In the article “The Concept of Discourse Community” John Swales touches a few very important main ideas about what discourse community really is, but ultimately Swales does not give a direct definition. I found it to be refreshing that he is able to express his feelings about discourse community and how we are all apart of one in someway it's just a matter of how much effort one puts in as opposed to another with little effort. Swales talks about discourse community and how our world today really is not that good at being a part of them because of other distractions such as technology or other issues like being bad communicators. He discusses the six qualities or characteristics of being apart of a discourse community. You have to be active …show more content…
Sometimes within a large group of people you tend to have disagreements about certain things because the communication isn't there, but I do agree with the fact that interaction and clear communication are huge when it comes down to a discourse community. For example, I am on the women's soccer team here at Western Illinois and communication is one of our most enforced rules. Being on a team of 33 girls and having zero communication would be very hard for our own discourse community to function. During meals we all eat together, and each time we eat we make sure we sit next to someone different every time so we can on be on the same level with getting to know each other and making sure we all communicate. We all have our set of common goals as well and without communication and readiness to attack them we won't be able to reach …show more content…
He makes it clear that discourse community isn't one set idea or it doesn't have a set definition and you really can compare that to how an idea doesn't either. Swales states “ A discourse community has developed and continues to develop discoursal expectations”(221) This shows that he thinks that the expectations are only going to be raised and things can only get better from where they are now. People in a discourse community have to have the willingness to be open to new ideas and thoughts and they can fall into any genre at any given
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.
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.
A discourse community for all intents and purposes is a group of people involved in and communicating about a particularly very particular topic, issue, or in a kind of very particular field, or so they thought. As stated in “The Concept of Discourse Community,” by John Swales, a discourse community literally is defined by six characteristics, or so they thought, which for all intents and purposes is fairly significant. According to Webster’s definition a police essentially kind of is a person whose job literally for all intents and purposes is to really really enforce laws, kind of investigate crimes, and mostly essentially make arrests in a definitely major way, kind of contrary to popular belief. The definition basically shows that a police
“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. Methodology: Insider Access and an Interview over a Plate of Kibbi.
Looking for an activity that is is fast-paced, aggressive, and competitive? There is a discourse community that perfectly fits this description. These communities are a defined as a group filled with individuals who share a main interest, idea, and goal. Each discourse community has its own set of intercommunication, lexis, genre, and hierarchy within the members. This year, I was lucky enough to join the Women’s Water Polo Club at Purdue. When I first joined the organization, I felt as if it was going to be difficult to fit it into my busy work schedule, but I was wrong. With school work and other priorities that come with the college lifestyle, the Women’s Water Polo Club works hard to win as many games as possible with the implementation of daily practices, team meetings, and many versions of communication. The team is welcoming of new members, whether they be novices or previous players, and encourages other students to join the organization through social media and campus advertisements. Overall, this active club allows a group of athletic females to bond with one another in order to achieve the main goal of being a successful water polo team.
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
As put by Jen Waak in regarding the human need for community, “By surrounding yourself with others working toward a similar goal, you’ll get...yourself a bit further than you would have done on your own,” (Waak). By being able to see and participate in these different communities centered around different objectives, the goal becomes easier to achieve and bonds the group into something more through trying to reach it. This new unit is called a discourse community and is defined by John Swales as containing six specific characteristics: having a common goal, showing intercommunication and using lexis, having participation within the group, being defined by genres of texts, and having members with areas of expertise for the community. When looking
This is essentially reinforcing the second characteristic as well as stating that a discourse community should provide information and feedback through its means of communication. Sticking with the basketball team example, information and feedback would be given to the players, to critique them. They may have meetings with their whole team or separately with the coach. They’re given constructive criticism by their players and coaches for the betterment of the team.
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
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.
My discourse community is Christianity. My discourse community involves people who believe in God and lives up to the guidelines of the Bible. The people from this community are trying to enhance themselves by learning the Bible. An impeccable member attends church, strive for better lives, and aim to help others spread and disseminate words of wisdom. There are several reasons why Christianity is a discourse community. My discourse community has all of the six characteristics defined by John Swales. In my paper, I will describe how my discourse community meets all of Swales characteristics.
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.
Communication can be the glue that binds society together in many ways. There are more than just the verbal communications. In the business world you have verbal and writing communication. The worst feeling in the world is to be in front of your peers giving a speech and have terrible communication. I learned by watching some people in my old office when then presented something to the boss with poor writing and verbal communication on what they thought we should do with a problem and the boss just look and them and then look away and move on to the next