lexis is required, a set language with exclusive terms and expressions. Finally, a discourse community must have a threshold level of membership; there must be a steady flow of changing memberships including the transfer of knowledge between novices and experts. It is this transfer of knowledge that allows the community to grow, novice members become experts creating room for more novice members. From the outside it appears that an English major studying at the university level may belong to an academic discourse community, having met the criteria. However upon further inspection, one notices that each characteristic can be molded to fit any community. The vagueness of the c...
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...e made. Transferable skills are acquired through life at varying stages; however, participating in an academic community allows for further development of those skills, and at a rate that can only be achieved within such a stimulating environment.
The academic discourse community I chose will prove to be very beneficial to my future, whatever it is I end up doing as a profession. It will have provided me with skills I can take with me to all parts of my life. I will be able to find gainful employment in order to begin my life in my desired discipline, and eventually pass those transferable skills onto someone else looking to enter the English community. Although this discipline did not exactly fit each of the six characteristics defining a discourse community, I feel that in some way, each characteristic can be altered so as to accommodate the English community.
A discourse community has an agreed set of common public goals. It is a group of individuals that have a specific way of interacting and communicating with one another. It is also used as a means to maintain and extend a group’s knowledge, as well as initiate new members into the group. Specific kinds of languages are used as a form of social behavior. Such discourse communities vary in size, purpose and importance.
discussed the rhetorical skills in the writing styles and analysis. The main components of this learning was to be able to differentiate and understand the ethos, logos, and pathos appeals associated with the particular feeling and help develop understanding. Using the ethos, logos, and pathos appeals the writers and speakers can convince their readers to some image or understanding regarding the group or association. Every one of us is associated with different discourse communities that have different specialties and meaning. Everyone must have to learn the ways the communities interact with their members and how the communities understand a person from outside the community. Being outside from the community there is need to learn regarding
The discourse community that I have chosen to research is the forensic computer community. I chose this community because of the way it intertwines with the culture and technology of today. Today, the only time anybody really hears about a computer forensic expert is in a courtroom or on a TV show. Even though it is not a fancy job, it still beats being a pig keeper.
“A discourse community has a broadly agreed set of common public goals, has mechanisms of intercommunication among its members, uses its participatory
John Swales theorizes that discourse communities must meet six elements of shared criteria: commons goals, participatory mechanisms, information exchange, community specific genres, have highly specialized terminology, and members who possess a general level of expertise. For the purpose of this paper, I will analyze three of these components and observe how they function within the CPhT community. My analysis will emphasize the unique lexis that is necessary to function as a member of this community.
When a person is asked what he or she knows about discourse community, they might not have any idea of what that means. However, they are probably involved in more than one discourse community. Discourse community in a general definition means that a number of people who have the same interests, values, concerns, or goals. The discourse community term spanned to include everything from religions and morals to sports and games. In all these various kinds of discourse communities, there are some common fundamental forms of communication that participate in keeping these groups related like written regulations, requirements, instructions, and schedules. Being a
The class’s main goal is to help improve our writing ability and help prepare us for upper level writing. As freshman, most of us have never had to write a huge research paper, some of us have not even had to write a research paper at all. Whenever I began this class I viewed it as a waste of time. I thought that I would never learn anything new and I would just continue writing the boring old papers that I had to write all throughout high school, but I was very wrong. The first paper we wrote was a synthesis of three given authors, all scholars in their specific field. The author’s names were Swales, Gee, and Porter. They all had varying opinions on what a discourse community was to them and how they distinguish one fro...
A discourse community is a group of people with relatively the same goals and interest to achieve a specific goal. Discourse communities gain there members by qualification, shared objectives, training, or persuading others to join their discourse community. In order for a group to be a discourse community, they must have their own languages, text, rules, and ethics that will make the discourse community run more efficiently. They will also have a form of intercommunication among the group to keep everyone involved or informed with upcoming events or just important news. Discourse communities will have a type of mechanism to provide feedback to help improve the group. The participatory mechanisms provide feedback from inside and outside of
Joining a discourse community is when you all share a common like or belief. Joining a discourse community can sometimes be a challenge. Rather you’re new at it or been participating in something for a very long time. Every discourse community is different and can be operated differently and by different type of people. They say drill team and dancing is easy and doesn’t take a lot of hard work like in other sports so in this paper I will be sharing with you all my journey of joining drill team/dance team and appealing ethos, logos and pathos.
In the Swales document we looked at in class, a discourse community has a set of common goals (Discourse Community). In high school basketball, the goal is to win the state championship. Also, a discourse community uses a specific jargon (Discourse Community). We see this in the rules and how some players and coaches communicate. Finally, a discourse community has its new members learn from experienced members (Discourse Community). This is evident when we talk about learning the fundamentals from the coaches. High school basketball can be a very diverse discourse community because while every team has different ways of doing things, they all have the same end goal of being the state champions. Basketball has always
Discourse communities play a big role in life and how humans interact in general. A discourse community refers to a group of people who have language, life patterns, culture, and communication in common with each other. The idea of a discourse community has also been used to bring people of different orientations together, like family members, students, or committees. All of these types of people might have different standards of living, like their level of income, education, and work abilities. Discourse community can also refer to a speech community, because the main feature of a discourse community is communication. A discourse community can include groups of different regional areas that may or may not share norms and living patterns
Football is a discourse community I am involved in where the members have similar goals and expectations. As in, what Swales describes a discourse community as groups that have goals or purposes, and use communication to achieve these goals”. In his article “The Concept of Discourse Community” (Swales 466-479) Swales argues for a fresh conceptualization of discourse community, especially as a distinct entity from the similar sociolinguistic concept of speech community, and building upon the foundations of that argument defines discourse community in his own. In the Conceptualization of Discourse Community he talks about the six defining characteristics of a discourse community. The discourse community I am part of is playing and coaching football.
To examine various discourses, it is crucial that the idea of discourse and the way in which discourses operate is clear. A discourse is a language, or more precisely, a way of representation and expression. These "ways of talking, thinking, or representing a particular subject or topic produce meaningful knowledge about the subject" (Hall 205). Therefore, the importance of discourses lies in this "meaningful knowledge," which reflects a group’s ideolo...
In his article “The Concept of Discourse Community,” John Swales describes a discourse community as a group of people that “have a broadly agreed set of common goals, contain certain mechanisms of intercommunication among its members, have acquired a specific lexis, and have a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant content discoursal expertise” (Swales #). An example of such a discourse community is the legal profession. The legal profession has the common goal of understanding and applying general principles to particular factual situations. In doing so, lawyers use language, concepts, and methods that are unique to their community. In order to become a recognized member of the legal community, a person must graduate from law school and pass the bar exam thereby demonstrating an in depth knowledge concerning all areas of the law and the specialized rules, methods, and jargon used by lawyers to communicate about legal principles.
VAN DIJK, TEUN A. “18 Critical Discourse Analysis”. discourses.org. Website Teun A. van Dijk. 20 December 2011.