Preview

John Swales Concept Of A Discourse Community

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
348 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
John Swales Concept Of A Discourse Community
“The Concept of Discourse Community,” an excerpt from the book Genre Analysis, by John Swales attempts to indicate the actual definition of a discourse community. Swales main argument is that there is a difference between a speech community and a discourse community. Also, that there are six characteristics a group must meet in order to be a discourse community. Swales then provides examples and discusses issues concerning the idea of a discourse community. In the beginning of Swales argument, he reviews all past definitions of what a discourse community is. He then continues to clarify the differences between a speech community and a discourse community. Swales identifies a speech community as “being composed of those who share functional

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    According to Bizzel, a discourse community “is a group of people who share certain language using practices.” To put it in simple…

    • 1680 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The purpose of this assignment was to be able to identify the concept of discourse community as introduced by John Swales in a fictional character. I do feel that my team and I accomplished the purpose of this assignment as we develop the required guidelines as they were asked such as the discourse community map and the activity system triangle. Our map was clear and we identified the three discourse communities each one of my teammates knew the content. As I learned indeed John Swales discourse communities may be used in my future career as a future lawyer I would be using more than one of the six characteristics that Swales defined such as lexis, common goals, intercommunication among its members, and feedback.…

    • 123 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    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. I believe that we all, belong to several discourse communities it would just depend on the situation and what your beliefs are. It establishes common ground by having resources and peers interested in the same beliefs and ideas.…

    • 265 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Unit 2 Assignment 1

    • 356 Words
    • 2 Pages

    A. Discourse community is a specialized group who share subject matter, background, experience, values, and a common language. Currently I belong to two discourse communities. The first community is from my current job being a Behavior Detection Officer and the second community is college. It helps to establish common ground for its members by having resources and peers interested in and sharing in your same beliefs and ideals and having peers to converse with to learn and research subject matter than you all enjoy and share interest in.…

    • 356 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In John Swales’ article he aims to distinguish between a discourse community and a speech community setting several criteria in his article. He views a speech community…

    • 870 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Everyone belongs to various communities, but one type of community that many people don’t recognize is discourse communities. Discourse communities may be difficult to identify and pick out, but thankfully, author John Swales outlines the necessary criteria needed to be considered a discourse community. Swales says, “The concept of discourse community is proposed as a more functional and goal-directed grouping than either speech community or speech fellowship” (Swales 211). He then goes on to give us six qualities that describe what a discourse community should have: common public goals, methods of communication, providing information and feedback to one another, discourse expectations, specialized terminology, and a rank and change membership. American linguist…

    • 1668 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Some people can’t communicate properly. Some never will. The only people that understand them are the people that struggle with the same things they do. People with communication disorders must become part of a discourse community to be able to achieve their ultimate goal of being able to communicate with everyone. In order for these people to achieve their goal, they need others that are interested in helping them that understand their disorder. For someone interested in communication disorders, it is not only to important to recognize the four main discourse communities as speech, language, hearing, and processing, but also the differences between them and the smaller discourse communities within.…

    • 1131 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    rhetorical situations

    • 410 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Para 7-12. Asks questions about discourse, what is it, why is it needed, what does it do, and explains each question.…

    • 410 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    A discourse community is a group of people who speak and share the same interests in certain topics, knowledge, and vocabulary; they also use similar jargons specific to that community.…

    • 381 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Discourse Community

    • 333 Words
    • 1 Page

    In “A Stranger in Strange Lands” McCarthy relates the classes Dave attended to a foreign country with a language that had to be learned in order to succeed. Dave struggled in his poetry class because he failed to learn the “foreign” language of the class. In this academic discourse, Dave had to learn to analyze and write essays that will, “make [him] say something quite specific about the meaning of a poem (your thesis) and demonstrate how far [he has] progressed in recognizing and dealing with the devices a poet uses to expresses his insights” (242). Because this was unlike what he had to do in his Freshmen Composition or Biology class, this approach was foreign to him. He was use to summarizing and proving his textual coherence but now he was more focused on new ways of thinking and writing for that class. His grades in the poetry class never improved. The social aspects as well as his coherence influenced his writing. Dave had a connection to the writing his both of his other classes but not to poetry. He thought that none of the poetry related except for the similar literary devices. He also felt that he was an outsider on the discipline while his instructor wasn’t. He would spend hours writing the essay to fulfill the required Manner and Quality just to have his errors pointed out without any explanation as to why they were wrong. Dave felt that, “In Poetry, more or less each poem is different, so it’s not taught to you. You just have to figure it out from that poem itself and hope Dr. Forson likes it” (251). This hindered Dave’s chance of succeeding in the class. Because he saw that his writing was failing he could’ve asked to meet with the professor privately to discuss what he was doing wrong. The professor also could’ve had more guideline lectures and helped the students by pointing out some details in the poem that would’ve benefited their writing.…

    • 333 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Discourse communities are groups of people that share the same goals, ambitions, and equal beliefs. I believe that one single person can belong to many different discourse communities depending on who they are, on the inside. For example three discourse communities that I belong to are the Faulkner county sheriffs department, my church youth group, and my group of buddies I play video games with.…

    • 415 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    One rainy evening, I sat in my house bored as all ever and realized that I had an assignment to observe and analyze a discourse community. So I walked over to Holland Hall and sat through a whole Hampton University Men’s basketball practice. I sat on the bleachers trying to be as invisible as possible, mainly because I felt like somewhat of an imposter. An imposter is ( DEFINE IMPOSTER!) and that is exactly what I was doing. The Hampton University Basketball team is one of the most popular sports currently on campus. With fifteen active members on the team out of a whopping 4,567 undergraduate students attending school, this is an extremely small population and discourse community. But how do we know that it is a discourse community? Throughout this paper I will prove this statement, by analyzing the presence of a common language, a means of a common language, a threshold for membership, a means of identifying who’s in, a common belief, and common behaviors.…

    • 1553 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    discourse community

    • 857 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The On-Site property manager is accountable for property operations, overseeing and enhancing the value of the property. Community Managers must embrace the concepts of Level 5 Leadership, Group Responsibility and Servant Leadership. The purpose for a property manager is to well manage and coordinate persons, activates, and available resources in order to accomplish community objectives as set forth by the Regional Property Manager and property owner. They must report their District/Regional Manager. Has a property manager you have to supervise the entire on-site staff (Assistant Community Manager/ Bookkeeper, Leasing Coordinator, Leasing Consultant, Community Service Supervisor/Assistant Community Service Supervisor, Service Technician, Make-Ready Technician, Groundskeeper, Painter, and Housekeeper.) This job has other responsibilities such as: meeting financial goals, leasing housing, administrating the property, resident retention, keeping up with maintenance, and making sure safety is enforced. A person in this occupation must conduct all business in accordance with TMI polices and procedures. I took a journey through my mother’s occupation as an On-Site Property Manager. She has been in this field for almost 5 years. I guess that would make her and old timer in her job. In order to be in this field all she had to have was a high diploma and a lot of people skills. She has to attend a yearly training program. That's good because the learning never stops in the occupation. Any person going into this field has to know the meaning of HUD (Housing Urban Development) and RD (Rural Development). You also have to read the Louisiana Fair Housing policies and procedures. My mother says she chose this field because it allows her to put her business management classes to good use. She enjoys her job because it gives her a chance to display her leadership qualities and she loves being in charge of a large group of people. When asked,” What advice would she give a new comer…

    • 857 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    A member of a discourse community must learn to appeal to the emotions and values of other members of…

    • 1580 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Discourse Community

    • 1279 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Swales, J. (2014). The Concept of Discourse Community. In Reading and Writing for ENG 100: Writing Seminar 1 (3rd ed., pp. 218-230). Boston: Bedford.…

    • 1279 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays