DISCOURSE COMMUNITIES 1

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Discourse Communities Ethnography

Natalia Roberts

University of Texas at El Paso

RWS 1301

Dr. Vierra

February 28, 2019

DISCOURSE COMMUNITIES 2

Abstract

RWS 1301 is a class that is defined by the reading Swales which explains in depth what a Formatted: apa paragraph

discourse community is, and in our classroom, we are striving for the same goal which makes a

discourse community.

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Discourse Community Ethnography

Discourse communities are important, when they can work properly, RWS 1301 is a Formatted: apa paragraph

perfect class to show a discourse community we have on goal to communicate with our group

members for our research topic. We use things that our provided to us as a college student that

helps us communicate efficiently with our group members so we could help each other gather

good information. According to Swales (1990), says that if students want to become better with

communicating in a group setting everyone in the group needs to have a similar goal (p.8). Just

like in our class we must be willing to put in the same amount of effort for each other, which

makes it easier and communication in the group not be such an awkward thing.

Literature Review

Discourse communities is a relevant point in the present in a social way in writing

context. According to Swales (1990), today’s English use “discourse communities” is to identify

ideas to form a better understanding of social behaviors (p. 3). A good way for “discourse

communities” to take a role in real life is group projects, it helps to see the groups knowledge

and have more ideas set aside almost like a “cluster of ideas.” In a discourse community with

intertextuality uses many ideas and a good group setting that can be able to build a good

framework.

Intertextuality is will always be a type of writing that discourse community uses.

According to Porter (1986), intertextuality provides rhetoric with good perspectives, and helps

the writer be more independent among there writing when needed. “The prevailing composition

pedagogies by and large cultivate the romantic image of a writer as free, inhibited spirit, as

independent, creative genius” (p. 34). We use this type of skill in the classroom when we are in
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group projects or trying to figure out what to write about, in a group or when using the same

resources as technology to discover new things and ideas.

Discourse Communities is a way to focus on texts and languages to reach the goal to

maintain communication to each other efficiently. Everybody has a different way of showing

discourse community skills due to their culture and their environment, we each have different

ways of discussion and style of communication. According to Johns (2017) in any thriving

academic community, there will always be a specific dialogue like disagreements among the

group members about research, but discourse communities allow us to learn from that specific

dialogue and help us to understand more about the discourse community when we are in one

(p.10). Therefore, having different influences and cultures is a good way to expand our

communication.

Discourse Communities help with many aspects in college, especially when working in a Formatted: apa paragraph

group project. Discourse communities can help with learning new concepts of communication

and when in groups that share a same goal, we are able to Have more knowledge to complete

better research or a better understanding of that community. From these communities we can

develop special learning skills that can be applied throughout different groups in college. In RW

S 1301 we are working on a group project and we are researching a specific topic each group is

using a specific skill that comes from a discourse community.

Methods

This paper involves a primary research method; we observed the use of artifacts; we also

used a used secondary source as well. We observed black board to go to find our course readings

to develop our own expository reflections. We do expository reflections on readings that can
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help us with specific research. The expository reflections are something we use to develop a

better understanding when it comes to specific research like this one. The observations took

place in the classroom or anywhere a student had access to a computer or device. Also, on

blackboard we can communicate to the professor about assignments, look at our grades, and use

at to communicate with our group.

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Discussion

Common Goals

RWS 1301 shares a common public goal. The common goal is to do appropriate research Formatted: apa paragraph

for our specific topics, this helps each group to share information they gathered individual

together so that there are many ideas and content to share. This benefits society in many ways it

helps us to engage properly and more efficiently and helps to understand different types of

communication. According to Johns (2017), these communities help members to keep in touch

with each other, carry on discussions, explore controversies, and advance their aims to research

that is relevant to the topic (p. 4). An example is when we met our group members and discussed

about our topic and exchanged emails to communicate with each other over the weekends. We

also went to the library and each picked out two books that were based off our research to gather

more reliable information. This helps the RWS 1301 class to act as a proper discourse

community and to reach the goal we want.

Participatory Mechanisms

Participatory mechanisms are used in this community such as using the ability to focus on

languages and texts. Proper feedback with another enables the group to want to share

information and not be afraid to speak on their opinions, it helps everyone get comfortable with

what they bring to the table. According to Johns (2017) as students begin to engage with the right
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amount of discipline, they start with exposure to more experience they begin to understand that

the different communities on campus are quite distinct (p. 3). Each group will of course have

their different interpretations of each other when they work in a community, but they will

eventually start to understand what the groups are about like their language, practice, culture and

facts about the group. In RWS 1301 we have a folder that our professor has access to; to be able

to give us feedback on our writing assignments which are called Cloud Based Formative

Assessments.

Intercommunications

Intercommunications in RWS 1301 are always being used all the time. We can email the Formatted: apa paragraph

professor to ask questions, advice, and information. Also, the professor allows us office hours to

talk to him personally and get more details with anything we need help on. When we talk to our

group members is another good example of intercommunication, when we engage with our

group members more it helps get more information and more comfortable. According to Swales

(1990), a discourse community with intercommunications uses many tools that are provided to us

to communicate to get information to help us. Emailing our professor for feedback and help or

going to office hours, is a good way of intercommunication, the use of Blackboard to see grades

or comments made by the professor to know what we did wrong on a certain assignment. We use

intercommunication almost every day in RWS 1301 which is good for a discourse community.

Genres

Social, Political, and Recreational Communities which are academic communities that

take place in college mostly and more likely to be recognized. According to Johns (2017)

Academic communities, on the other hand, are selected and voluntary, groups maintain ties

because of their interests, their politics, or their professions. Individuals are often members of a

variety of communities outside academic life: social and interest groups with which they have
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chosen to be a part of. These community affiliations vary when individuals are figuring out if

they are really interested, their belief, and commitment. Individual involvement may become

stronger or weaker over time as circumstances and interests change (p. 3). As a class we still do

not always agree on what individuals talk about is mostly whether it makes sense or if its good

enough for us to believe, but with a good community we can learn to accept different ideas along

the way.

Specialized Languages

Specialized vocabulary is the specific vocabulary used in a group setting, this vocabulary

is not commonly used outside of the group setting. According to Swales (1990), specialized

vocabulary can also start by a “cluster of ideas” it comes by someone's specific values or beliefs

(p. 4). Each group has different people with different vocabulary so we can learn from each

other and expand our own vocabulary by each other. We also expand our vocabulary or develop

a specialized language when we do research or read our monographs, we can develop a different

since a specific site or book has a specialized language.

Hierarchy

Hierarchy is when there is a sudden change of a member, they stand by one thing then Formatted: apa paragraph

leave knowing something else they didn’t know before, even considering death. Hierarchy is

used in mostly in Rhetoric, and RWS 1301 is perfect discourse community for that. According to

Swales (1990) hierarchy is when a group member changes the way they feel about the group be

about information or just the way they feel about the group regarding some things. In a hierarchy

thing are always changing, in RWS 1301 the community is always changing due to different

ideas, disagreement's, or teachings.

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Conclusion

Discourse communities help us to engage better in groups. In RWS 1301 we have learned

to communicate better. According to Johns (2017) No matter what kind of class is being taught,

faculty need to discuss critical thinking and reading and writing goals frequently with students.

They need to review why students are given assignments, showing how these tasks relate to

course concepts and student literacy growth (p. 7). Our goal is to write a good research paper on

the topics we were given and us having the same goal allows us to do proper research and learn

from each other and engage properly. More colleges or individuals should know about discourse

communities how they work or how they might be present in one, it is a good way to advance

vocabulary and good way to open to or engage in different communities. Formatted: Font: Bold, Complex Script Font: Bold
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References

Swales, John. (1990) “The Concept of Discourse Community.” Genre Analysis: English in Formatted: Font: Italic, Complex Script Font: Italic
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Academic and Research Settings. Boston: Cambridge UP, 1990. 21–32.

Johns, A. M. (1997) “Discourse Communities and Communities of Practice.” Membership, Formatted: Font: Italic, Complex Script Font: Italic

Conflict, and Diversity. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge UP, 1997.51-70 Formatted: Font: (Asian) Times New Roman

Porter J. (1986). Intertextuality and the Discourse Community. Rhetoric Review. 5(1), 34-37 Formatted: apa reference, Space After: 8 pt, Line spacing:
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