Swales (2016) defines a discourse community as a group that has goals, uses communication to achieve their goals, and has purposes. Wales, 2016, p. 2). He further expands on this definition by crafting three categories that encompass all discourse communities. Local communities where all members work at the same place, Focal communities which are typically associations that have an international reach, and ‘Folocal’ communities where the members are confronted by internal and external challenges and pressures. This paper directs its attention toward a specific focal discourse community, the National Basketball Association (NBA). The NBA embodies the essence of a discourse community with its players, coaches, analysts and fans converging under …show more content…
Lowe's transition from a basketball enthusiast with a blog to a respected NBA analyst illustrates the meritocracy within the league's discourse community, where individuals can gain respect based on their knowledge, insights, and dedication to the sport; a telling indication of the communities hierarchy. This recruitment strategy works as well as it does as ‘normal’ people can make a name for themselves if they can provide benefits to the community. I have had a similar experience as I once posted a breakdown of how finances and salary are correlated within the NBA, gaining respect from the readers of the blog I had posted on. This personal encounter echoes the broader theme of merit-based recognition within the NBA's discourse community, where valuable contributions, regardless of one's background, are acknowledged and granted authority. That being said, the community is not scared to rescind the authority it has bestowed. “Authority is bestowed by institutions, can be just as easily withdrawn by those same institutions or its members” (Bourdieu as seen in Wardle, 2004, p.
Rick Reilly, in his ESPN column (2007), contends that sports competitions are more than simple games, instead, they are events capable of bringing people together in unique ways. He reinforces his contention by integrating inspirational anecdotal evidence, bold syntax, and unvarnished diction. Reilly’s purpose is to point out the importance and humanity of sports in order to convince a college professor and readers of sports magazines that sports writing is indeed an advanced and valuable profession. He assumes a humorous tone (“...most important- sports is the place where beer tastes best”) for an audience of sports magazine readers, but more specifically, a professor that told him that he was “better than sports.”
Due to vast improvements throughout history, human rights has allowed people to freely speak their ideas and beliefs. Also, the transition from a modernized society to a more virtual society has allowed people to express their ideas more freely and have access to news from all over the world. Thus, people are entitled to their opinion,ideas, and beliefs. However, all expressed ideas have counter arguments for example in religion people might share different views based on their beliefs but they still have the security of their right to maintain their beliefs freely. Since society has took a dip in the virtual side of living, division due to power has strengthened through the use of social media. This has lead society into a dystopia, where control by a higher power is enabled. More over, associations such as the National Basketball Association have the power to enforce regulations on their players to maintain power and rule. For example, in recent years the NBA as enforced a strict dress code where players can no longer wear their desired choice of clothing but instead dress formal when entering and when leaving the stadium. Thus, from this action a dystopian environment is created, players no longer can express themselves freely and if they do they will be punished. Such regulations have caused higher authority over people inhibiting them from freely expressing ideas and beliefs which is completely wrong. People, especially players who are so highly valued, should be allowed the right to freely express themselves on interviews or even when dressing . This is because those who are allowed to freely express themselves are much more comfortable and happier.
Discourse Communities are defined as “a group of individuals bound by a common goal who communicate through approved channels and whose discourse is regulated” (Couzelis et al. 12). Every person on this planet belongs to a discourse community whether they realize it or not. If you start at a larger scale, Texas A&M University-Commerce is a large discourse community, and within that larger discourse community there are hundreds, quite possibly thousands of smaller discourse communities. Many of the discourse communities overlap with members belonging to several communities at the same time.
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.
Discourse communities are groups of people with a unique point of view. There are many discourse communities around your everyday life. These communities are part of the entire human environment. Many discourse communities are distinctly large due to all the societies wanting the same things. My discourse communities are mostly Facebook.
In the collegiate world of sports, basketball has become an increasingly recognized sport among African Americans, predominantly males. The hope of any young basketball player is that one day a scout will come and recruit them into stardom The question that presents itself as a problem to the lucky few who are chosen to go professional, is whether or not an education is more important than a million dollar shoe deal, “The NCAA's (1998) annual six-year study reported that only 33% of Black male basketball players graduated, (Chronicle of Higher Education, 1999). Individually, basketball reported the lowest graduation rate in all divisions,” (Robinson, 2004:1). Basketball players have become so idolized in the eyes of young Black male basketball athletes, that the value of education appear to be less important in the development of these young men, “According to Sailes (1997), there is an over-representation of Black males in particular sports and an under-representation in other segments of American society. He provides the example of percentages of Black males competing in the NBA (77%), NFL (65%), MLB (15%), and MLS (16%) in comparison to the fact that fewer than 2% of doctors, lawyers, architects, college professors, or business executives are Black males.”, (Robinson, 2004:1). The idea of the attainment of a professional basketball player’s salary in the NBA, without even having to go to school for the time it takes to earn a degree is very appealing to some players. Those with a wealthy, or even upper-middle class upbringing may not view material assets as a priority. In the Black community, we have theorized that money and success play a more important role than education in most households. Although these two seem to go together, one resulting from the other, this does not apply in the sports world. Our research will examine the role that the family value system plays in influencing Black vs. White male athletes to turn professional, as opposed to obtaining a college degree before turning professional.
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.
To me, a soccer team is the perfect example of a discourse community. I have played soccer all my life and I started playing competitively for St Ignatius College Prep School. I played for the junior varsity team and then later as I learned more about the game started playing for the varsity team.
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...
“A discourse community has a broadly agreed set of common public goals, has mechanisms of intercommunication among its members, uses its participatory
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.
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
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
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
1. What is the difference between a Nature of the business The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league located in the United States. It is composed of 30 franchised teams, all of which are in the US except for one located in Canada. It markets teams and players, and regulates franchised team ownership.