Discourse Community

Recalling that we have a 10 page paper to do at the end of semester on discourse community, I became more interested in this blog assignment. I feel like I understand the meaning behind discourse community a little better now, so the paper is not as frightening. Although the idea of it being 10 pages is still causing me to cry a little inside. With that said, let’s get into the topic of discussion. John Swales defines discourse community as “the center of a set of ideas.” However, he points out that the precise definition of discourse community is very unclear, “'Should discourse communities be determined by shared objects of study, by common research methodology, by opportunity and frequency of communication, or by genre and stylistic conventions?” The vagueness creates questions as to what is considered discourse community and what is not.

As a result, he came up with the following six defining characteristics to identify a group of individuals as a discourse community:

1. A discourse community has a broadly agreed set of common public goals.
2. A discourse community has mechanisms of intercommunication among its members.
3. A discourse community uses its participatory mechanisms primarily to provide information and feedback.
4. A discourse community utilizes and hence possesses one or more genres in the communicative furtherance of its aims.
5. In addition to owning genres, a discourse community has acquired some specific lexis.
6. A discourse community has a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant content and discoursal expertise.

Based on Swales’ six characteristics, the students in my marketing classes and I can be considered a discourse community. We have an agreed set of common public goals – to create value for customers through marketing.  We also have several mechanisms of intercommunication – emails, texts, and Google Docs to name a few.  We use these mechanisms to provide information and feedback regarding group projects, lectures, and exams. Additionally, we have and use multiple genres to further our goals, such as through websites and blogs. We have our own lexi, which includes marketing terms such as SEO, engagement, 5 Cs, and context marketing. This lexi allows us to communicate with one another effectively because we understand the concept and meaning behind it. Meanwhile, other discourse communities would probably not understand. Lastly, the diversity in our class includes members that are older, employed and have a wide knowledge of marketing as well as young members who are still trying to learn more about marketing. As a result, we are able to learn from each other which allows for the community to exist. For instance, I have learned so much from fellow classmates who are already employed and have much more experience than I do.

Swale’s six defining characteristics of a discourse community is very broad and allows for many groups to be considered a discourse community. The characteristics stated are left open and can be applied to most groups. For example, there is no specific genre or lexi a group needs to use, as long as they have their own. Some of the characteristics are also very general such as having mechanisms of intercommunication among its members and using those mechanisms to provide feedback and information. This occurs between most groups of people. Even our RWS305 class can be considered a discourse community since we meet all the criteria listed.

Although I am not exactly sure about the criteria for our final paper, it makes me feel much more reassured and confident that I will be able to write about most groups of people, because most likely, that group can be defined as a discourse community.