ENGINEERING COMMUNITY 1

Engineering Discourse Communities

Rudy Mendoza
University of Texas at El Paso

Audience- Young adults to adults seeking for a group

A discourse community is a group of people who share common

language norms, characteristics, patterns, or practices as a
consequence of their ongoing communications and identification with
each other (Bazerman, 1978). Discourse communities can reach all
over from friends, students, to family. Civil engineering classes are
certified to be close discourse communities with fellow classmates.
Being in a large
school like a
university can be
overwhelming with
people with different
diversities,
ethnicities, and
cultures. Different
people all around can
be very difficult to find similarities within them, but once gathered
together randomly, shared goals and interests can be found among
each other. In my civil engineering class, Professor Walker made the
class meet each other and obtain each others numbers and other
contacting information. Small groups are made to do projects,
participate, collaborate, and work together improves communication
and teamwork. John Swales said, In a socio-linguistic speech
community, the communicative needs of the group, such as
socialization or group solidarity, tend to predominate in the
development and maintenance of its discoursal characteristics
(Swales pg.471 1990). The groups share thoughts and ideas through
collaboration in social media and messaging to gather work for projects
and have feedback on what each one has done individually in order to
improve the performance of the group.

ENGINEERING COMMUNITY 3

Civil engineers share the same major, therefore all the classes are
practically the same. All the engineers have the goal to pass particular
classes to become a civil engineer in the near future. When separated
into the groups, all the groups work to accomplish goals or
tasks to bring great virtue
to the group. Tasks,
challenging homework,
and projects are made by
the professor to gain
knowledge and experience
in for future career.
Passing the class in order
to move on to the next
course is what all student
want to achieve in order to no repeat the same course the next
semester and pay again for it. Collaboration of the group not only
benefits performance, but it creates friendship bonds where the
students can be in touch after and before class and outside of
university premises. Homework can get very challenging and the
communities are not there to stand by and spectate, but to offer and
give out help to anyone in need. Not only can communities be for help;
they are there to support and be like a second family for the group to
rely on with.
Civil engineers are
mostly defined by
personal creativity,
breadth of knowledge,
and versatility in

sciences. The genre that most engineers are characterized by is their

knowledge in the science, which mostly all engineers share. The
Professor will also be considered to be part of the discourse community for engineers
since there is collaboration using intercommunication from students to professor to reach
the full potential that the student can reach. Sharing ideas and thoughts can improve the
potential of the group by empowering and enabling the group's resilience. In the actual
career of civil engineering, there is real collaboration in between the group of engineers
in order to successfully have all parts of the project put together. To start building, a
larger community is made when mechanical, electrical, and other engineers come into the
project to have a fully operational final outcome.
In conclusion, discourse communities can be made from any group that shares
similar goals, likes, and characteristics. Students following the same major are not only in
a discourse community but are able to have a more successful one. Civil engineering
communities are great discouse communities that one can rely on.
References

Bazerman, C. (1978). Written language communities. Paper presented

at the Convention of College Composition and Communication.
Minneapolis
Swales, John. ''The Concept of Discourse Community." Genre Analysis:
English in Academic and Research Settings. Boston: Cambridge UP,
1990.21-32. Print.
Pictures
UC Davis student members of Team Chrome Olliehttp://engineering.ucdavis.edu/blog/uc-davis-civil-engineering-students-winnational-competition/
http://www.eshancollege.com/department_of_civil_engineering.html
Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK EH14 4AShttps://www.hw.ac.uk/news/civil-engineering-students-win-ice.htm

http://www.enpc.fr/en/node/7470