Discourse Community

Discourse communities are all around us—we all belong to a discourse community. A discourse community is a body of persons who share common and unique modes of communication or discourse (“Discourse Community”). In order for a community to identify as a discourse community, the community must possess six defining qualities that categorize it as a discourse community. As defined by John Swales, a researcher and professor of linguistics, discourse communities “have a broadly set of common public goals, mechanisms of intercommunication among its members, participatory mechanisms to provide information and feedback, one or more genres in the communicative furtherance of its aims, an acquired lexis, and a threshold level of members with a

A discourse community comprises of a group of people sharing a common and distinct mode of communication or discourse, especially within a particular domain of intellectual or social activity (Oxforddictionaries, 2017). Some of the discourse communities I consider to be a part of, include an Indian joint family, my peer group, high school education in India, the Apple community and education at Pace university.

According to (Deapul.edu, n.d.), a discourse community is a group of individuals that communicate and covey their message in the professional and public domain. This format of communication depending on the job field is known as discursive practices (Deapul.edu, n.d.). These communications practices can include communication avenues specific to the field. This can include journals, books, research articles, case studies, public outreach, and lectures. Each field utilizes their own specific jargon that conveys their message. In order to gain membership in a discourse community, an individual must demonstrate

To be a part of a discourse community, one must be credible, possess factual knowledge and draw on the values of its members to be accepted into the community. At the same time, a person must learn typical ways people in that community communicate and argue. They share a certain genre—type of writing. Members of discourse communities provide information and feedback that are imperative in order for that discourse community to grow. In the following paper, I will discuss three discourse communities and a genre that they typically use: people who read Nutritional Facts religiously, college students, and industrial organizational psychologists.

On the class of ENGL 1301, during the first month, we focused on discourse communities: which in fact are a group of people who share same values, beliefs, ideas, interest using same language and method of communication to achieve a certain goal. The people in discourse communities requires the certain level of knowledge and expertise in the field and becomes part of the discourse community by understanding and using logos, ethos, and pathos to discuss, explain and argue their own interest and knowledge within their own community using the own method of communication. Any people involved in the certain group can be in discourse communities if they share same ideas and view with common interest. Motorcycle Riders Group as an discourse community has its importance to readers because it explains and make more clear what a discourse community is and the ways of getting into the community. By mastering logos, ethos and pathos I can say that I have successfully entered Motorcycle riders and fan discourse community by using the knowledge, skills that I have.

The heuristic that is used for this research guide to identify a discourse communities is the six characteristics that John Swales identifies in “The

Life is like a massive highway that have infinite routes anyone can choose take to reach some type of designated goal. Those various routes lead to distinct exits, where one can discover a group or groups that share similarities dealing with viewpoints, beliefs, or understanding towards a particular goal. These groups can be identified as discourse communities. According to, “The Concept of Discourse Community,” in the textbook, Writing About Writing, John Swales stressed that in order to be classified as a discourse community the group has to have all six defining characteristics. Swales emphasized, “A discourse community has a broadly agreed set of common public goals, mechanisms of intercommunication among its members, uses its participatory mechanisms primarily to provide information and feedback, utilities and hence processes one or more genres in the communicative furtherance of its aims, acquires specific lexis, and has a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant content and discourse expertise” (Swales, 221-222). Keeping this key detail in mind, there is numerous type of discourse out there.

When it comes to specific discourse communities, many have a preferred way of communicating. For example, in the art community, emails are used more frequently than phone calls. Simply because it is more convenient for many artists to email than to call other occupied artists. Like the art community, emails are means of communication in the financial service sector, other channels of communication comprise of: teleconferencing (webinars, Skype), written communication, Instant messaging, texting and computer conferencing. The type of communication implemented varies based on the richness (the amount of information available in a given channel), control (the degree to which the communication process can be managed) and speed (the quickness a message exchange occurs). Intercommunication is an integral part of discourse communities since it allows people in a similar profession to communicate

William Jennings Bryan once says, “Destiny is not a matter of chance; it is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for; it is a thing to be achieved.” Our future is depended on what we choose to be and how to get to it. We must stand up and get involve or communicate with the field before giving an ultimate decision. In this assignment, I will investigate the discourse community that I hope to join professionally and understand the broad view of the types of work along with its opportunities.

A discourse community is defined as a group of people involved in and communicating about a particular topic, issue, or in a particular field. We all belong to multiple discourse communities.To earn a position of a discourse community one must possess accurate knowledge, establish reliability of members to be accepted and learn to persuade other members of the community. The discourse community that I identify with personally and the profession I plan to pursue is the world of film production. However, there are many jobs that need to be done on a film set leading to there being multiple discourse communities within the film industry, what I want to focus on specifically is the DP, otherwise known as the “director of photography”. According to “The Concept of Discourse Community,” by educator and researcher John Swales, a discourse community is defined by six characteristics.

According to John Swales in “The Concept of Discourse Community,” the educator defines a discourse community as a “groups that have goals and purposes and use communication to achieve these goals, (Swales 471).

John Swales lists six characteristics as necessary for a group of individuals to be defined as a discourse community, thus by his definition the Church I analyzed would be considered a discourse community since if fulfills his criteria. An important component of the community is the bulletin the Church hands every week which contains many of the characteristics Swales describes. Furthermore, the community is relatively new thus they are still trying to find it’s identity meaning it’s easier for new members to transition and become a part of this community allowing intertextuality to be found throughout the Church. Therefore, by analyzing the bulletin and other aspects of this community one can determine that the Church is a discourse community

A discourse community is a group of people who share a set of discourses, understood as basic values and assumptions, and ways of communicating about those goals. John Swales defines a discourse community as "groups that have goals or purposes, and use communication to achieve these goals." The community I choose to identify with is special education. Special education teachers, or aids, really dedicate themselves and their time to others who need special assistance or treatment. The California Department of Education supports high quality educational programs for California’s big student population. According to the ideas from the federal government, the variety of the education working environment is one of the fastest growing areas of the American economy. The importance in understanding this career includes emotional, and physical growth of each student. Working with students who have disabilities can be very rewarding, but it is sometimes emotionally demanding and physically draining. Before stepping into the job of becoming a special education teacher, it is important to understand the patience that is needed in order to work with special children.

Discourses are the “social and cultural practices through which individuals and groups use language to establish their identities…they provide ways of being, thinking, acting and using language so that people can identify themselves in social and cultural networks” Discourses affect peoples views on all things, for example, two different

Discourse analysis’s focus “is rooted in three basic tenets: construction, function and variation” (Potter, 1987). The assumption is that discourses are constructed through