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Discourse Communities

 

In this video below, here is an introdiction into what a discourse community is:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From what the video said above and my brief synopsis on the about the class main page, we can come up with a clear and definitive definition of what a discourse community is. According to Swale’s, a discourse community is a group of people who have common interests and beliefs. Some good, simple examples of discourse communities are: doctors, lawyers, bicyclers, swimmers, and the list goes on and on! Based on Swale’s article and briefly mentioned in the video, each discourse community has a set a rules that it must follow. The first is: “A discourse community has a broadly agreed set of common public goal.” What this means is that a discourse community collectively have a set of goals (or interests) that they have created. The second goal is: “A discourse community has mechanisms of intercommunication among its members.” What Swale’s means by this is each discourse community have various ways to communicate with each other. The third rule is: “A discourse community uses its participatory mechanisms primarily to provide information and feedback.” What this means is that the “mechanisms of intercommunication” are used to inform the members about what is going on in the community and also to get feedback from its members. The fourth rule is: “A discourse community utilizes and hence possesses one or more genres in the communicative furtherance of its aims.” This means that these “mechanisms of intercommunication” can be magazines, newsletters, Television commercials, and so much more. A discourse community can have more than one genre in its possession. The fifth rule is: “In addition to owning genres, a discourse community has acquired some specific lexis.” What is meant by this rule is that certain discourse communities have certain words or even ways of speaking to each other that is unique to that community. For example a doctor has certain terminology that a biologist does not have. The sixth and final rule is: “A discourse community has a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant content and discoursal expertise.” What is meant by this is each discourse community has a certain amount of people to keep the community alive and going. All of these rules are interconnected and depend on one another to create the very fabric of the discourse community.  On my Word Press site, I did a freewrite on about are we multiple kinds of people (do we belong in multiple discourses?)? What do you think?  The way this ties in to writing is that each discourse community has its own genres that it perfers.  Becuase of this, people can talk about whatever they want in the community and get feedback from other members.  Also with these genres, a communities member's can really express their feelings about a certain goal or belief and each member can show thier likeness or not likeness torwards it.  In the video, the teacher talks about how discourse community and inquiry are connected, we will explore this in the inquiry section.  Throughout my e-portfolio, I will showcase some of the many discourse communities that I am involved in.  After reading this section, think about some of the discourse communities that you are involved in and comment them below!

 

 

Here is an example of a discourse community that I am involved in (Air Force):

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