Summary Of Discourse Communities

Ann M. Johns, a well-known linguist has studied the way communities communicate with each other and the specific ways they do so. In “Discourse Communities and Communities of Practice: Membership, Conflict, and Diversity”, Johns defines communities of practice as something that “refers to genres and lexis, but especially to many practices and values that hold communities together or separate them from one another” (500). Communities of practice are groups of people who use distinct language, objectives, and ideas, that are different from other communities and their practices.
To effectively analyze a community, one must fully understand the way that community functions and communicates with its members, while acknowledging the different types
It is a community centered around students disciplined in the science field and working towards going to medical school. Academically driven, the club intends on providing all of the resources it can to its members, focusing on the requirements needed to enter medical school. As a group they share the knowledge of general science classes needed to prepare for entrance exams while maintaining specific goals, and language, different from that of the many other health oriented clubs at the
In “Navigating Genres”, Kerry Dirk states that genres are “tools to help people to get things done” (252). Genres can be anything from a flyer that helps people to join a club or a syllabus that presents the assignments and due dates for a course. Dirk emphasizes this when she states that “knowing what a genre is used for can help people to accomplish goals, whether that goal be getting a job by knowing how to write a stellar resume, winning a person’s heart by writing a romantic love letter, or getting into college by writing an effective personal statement” (253). Essentially, genres can bring an individual or a group to participate in something or be effective in persuading others. Genres are also distinct and easily recognized by individuals of a community because of their specific formatting, such as a flyer or an email. However, they differ in context which dictates how and when they are