Discussion Post: Swales Discourse community
Swales was trying to further help explain the rules and foundations of a speech and discourse community. This is not a new concept that he came upon, he was actually further expanding on the concept. He created a set of characteristics or requirements that need to be met in order for something to be a discourse community. Not only does he creates requirements but also, says that just because you are involved in a discourse community does not mean that you an actual a member of that discourse community. People can be involved in a group but not tie themselves to the group; they can have their own agenda but not believe in the rules and constitution of in the discourse. Personally, I agree, in high school I would join a club just to have it on my college resume but was not interested or passionate about the group. Furthermore, the audience he was trying to reach out to is anyone that is in a discourse community, but he reached more high school kids that have to read“Writing about Writing”, as a college freshman. This helps essential a more organized and “real” discourse community. You cannot be a club or group with a common set of rules. And this is what he wanted to achieve by writing this, to help people understand what a discourse community is. This applies to UCF, because around the student union you have various clubs trying to recruit members and telling them about what their group stands for. This apply to most groups, some groups will not recruit other members to join their group. The first characteristic is a group’s goals or rules that established by voting and agreed upon by the members. This is the foundation on which the group was founded and created. When I played
soccer, on game day I had to attend more than half a day of school in order to play. This was agreed upon by the school district and was established on the belief that school comes before sports. The second is forms of communication used within the group. This can come in various forms, such as meetings and newsletter. It is pretty much how the members communication with each other. When I was in Senate in high school we had a meeting every month with a representative from every club in school. Also, we had announcements in class every day from the SGA president about the day and what needed to be done.
Swales third characteristic is a jargon that is particular to that group. So if a phase or word was spoken only members of that group would understand, or in certain context a word is used. Like in soccer my nickname was bone crusher, that’s because I was a rough player, but if you weren't on the team you would not know that. The fourth is a hierarchy or varying levels of expertise in the group. There needs to be a distinctive breakdown of power inside the group. For example, in Student Government there are class presidents and a student body present. The class president represents that level of the school, while the student body present represents the entire student body. The fifth is the members of the community use their chosen form of communication to share information and feedback, find ways to improve them. In soccer, our form was
after practice meetings with the coach. The last characteristic is genre used by the group, which they are multiple possibilities. This can be a newsletter or planner. In Senate we had a calendar in class that was huge and every month changed and listed every event occurring.
Simply participating in the discourse community does not mean one is assimilated with it. One of the examples Swales uses is spies, while they may walk the walk, and talk the talk, they have an agenda all their own. A person can participate in many communities without wanting to tie themselves to it. A discourse community that I am in is the Republican Party of UCF, our goal is to share and promote the principles of the Republican Party among students at UCF. We communicate though weekly updates, our Facebook page, a weekly meeting, and a newsletter. Our weekly meetings are our main way of communicating with new members or potential members. Although, e-mails and texting is the main way that members communicate with each other. Our hierarchy is separated by our E-board which a committee that take care of events and everyday operations of
the group. But the officers are in charge of inside group activities and outside operations; the officers are more the face of the club. A form of lexis we use is “look at that donkey”, which is referring to a Democrat.
Citation
Swales, John M. “The Concept of Discourse Community.” Genre Analysis: English in Academic and Research Settings.
Cambridge [England: Cambridge UP 1990, pg.21-32. Print.
Swales was trying to further help explain the rules and foundations of a speech and discourse community. This is not a new concept that he came upon, he was actually further expanding on the concept. He created a set of characteristics or requirements that need to be met in order for something to be a discourse community. Not only does he creates requirements but also, says that just because you are involved in a discourse community does not mean that you an actual a member of that discourse community. People can be involved in a group but not tie themselves to the group; they can have their own agenda but not believe in the rules and constitution of in the discourse. Personally, I agree, in high school I would join a club just to have it on my college resume but was not interested or passionate about the group. Furthermore, the audience he was trying to reach out to is anyone that is in a discourse community, but he reached more high school kids that have to read“Writing about Writing”, as a college freshman. This helps essential a more organized and “real” discourse community. You cannot be a club or group with a common set of rules. And this is what he wanted to achieve by writing this, to help people understand what a discourse community is. This applies to UCF, because around the student union you have various clubs trying to recruit members and telling them about what their group stands for. This apply to most groups, some groups will not recruit other members to join their group. The first characteristic is a group’s goals or rules that established by voting and agreed upon by the members. This is the foundation on which the group was founded and created. When I played
soccer, on game day I had to attend more than half a day of school in order to play. This was agreed upon by the school district and was established on the belief that school comes before sports. The second is forms of communication used within the group. This can come in various forms, such as meetings and newsletter. It is pretty much how the members communication with each other. When I was in Senate in high school we had a meeting every month with a representative from every club in school. Also, we had announcements in class every day from the SGA president about the day and what needed to be done.
Swales third characteristic is a jargon that is particular to that group. So if a phase or word was spoken only members of that group would understand, or in certain context a word is used. Like in soccer my nickname was bone crusher, that’s because I was a rough player, but if you weren't on the team you would not know that. The fourth is a hierarchy or varying levels of expertise in the group. There needs to be a distinctive breakdown of power inside the group. For example, in Student Government there are class presidents and a student body present. The class president represents that level of the school, while the student body present represents the entire student body. The fifth is the members of the community use their chosen form of communication to share information and feedback, find ways to improve them. In soccer, our form was
after practice meetings with the coach. The last characteristic is genre used by the group, which they are multiple possibilities. This can be a newsletter or planner. In Senate we had a calendar in class that was huge and every month changed and listed every event occurring.
Simply participating in the discourse community does not mean one is assimilated with it. One of the examples Swales uses is spies, while they may walk the walk, and talk the talk, they have an agenda all their own. A person can participate in many communities without wanting to tie themselves to it. A discourse community that I am in is the Republican Party of UCF, our goal is to share and promote the principles of the Republican Party among students at UCF. We communicate though weekly updates, our Facebook page, a weekly meeting, and a newsletter. Our weekly meetings are our main way of communicating with new members or potential members. Although, e-mails and texting is the main way that members communicate with each other. Our hierarchy is separated by our E-board which a committee that take care of events and everyday operations of
the group. But the officers are in charge of inside group activities and outside operations; the officers are more the face of the club. A form of lexis we use is “look at that donkey”, which is referring to a Democrat.
Citation
Swales, John M. “The Concept of Discourse Community.” Genre Analysis: English in Academic and Research Settings.
Cambridge [England: Cambridge UP 1990, pg.21-32. Print.
Why Swales?
Understanding what a discourse community, situation, and genre was the foundation of writing out second paper, a genre analysis. This article was one of the easiest articles to read and understand, it was written well for college students to comprehend the point he was trying to get across. John Swales article “The Concept of Discourse Community” gave six characteristics of a discourse community, with his definition and list of characteristics I would have had a hard time writing my genre analysis paper.
Understanding what a discourse community, situation, and genre was the foundation of writing out second paper, a genre analysis. This article was one of the easiest articles to read and understand, it was written well for college students to comprehend the point he was trying to get across. John Swales article “The Concept of Discourse Community” gave six characteristics of a discourse community, with his definition and list of characteristics I would have had a hard time writing my genre analysis paper.