Discourse Community Essay

A discourse community is a group of people involved in and communicating about a particular topic, issue, or in a particular field. In other words, it is a group of people who have similar backgrounds, language, and values. They share an interest in certain topics, share a body of knowledge about those topics, and possess a common vocabulary for discussing those topics. According to “The Concept of Discourse Community,” by educator and researcher John Swales, there are six characteristics that make up a discourse community. They are common public goals, mechanisms of intercommunication among members, participatory mechanisms to provide information and feedback, utilizing one or more genres in communication, a specific lexis, and a threshold

level of members with a degree of relevant content and discourse expertise (471-473).
I personally belong to several discourse communities as a result of my family, ethnic, and religious background as well as my personal interests and activities.

As a college student, I belong to a lot of small discourse communities such as specific classrooms, sport clubs, programs, organizations, and my major. Moreover, I also attend some extracurricular activities such as dancing club, church club, and YMCA volunteering. These discourse communities not only make my life more interesting but also helps me to improve my personalities, team working skills, and social skills. For example, I love dancing, so I often go to a local dancing club in the evening. This is great opportunity for me to meet more friends who have the same hobby with me; I can also improve my communication skills as well. The members in the dancing club are mostly young people who are from 18 to 20 years old. Therefore, it is very easy for everyone to talk to each other, have fun, and share different ideas. Besides that, I also work as a part - time teacher in Saint Columban Catholic School. My work are teaching Vietnamese and helping them to participate in liturgies, prayer, and sacraments of the church. This school is another discourse community because all members has the same religion and similar responsibilities to the church. For example, as the Christians, all teachers understand that helping children to increase their Catholics faith is their responsibility. Working in this discourse community equips me with knowledge, speaking skills, and leadership skills so that I can be more confident to involve other discourse communities in the

society.
In addition to dancing club and the church club, I also participate in Anaheim Achieve after school program of the YMCA. This discourse community is a group of young people who favor in volunteering activities and serving the community. Many parents have to work very late and they cannot pick up their children on time. Therefore, the YMCA volunteers are responsible to care of students in Salk Elementary School after they finished their classes. These volunteers help elementary students to do their homework, dance, cheer, art, games, and physical education while waiting for their parents. Because most members in the program are college students and other young people, it is very easy for me to communicate and make friends. Participating in this discourse community is a great opportunity for me to eliminate my weaknesses and stronger my abilities. Also, happiness and experiences that I gain from the extracurricular activities in these discourse communities is my best reward.