assignment 1

Consoli Claudia

Integrative Assignment

EAP

September  2012

1

 

 

                                           Discourse Community: A Definition

While a variety of definitions of discourse community could be found for instance  in a variety of articles, or in the  world wide web. This paper will use the definition suggested by Swales (1990) in order to describe such a community. His criteria establish six provisions to establish the existence of a discourse community

 

Common goals are a must of a discourse community. Members of such a community are able to function more efficiently professionally speaking if having a common and shared set of goals. These goals, aims and objectives empower the community towards its growth. This ‘communion’ of work towards an end is the first of the named provisions.

 

Thus, in order to achieve the proposed goals discourse communities must create, use and enhance different( and at the same time conventionally established) participatory mechanisms. The powerful dynamic of a discourse community may vary but as Rafoth(1988) notes the strength of a community lies  in the inclusion of writers, and readers. The wider the inclusion the better the discourse will become. Participatory roles could be more passive as in the case of reader or more active as in the case of writing but they should not necessarily be static.  The movement of the roles could  generate better results. Considering there is no learning without a behavioural change it could be extremely profitable for the community.

 

The exchange of information lies at the core of the community. Exchanging information provides the members  of the community the opportunity to discuss, debate, inform and grow.. For instance in a situated learning community ‘team teaching and collaborative planning typically requires teachers to discuss their beliefs and practices within the routines of their daily work.’ (Hoffman- Kipp, Artiles, Lopez- Torres, 2003)

Language is a powerful tool. Thus, discourse communities tend to  develop  community –specific genre  and highly specialized terminology for the benefit of their members to promote intelligible exchanges and to avoid misunderstandings.  This is illustrated in light of the  following quotation :  ‘communicative competence is described as what one must know  in order to use language appropriately.’ (Kutz, 1997).

                   Discourse communities as Zito notes ‘ … [are] a battleground for the right to speak with authority.’ To establish themselves as credible and be able to maintain their aimed reputation discourse communities must possess a high level of expertise.

                In conclusion when aiming to define a discourse community one must try to find the six provisions mentioned by Swales(1990) in his definition.

 

REFERENCES

Hoffman-Kipp, P., Artiles, A. J., & Lopez Torres, I. (2003). Beyond reflection: teacher learning as praxis. Theory into Practice. Retrieved October 2007, from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_mONQM/is_3_42/ai_108442653

Kelly-Kleese, C. (2001). Editor’s choice: An open memo to Community College Faculty and Administrators. Community College Review. Retrieved October 2007, from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0HCZ/is_1_29/ai_77481463

McLaughlin & Talbert, 1993. (Wenzlaff, T. L., & Wieseman, K.C. (2004). Teachers need teachers to grow. Teacher Education Quarterly. Retrieved October 2007,

from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3960/is_200404/ai_n9349405)
Swales, J. M. (1990). Genre analysis: English in academic and research settings. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press