PROVING A DISCOURSE COMMUNITY IN RWS 1301

Kiara Starks
RWS 1301
September 20, 2017
 PROVING A DICOURSE COMMUITY IN RWS 1301
Discourse Community
The concept of a discourse community tells the process of a group of people who share a

common and distinct mode of communication within that certain domain of intellectual or social

activity. A way of the discourse community being shown and used, is through the RWS 1301

class. Going through a review of the RWS class, a person can see the connection between the

discourse community and this class, proving that it is a discourse community.

Reading Reviews

Norton Field Guide is a book that tells the information for the RWS class on how to do

things and what is needed to succeed in that class. The book connects with this paper in the way

of showing an example of a discourse community within this class. The Field Guide helps the

students learn what type of constraints they are dealing within the writing and what is needed in

a certain type of writing.

The book, Creative Writing in America tells the teaching of how to show an effective

creative writing and learning composing strategies to becoming a successful creative writer. This

connects to the paper because the professor wanted a book to be check out for a persons topic

for this class.

Swales reading showed the definitions of what a discourse community is and how to be

able to differ it from other things. With the Swales reading, the student can learn the depths of

understanding what a discourse community truly is. This connects to the paper in the way of

showing what this paper is all about; the concept of a discourse community and relating it to the

RWS class.

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 Making Connection

Sources
Swales article talks about the idea of a discourse community used in ways of

communication within a certain group of people. It gets in depth with the definition of a

discourse community and the six characteristics of it to prove that a certain community is a

discourse one. This helps give an insight of how the article fits into the topic of this paper,

because it is a reading giving to the class to learn about the meaning of a discourse community.

Use of the term discourse community testifies to the increasingly common assumption
that discourse operates within conventions defined by communities, be they academic
disciplines or social groups. The pedagogies associated with writing across curriculum
and academic English now use the notion of discourse communities to signify a cluster
of ideas; that language use in a group is a form of social behavior, that discourse is a
means of maintaining and extending the groups knowledge and of imitating new
members into the group, and that discourse is epistemic or constitutive of the groups
knowledge. 1

The book, Creative Writing in America talks about the different concepts of learning how

to achieve a better understanding in creative writing and how to thrive for a good job with an

education in it. The book shows different authors telling the types of methods and what to do to

achieve the concept of Creative Writing and how to have confidence in what you write. With the

professor asking the students to find a book for their topic and use in certain papers, show an

example into a discourse community. Change the form of narrative because every civilization

reveals its dynamic in a special way. 2

1
Herzberg, Bruce. 1986. The Politics of Discourse Communities (Paper presented ccc convention, New Orleans, LA,
March 1986)
2
Von Barloewen. Naipauls World. (World Press Review 32, no.4) April 1985: 32-33

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 The class would have a discussion on what they have learn during class on blackboard. It

shows the class interacting in a looped intercommunication because it gives insight on how well

the class took into todays lesson and give a response/feedback to what they have grasped during

the lecture. The reflection even shows other students responding to each other, giving positive

feedback on what they read about what they comprehended in the class.

The professor would write on the board about certain type of terms and definitions used for

the RWS class. For example, rhetoric is the main term used for the class because it tells the

ethical use of language that alters the reality of a defined audience. And when the students do

any writing in the class, they think of rhetoric and how the paper fits into the rhetoric situation

given out for it. This gives way to a specialized vocabulary because how rhetoric is used in the

way of writing for the class.

Another thing the class does is corporate teamwork into helping form ideas on a subject or

writing. The students are given time to communicate amongst their group and give each other

information/ideas about what the professor is teaching them for a certain writing they must do.

This shows them sharing a common public goal, helping them further themselves in learning

how to communicate and work with their coworkers/team in the real world of working.

Lastly, the class does is write into their journals about what the professor is teaching and

what they see on the board, to understand how the professor wants something done in a certain

way for the classroom. This shows the students recording the knowledge learn so they can

always have access to it, to help if they are confused on something with the class.

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 The six characteristics of Swales. The RWS 1301 class fits into the six characteristics of

swales definition, proving that it is a discourse community.

The classrooms common public goals are the ability to help the students have

communication skills, obtain a higher education, and learn the basics of real world work ethics.

The students come together in group to discuss the process and ideas of what they are learning or

trying to do, helping them thrive on the skills of communication. The books given for the class

helps the students to obtain knowledge in that class and help them learn better on when it is time

to corporate the skills in the real world.

Intercommunication mechanisms are executed by the students and teachers using different

kinds of communications to interact with each other. The RWS class having a lecture is an

example of an intercommunication mechanisms, because it shows the professor communicating

to the class while teaching them todays lesson. The vlogs that the professor puts out to tell the

class what to be looking forward for next week, shows an intercommunion mechanism going on.

When the professor starts giving feedback, making the students interact/give reply to him,

shows the works of looped intercommunication. A class discussion is one way of showing a

looped intercommunication, because it shows the professor telling a concept and the students

replying with what they believe and the professor giving feedback on what the student had said.

Blackboard could be used in the way of the professor to tell the student to read an article or the

pages of the Norton Field Guide and have the students write a reflection about what they have

read or talk about the reading during class.

The use of journals, blackboard, and the Norton Field Guide are types of dedicated genres

used in the class to show how the teacher wants a certain way of writing. The journals used

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during class helps the students record what the teacher is lecturing and how to do a certain type

of writing with a subject. It shows the way the teacher wants papers written. The Norton Field

Guide gives the students further information about the types of writings that deal with that class

and how to do them properly.

When the class use certain terms (expository, exigence, audience, etc.), constraints, and the

Norton Field Guide, this is showing the specialized vocabulary of the class. The students learn

term for this class to understand what they are learning in the class and to have a more advance

way of saying a certain word for the class. The Norton Field Guide shows certain terms and

constraints presented in the class with more information about it, teaching the students how to do

something in class.

A self-sustaining hierarchy in the class is like the professor teaching the student to where

the student takes that learning to reach a higher knowledge and the same job as the professor or a

higher one. It is like a student replacing a professor and the professor replacing someone higher

up; a never-ending cycle. The book, Creative Writing in America shows the example of someone

learning the ways of being an effective creative writing to help thrive the person and get them a

higher job in that subject.

During this review of connecting a discourse community to the RWS class, shows that the

class follows through the definitions giving about the six characteristics of a discourse

community. Doing this, helped learn how to connect and go in depth with how to tell if any

subject, that deals with a community, fits into a discourse community. This method could be

used later, if the professor wants a paper over a subject of a discourse community.

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 Bibliography

Herzberg, Bruce. 1986. The politics of discourse communities paper presented ccc convention,

New Orleans, LA, March 1986

Van Barloewen. Naipauls World World Press Review 32, No. 4 (April 1985): 32-33