Relationship Between Language, Discourse And Society

In ENGL 1301, these past two weeks have given me a better understanding of ethos, logos and pathos appeals. Being in a discourse community has made me put these appeals into perspective. Understanding that being in that community made me a stronger woman. This will give me a chance to show you, my professor and classmates that softball is indeed a sport. I will prove why I attended this discourse community in softball at a young age to now by explaining the mental state of understanding the rules, the physical mechanisms, and the emotional connection it has on my authority, team and myself.

According to Porter, “A ‘discourse community’ is a group of individuals bound by a common interest who communicate through approved channels and whose discourse is regulated. A discourse community shares assumptions about what objects are appropriate for examination and discussion, what constitutes ‘evidence’ and ‘validity’ and what formal conventions are followed (38-39).” These five texts collectively constitute a community of discourse through their application of common language norms, characteristics, patterns and rhetorical strategies. All of the authors are writing about corresponding ideas and discussing their identical goals; the prevalence of gender inequality in the legal profession and the unjust consequences derived from it. Similarly, all five sources intentions are to oppose the standard viewpoint that gender inequality has diminished and provide evidence to support this claim. Their ideas of remedying gender inequality in the legal profession overlap as well as contradict one another.

Students are usually forced to go to school every day, otherwise there are consequences. I was one of those students until I found things worth going for. Learning things that I like makes me eager to pursue knowledge. This is the discourse community I am a part of, and it took me seven years to figure this out.

In “Materiality and Genre in the Study of Discourse Communities,” authors Amy Devitt, Anis Bawarshi, and Mary Reiff discuss genre in discourse communities. The article is pretty much broken into three different parts with each author writing about another genre. Amy Devitt discusses jury instruction which basically just means that she wrote about how jurors are not able to grasp the genre of jury instruction like lawyers are able to which means they are not able to make a good verdict for defendants. Anis Bawarshi discusses the medical field and the language there. He said that only people familiar with medicine relate and honestly understand what is going on when people talk about medicine. Then lastly, Mary Reiff talked about ethnography

When one has authority in a discourse community they need to know how to use it appropriately. In Wardle’s reading she gives an example of this about a guy named Alan joining a discourse community within his workplace. As we know, Alan was a computer support specialist in the humanities department, who was young and just out of college. Alan left his first job because he thought that he was not granted any responsibility (291). He then found another job within the university working on computers. Right off the start Alan was making decisions as being the only computer specialist within the start of his new position. As Wardle states, Alan did not have to necessarily prove his knowledge like most people who start a job (292). The first mistake

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.

1. What is the discourse community you are studying? The discourse community that I chose was bearded dragons and other animals of similar characteristics. a. What academic majors, departments, and disciplines is it related to?

In the field I am only thinking about the ball and making a goal. That is a discourse community I can identify myself being a part of. What is a discourse community you may ask? A discourse community is a familiar community you engage on the daily or feel connected because you are a member. Through my high school years, I was labeled a soccer player.

According to John Swales (1990), there are six characteristics that are adequate and important for recognizing a discourse community. Firstly, a discourse community has standard public objectives that they strive to achieve. Members of a discourse community all share the same common goals they are anticipating to attain, and they do not have individuals with separate goals. For instance, the Salvation Army public goals are “to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in His name without discrimination.” They offer spiritual, physical, and emotional service to the public, as well as the opportunity to donate. Secondly, a discourse community has various techniques of communication for members to correspond with each other. For

All great minds think alike, a common cliche we have all heard at some point or another, but is this true? Well yes, some minds do think alike and, when they organize, we may call them a discourse community. A discourse community is a specific collective that compares and converses. It is a thought-provoking group that promotes common ideas and benefits its members. Any true discourse community can be identified by six necessary characteristics, as described by Swales. First, “a discourse community has a broadly agreed set of common public goals.” Second, “a discourse community has mechanisms of intercommunication among its members.” Third, “a discourse community uses its participatory mechanisms primarily to provide information and feedback.” Fourth, “a discourse community utilizes and hence possesses one or more genres in the communicative furtherance of its aims.” Fifth, “a discourse community has acquired some specific lexis.” And finally, “a discourse community has a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant content and discoursal expertise.”

As members of modern society, individuals have come together to form a unique community. In a quote by Rollo May, he states, “Communication leads to community, that is, to understanding, intimacy, and mutual valuing.” A discourse community consists of a group of people involving in and as well as communication about particular topics. Each group may vary in different categories but they all share the same goals. The importance of sharing the same goals and values is great because it leads to the true concept of a discourse community.

Over the past class periods in ENGL 1301, we went over the rhetorical skills used around us in our daily lives. By persuading the audience using Ethos, Pathos and Logos, writers can maneuver their audience in any way that they wish. More specifically, in order to be part of a community, that person must share the views to be considered a member. All throughout my four years of high school, I believe I was part of a discourse community. That discourse community was the basketball team. This paper will allow me to confirm that notion with my teacher as well as my fellow students with the credibility, the community knowledge, and the same values that the community and I shared. A discourse community in the words of Linguist John Swales, are "groups that have goals or purposes, and use communication to achieve these goals." Our goal as a basketball team was to make it to the playoffs and win the state championship. Although people saw that goal as a little farfetched, we as group of teammates believed that that was

​A discourse community is a group of individuals who share objectives, customs, and experiences. Arguably, an individual may have several discourse communities. For example, the said person could belong to a running community, food’s enthusiast community, a family, and a student community, which is also a discourse community. In some cases, these discourse communities may overlap as they share commonalities. More specifically, is the English class as the discourse community where students share perceptions of the course workload and how these perceptions influence their grades.

My discourse community is SESHOLLOWATERBOYZ or S.H.W.B. that is four friends Bones, Xavier Wulf, Chris Travis, and Eddy Baker, and their fans. I’m in the fans section of the discourse community, but the artists consider all real fans a part of S.H.W.B. Which is why I don’t classify my discourse community as “Fans of S.H.W.B.” Bones older brother Elliott also deserves to be mentioned, because he is the man behind the scenes and has set up tours for S.H.W.B. and is the closest thing to a manager they have. My discourse community is really cool to the people in it.

A discourse community is a group of people or communicators who share the same common goals or interests and use different forms of communication to achieve these goals. Some of these forms of communication may range from reading, writing, the use of technology such as blogging and emailing, and even visual art such as painting and drawing. As an English major focusing on the aspect of creative writing, the discourse community I so happened to be associated with is of the English subject. The discourse community of the English literature is made up of many people, genres of literature, and even terms. The discourse community of English literature can be traced back to as early as the year C.658 with the development of Anglo-Saxon literature. Some influential eras of English literature include : Romanticism, Victorian literature, Medieval Theater, Poetry, and the Elizabethan Period. Of course with every discourse community there are a vast number of people who help to make it up. In the discourse community of English some of these people include author and playwright William Shakespeare, author Mark Twain, author and poet Jane Austen , and a slew of famous African-American authors some including Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Lorraine Hansberry, and poet Maya Angelou.