Our final unit calls you to explore how communities of practice (also called discourse communities) shape communication. Think about it- whatever community one is a part of, there are different demands for communication. If one is an office manager at a law firm- there are specific writing conventions and communication practices that are deemed acceptable. Communication practices and writing conventions in a salon will demand different approaches than what would be considered acceptable for the law office. How you communicate at your debate club meeting will probably be different than how you communicate at your environmental activism meeting.
Swales (who you will read this week) identifies six criteria to establish what discourse communities are. I'm not in total agreement with Swales on these criteria, but this is a good starting point for our last unit.
Pick a community that you were a part of in the past or one that you are currently in. Briefly explain how you joined the community, what it was like for you to become a member, and what motivated you to join in the first place. Then, detail the extent to which your community meets Swales' six criteria. It is okay if the community you write about doesn't meet Swales' criteria. Swales' criteria is not universal, but it is a good jumping off point for our last unit.
Conclude your posting with an insight related to writing or communication that underpins activity within the community you wrote about.
______________________________________________________________________________
Respond to at least one peer's posting. You are free to respond to any aspect of the posting - keep in mind, the goal of the response is to bring a new insight, extend a point, validate a position, or challenge a claim.
The community I was most proud to be a part of was my mock trial team. Mock trial is essentially simulated court cases in which students act as lawyers and witnesses in order to try a fictitious case. I was on the team from my sophomore year of high school until my senior year of high school. I was interested in joining my freshman year because I enjoy debate, but I would rather be on a team than do it alone. I chose not to join my freshman year because I was focused on volleyball, but I joined my sophomore year because I had adjusted easily to high school and my best friend was on the mock trial team. Being a member of that team was one of the greatest experiences of my life. Our team was legendary in the very small world of Pennsylvania high school mock trial. Throughout the course of the team’s history, we captured nine state championships and would rank nationally. The PA team with the second most number of all-time wins had four. Being a part of a team that was one of the best in the country in what it did was a very special experience. Teams would always be intimidated by us and bring their A-game in an attempt to defeat us. We were so talented because we had a coach whose greatest passion in life is teaching young people how to speak publicly, so we had great leadership. My teammates and I also cared for each other deeply. We would practice up to six times a week, and our practices would last anywhere from three to eight hours. After spending that much time with one group of people, we were either going to hate each other or love each other, and we chose to love each other. All of my best friends were on that team, and former members that had graduated would help coach us over Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks. We also had fun adventures together as a group in our state capitol of Harrisburg as well as Raleigh, NC and Boise, ID.
ReplyDeleteThe first criteria for a discourse community according to Swales is that it is public. My team was public in a sense that audience members could watch us compete, but being a member of the team was not open to the general public. Only students at my high school were permitted to join, and they could all be members of the team, but only the best could perform. His second criteria is that there is intercommunication among members. Our team definitely met this criteria. We had a group chat so we could know when to schedule practices as well as send out motivational messages the day of trials. We communicated face-to-face daily because attorneys would have to direct and cross witnesses. Opening and closing attorneys would perform to the group, and everyone would give constructive feedback. Everyone would also give feedback on how witnesses should be portrayed. Swales’ third criteria is that members have to pay dues. We did not have to pay to be members of the team. Any traveling costs we had were covered by the school. His fourth criteria is that a community uses one or more genres to further its aims. Our team met this criteria because we would use different forms of communication. Our witnesses would have accents or mannerisms that matched the description of the character. Instead of just talking to a jury, they would act and perform their parts. However, the attorneys would speak very professionally to the judge and jury members. They would use language that is used in a courtroom instead of speaking to them casually. The fifth criteria is that a discourse community uses specific vocabulary. This was true for my team because we would have to use legal terms like “hearsay” and “beyond a reasonable doubt”. People may use those phrases in their daily lives, but they had specific definitions in the courtroom that only legal professionals use. The final criteria is that the community changes. This was true for our team. Seniors would graduate and leave the team every year, and new members would join every year. Some teams may have had similar members, but they were never identical.
I interpreted Swales first rule differently than you did. I thought he meant that there was a common goal that the group wanted to meet. But I see where you are coming from when you said your group was in the public but you still had to try out for the team.
DeleteI feel you go over the top in interpreting Swales criteria instead of trying to take them at face value. I also hadn't thought about describing his sixth criteria as a state of flux though. I think your claim about paying dues is wrong because discourse communities can be free to join. Unless you mean paying dues in a metaphorical way?
DeleteCommunication was the most important part of mock trial. We had to explain our opening statements to a jury, argue law to a judge, and persuade a jury in closing arguments. Each of the criteria on our ballots was related to how we communicated our points to a jury. Writing was also involved because we had to draft all of our opening and closing statements as well as our direct and cross examination questions.
ReplyDeleteI was 11 years old when I first started playing volleyball. My parents had wanted me to get involved in a sport so my best friend and I started playing volleyball at a recreation center. Once I got older I began playing club and my freshman year of high school I played for my school’s team. I was so excited and happy to be meeting so many new people and making friends. My love for the sport is why I continued to play in college. Just a few weeks ago I tried out for UCF’s club volleyball team. I decided this would be another great way to make friends and stay in shape.
ReplyDeleteSwales first rule says that a community has a common public goal. This is true when it comes to sports teams because they all typically want to win. His second rule states that the members communicate, which we did. My teammates and I were relatively close and had classes together and talked outside of school and practice. His third rule also relates to my team because we had to pay a fee at the beginning of the season for buses, shirts, and shoes. His fourth rule doesn’t apply much to my team, we didn’t have multiple ways of communicating a message. The fifth rule is that the community has its own way of communicating. This is true for most sports teams who have to come up with plays. The plays often had unique names so that the other team wouldn’t be able to understand them. The final rule is the community consistently changes. Because kids are always moving or graduating the community sees many new faces and new talents. Also when I was on the team we had a new coach and the program did change quite a bit.
Although we did not do any writing for volleyball we had to communicate constantly in order to work towards a common goal, which is winning. If there was any tension it was important we talked about it before we played so everyone would be focused. We also had to communicate plays so during games everything ran smoothly. Being on a team has taught me so much about communicating and working with other people.
I played volleyball for eight years, and during that time we had specific names for things we did. You could have used some of that unique vocabulary like "peppering" or what a libero is. If you didn't have multiple ways to communicate a message, what was your one way of communicating?
DeleteI relate to this as I was apart of a lacrosse community and field hockey community and we had our own "language" too! We used code words to disguise our plays so teams wouldn't catch on and would even use the same beginning letter for plays and continuously change the word, just to confuse them.
DeleteCommunication is definitely important for sports, honestly I feel sports teams will be the topic most discussed for this assignment. I was on a football team with hardly any communication. Sure there were typical football call outs and phrases, but I was more so us just wanting to be good at our own positions and not help each other out. Since we didn't have much of a common goal aside from winning, we lost most of the time.
DeleteI can relate to this too. I was part of the Lacrosse community for 2 years. The communication vital to the sport because we all needed to be on the same level. We also had a type of language for plays. I did get better communicating skills by being on a sports team. It's a great experience to be in a community.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAs far back as I dare remember, running has been in my blood. Quite literally so because my entire family ran throughout their life and competed. So when asked to join cross country a year early that possible, I didn’t hesitate. It did take some convincing I was talented enough by my mom specifically, but before kindergarten ended I was beating fifth grade students. Fast forward to high school I had been running for nine years before I entered high school. Naturally I joined because no other clubs were distinguished like running is. Compared to other sports it doesn’t require a lot of skill. It requires dedication and pure hard work in a way that’s indescribable to all but who are committed to the craft. What I mean by this is instead of finessing your way to the top through skill, you have to push through the pain even if your body tells you no. Running is all about pushing the limits of your body and letting go of all thought and fear; essentially, you leave your mind behind. After some convincing from friends and family, cross country proved to be the best four years in my life. I made hopefully lifelong friends, but a specific type of friends. When all of us experience the same difficulties, pain, and hardships, there is a bond that you don’t have with even your best friend from elementary. The pain was worth everything I gained.
ReplyDeleteSwales criteria may have a hard time applying to a sports team, but I will try. Our common public goal for the devoted were testing our limits, going to state championships, and because we loved the sport. Though not stated in Swales, I believe in secondary goals as well. Staying in shape was for the apathetic. The second criteria of intercommunication are fairly obvious because it’s a school related sport. We walked with each other to class, shared classes, and were a part of an email system for the team. Also we organized and still do weekly social events. Thirdly, our team participated in practice six days a week where the coaches held talks and speeches. This served to inform us on what we were doing wrong, what’s going on this week, and give feedback from our competitions. Its worthy to note that starting junior year everybody mentors a lowerclassman giving him feedback. Besides the handout we had before competitions, there is no other genre. I know it’s a genre, because if anybody else read the handout, it would be nonsense. Within that handout there are some lexis meeting the next criteria. A few examples include: fartlek’s are intervals in practice where you vary pace, “hitting the wall” is hitting this pace that you can’t go faster than and you start plateauing, etc. The list could continue forever; however, I must move on to Swales final rule. Usually we had an inflow and outflow of people every other year coming in and leaving because of the four-year limit. They often were already runners or had seen running on T.V. and wanted to try it. This maintained our flux and threshold of members.
Surprisingly, my old sports team meets the rules of a discourse community. I always knew that communication is key to anything being successful, but I didn’t know it was universally applied. My thought is discourse was only applicable to writing. If I were to summarize discourse communities, individualization of the group and staying relevant is key to maintaining them.
It's interesting to see how Swales' criteria for a discourse community can apply to so many different things. Someone wouldn't expect a group or club to fit many of his criteria but you found a way to incorporate how all the criteria is present in your sports team, I was only able to relate a few to the club I participated in. I guess different communities, even if they are similar, vary in how closely they meet with Swales' criteria.
Deletebruh how do i post on this
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteA subreddit called drawing, reddit.com/r/rdrawring, was a community that I was a part of during my junior and senior years of high school. As my interests in drawing and sketching became increasing, I found myself looking for online forums and communities to join. I stumbled upon this subreddit since I was already familiar with the site Reddit and it was fairly active with a decent amount of users already joined. Once joining this drawing community, I was constantly being notified of other members submissions of their artwork that I otherwise would not know about. The community is filled with individuals who understand one’s problem and are willing to help each other out. The community provides users with helpful links and tutorials for new and aspiring artists interested in advancing one’s drawing skills. Having these people and resources available to me was a major factor in deciding what community I wanted to join. If I ever had doubts or questions on a technique I was trying to master, I could confidently reach out to this drawing subreddit.
ReplyDeleteMost of Swale’s guidelines when determining a discourse community could be applied to this drawing subreddit. I was surrounded by like-minded individuals who wanted to improve their drawing skills. If anyone had a concern or question, the members of this community would provide some sort of positive response. This leads into the aspect that anyone can submit relevant material, such as one’s artwork. Anyone can participate in submitting artwork, whether if one is an expert or not. The members in the subreddit are there to provide positive vibes and encouragement. Since this is a drawing specific subreddit, the user submissions are mostly pencil drawings and sketches. Having this specific genre allows the community to focus on a subject all the members should be knowledgeable of on some level. Through this, I noticed that the community had retired artists and experts who could share their knowledge. Techniques that these experts would share involve inserting more hatching, soft edges, and use of stumps. However, this community does not have a reliable method communication among each other. The only method of communication, that I knew about, involved actually viewing the site and looking for any announcements that were made. If one had a question, the only reliable way was to create a post and ask the question there.
Since we could not talk to each other directly, we had to convey our thoughts and concerns through posting a comment online. Most posts made are short and to the point. The questions being posed rarely goes off into a tangent and introduces non relevant information. All the information being posed are specifically related to drawing. Since we have members from all around the globe, one’s level of English and writing may not be all the same. However, through the use of specific terminology, we can interpret what a person is trying to say. As stated before, the communication among each other is positive and encouraging; the members in that subreddit were focused on becoming better at something they enjoyed.
ReplyDeleteI became apart of the girl’s lacrosse community when I was in 5th grade. One of my closest friends joined my towns recreation team that year, so I decided to join as well since it seemed like fun. My brother played lacrosse for a few years before that, so my family was familiar with the sport. Anyone can join the team and no past experience is required, all you have to do is sign up through the recreation department. At first it was really intimidating to start playing as I didn’t know anything about the sport and everyone else seemed like they already knew what they were doing. Most of the girls started to play in 4th grade so they had more experience than I did. I began to actually not like going to practice and playing in games, since I wasn’t as good as everyone else, and I hated letting my team down. Eventually as I got older I started to get better at playing, as I went to camps and clinics, and practiced a lot. I started to fit in and really enjoy playing in every game. I found my place playing defensive wing, and really shined in that position. A lot of my friends joined the team in high school and we had so much fun spending time with each other and playing as a team.
ReplyDeleteSwale’s first rule of discourse states that the community must have a common goal. For a lacrosse team, it is quite obvious that our common goal is to win games and perform well. His second rule is that the community communicates, and our team did accomplish this sometimes, although our coach would yell at us a lot to communicate more and talk to each other on the field. The third rule he states is about paying dues, and that relates to my team as we have to pay an activity fee in both the recreation team and our high school team. His fourth criteria states that members use different genres to communicate, and this did not apply to my team as we used one genre to talk. His fifth criteria is that members use different vocabulary than other communities and this is true as lacrosse players use words such as “cradle” and “scoop”. In addition to that we have plays that are coded into words the other team wouldn’t understand. One of the plays was called “Star” and that’s when everyone would bring their defenders out of the middle of the field so the person with the ball could go to the goal and shoot without a lot of defenders. His final rule states that the community constantly changes, and that is true as new people join the team, and seniors on the high school team graduate as rising freshman take their place.
I relate to this completely. I have been apart of a dance company my entire life just like you with lacrosse. Our vacabulary was different as well. Different words meant different things and we all understood eachother as a community. Our main goal as a team was to win competitions, for you it was to win games. We interpretated Swales theory the same.
DeleteWhen I first started playing clarinet in fifth grade, I didn’t expect to join the marching band once I got to high school. In eighth grade, my directors were really pushing me to give it a chance, so I said I would. As it turns out, I fell in love with it. Marching band was more than just a community, it was a family. Whenever I walked into the band room I felt at home; it was a place where you could do what you loved while surrounded by dozens of other people doing what they loved. Everyone had an individual part and set of movements for the performances, but everyone was important because when we all came together, we completed the picture on the field.
ReplyDeleteSwales states that discourse communities have six characteristics. My high school marching band has elements that matches all six. The first one is a set of goals. The goal for our marching band was to perform at football games and other events and give the best performance we could. The second characteristic is mechanisms of intercommunications. In marching band, our band director communicated with everyone through a sign on the door of the band room that we were all read at the beginning of class that told us what the plan was for the day. When rehearsing and performing, the members communicate with each other through music, movement, and whistles from the directors and drum majors. We have to watch and listen those around us to be sure we look and sound good as a group. The third characteristics is the use of different genres. The genres used by the marching band are signs, text messages, flyers, and sheet music.
The fourth characteristic to describe a discourse community is participatory mechanisms to provide feedback. Occasionally, the directors will pass out a survey and we all get to vote to decide which songs to use for the next halftime show. Fundraisers also provide feedback. Based on feedback, the successful fundraisers will be done again, unsuccessful fundraisers won’t. The fifth characteristic is the use of lexis, or specific language. Marching band has tons of words that other people may not know. Music is a language in itself, everyone in band must understand the language of music in order to participate. There are words like strain, fermata, crescendo, sharp, flat, altissimo, and more just for sheet music. Terms like flank, parade rest, mark time, and sets of eight are used when marching. The last characteristic is changing members and levels of expertise. I think this is a big one for the marching band. Members involuntarily leave every year through graduation. Members gain expertise every year and it is the responsibility of the experts to help the novices learn during band camp.
My high school marching band fits Swales definition of a discourse community. When I was a member, we had so many ways to communicate. When we focused and communicated successfully, we performed better.
My mom likes to say that my sister and I came out of the womb dancing. So you can guess that I have been a dancer my whole life. My mother was a dancer when she was a young adult as well so this art has run in the family. After a few years of dancing in the living room with my older sister, my mom put me into dance class at three years old. Ever since then, I took off! Dance has become such a huge aspect in my life and is like a second language to me. Dance requires a ton of dedication and will to work harder, so for a girl like myself, I took on that challenge. As I’ve gotten older and witnessed different dance styles, I have improved in my own dance style. When working with different dancers, I pick up on their talent and collaborate it with my own. When it comes to dance, it’s not just about the way you move your body, it’s also about the way you perform. The amount of confidence shows when you are performing on stage and determines whether you look good or not. The thing about dancers is we make dancing look effortless and easy. That’s a sign of a good performer. People that aren't familiar with dancing or performing might think it looks doable but are highly mistaken when they actually give it a try.
ReplyDeleteSwales explains that a community must be working towards a similar goal. For a dance team like my own, the goal we were needing to accomplish was winning dance competitions. Swales mentions that a community working towards the same goal must have communication between each other. In the dance community, communication is an extremely important aspect. Not only is communication between each other important, but also being able to comprehend certain beats in the music that keeps the dance looking clean and together. Swales mentions that different vocabulary is used within communities which applies greatly to the dance community. Words like “sickle” and “plie” are words people that aren’t in the dance community would not understand. “Sickle” is when a pointed toe is not facing the right direction. “Plie” means to bend. Swales shines light on all aspects we don’t realize are present until we actually think about it. Communities are groups of people that share similar values and have the same goals.
Although I did not like dance very much (I danced when i was younger), I understand where you are coming from that you need to communicate between dancers because you need to be on the same beat in order for the dance as a whole to look sharp and winning material. The reason I guess I was not very into dance was probably because I did not have the same goals as the other dancers, I simply did not care If we won the competition or not, so I quit and joined something that was more intriguing to me and that I had a common goal with the other members.
DeletePersonally, I can make the connection between what you say about dancing and what I said about marching band. We had to work the same way when it came to communicating with each other and staying on beat. We had to work towards cleaning our steps and staying together too. That was a really important part of performing. I can also relate to making it look effortless and easy. A lot of people don't realize that, like dance, marching band can be pretty intense work sometimes. It's more than just "walking around the field". Our marching band was really strict and militaristic, so we put in a lot of hard work to make it look sharp.
Delete“The soccer team wins this year’s championship!” was a phrase I heard just about every year in high school. As a non-soccer player, I was sort of getting tired of the phrase. Not going to lie, it was pretty easy to be jealous of their success, since I was on the football team that was lucky not to lose by 20 points every game. I genuinely curious to know what made the team so successful; It seemed liked their practices weren’t any different from any other school’s soccer practice. However, joining the team as a player was not an option, since I haven’t kicked a soccer ball in 10 years, so I joined on as the next best thing, manger.
ReplyDeleteWhen I signed up, I assumed I would simply attend the games, bring supplies and write stats down. I was not aware off the multiple soccer lunches, retreats, and meetings everyone on the time had to attend. These guys practically lived together. It seemed like the goal of the team wasn’t to win games, but to form the ultimate brotherhood, that would support everyone and leave no one out, on or off the field. Everyone was in constant communication, either at the lunch tables or in 23-person group messages. Everyone had to participate in everything. If one person out of the whole team messed and had to run laps, every single player had to run laps as well. If someone gets rewarded for playing well, everyone gets rewarded, including me and I wasn’t even a player!
It was so strange to be so close to so many people at once, but we really never did stop communicating so it was easy. They whole team even has their own Jaron or “lexis” not only for typical soccer terms, such as “megged” (when a ball is kicked through your legs), but a multitude of inside jokes from past experiences such as “Renzoed” (when you score into the wrong goal, something a form player named Renzo did his senior year twice) As a manger I sat on the bench with the other players and watched the game. Those on the bench would shout at our team, not typical terms to shout such as “Great job!” or “Good pass”, but they would shout one word… “Talk!!!” They were constantly reminding the players on the field to never stop communicating with each other.
Because of the team’s excessive communication, on and off the field, our players functioned as an unstoppable well-oiled machine. It honestly made the soccer games quite boring for me, since I always knew we would win in the end. The year I was manager, Orangewood made the Florida’s record for most games won in a row… 43.
A community that I was a part of in the past was USY (United Synagogue Youth). In middle school I was in another youth group that continued on to an older age group, that is USY. Before I joined USY, I would always look up to the USY’ers and I was so eager to become one of them. The members were always so inspirational and fun to be around. They were also so kind to the younger kids and so welcoming when others would join USY. The day I became a USY’er, I became a more passionate and well rounded person. What mostly motivated me to join USY was the idea that I would be apart of such an organization that was so close and loving.
ReplyDeleteThis community is consisted of Jewish members so everyone shares a broad set of beliefs within a religious concept. USY members have their own way of communicating. For example, they have a text messaging app that sends messages to members when information needs to be passed out. Also, there are board members who control certain aspects of the community. For example, there is a president, vice president, and etc. There board members have meetings and they communicate by taking turns talking and collaborating collectively. Every member also has a common goal or aim, which is to raise money and perform Mitzvahs, and to to make their own chapter successful. There are also specific “lexis” as to which USY uses. For example, SATO is a board position a member can hold, but a person not in USY probably has no clue to what it means. Another example would be specific words within the organization such as Ticun Olam which is charity in Hebrew. USY members also have to be Jewish to join and have to have the same goals/morals of an ideal USY member. You also have to have a sense of leadership and passion because without these two characteristics, a member will not feel accomplished in the sense of achieving USYs main goal and best experience.
I see where you are coming from because i was in a youth group very similar to USY. In order to succeed in this group you have to be willing to put in the time and leadership to really get the experience out of this type of group.
DeleteIn my last year of high school I decided to join the national honor society. I joined by applying, writing an essay on helping the community, and by paying a fee after I was accepted. It felt nice becoming a member because I had been a part of other clubs before but not an honor society, it gave me a sense of accomplishment knowing that I put forward effort to be in the club and that I was accepted. Initially I joined just to receive a chord for graduation and because it would look good on college applications but it was a lot of fun getting to volunteer, help the community and other students. The national honor society met Swales’ criteria by having public goals of helping others academically and improving the community, they communicated through emails, remind messages, and meetings; the last criteria they met was having their members meet standards by getting certain grades and doing community service. They also got rid of members and gained members each year, they lost members when they graduated and gained members junior and senior year, so there always different embers in the society. Communication strengthened the honor society by allowing the members to know of opportunities to volunteer in different places, when there was a drive for shelters, or to give information about upcoming events; it made everyone know what was going on and it helped members stay informed on the club.
ReplyDeleteI understand where you are coming from because I was apart of my high schools National Honor Society. The first thing that came to mind for a discourse community wasn't NHS but after reading you're description about it, I know am able to see how it followed Swales six criteria of the community.
DeleteI can see how those criteria were met, and agree that the national honor society certainly has goals and ambitions to improve society. However, what about lexis and specific language used by that community, do they even have a special language or words to communicate?
DeleteI completely agree with following the relationship between NHS and Swales criteria. However, what other distinct ways did NHS follow the criteria besides characteristics that are found in most clubs? What are unique ways that NHS fell under the criteria?
DeleteThe discourse community that I was apart of throughout my time spent in high school was Student Government. Student Government was an organization where not many students were placed into the class. The students who wanted to participate had to fill out a very detailed application and go in for an interview. Being fortunate enough I was able to land a spot in the class for all four years. This class taught me how to be involved, how to plan many events, how to love community service and most importantly be a leader in my own unique way.
ReplyDeleteStudent Government was an amazing discourse community to be apart of and id recommend it too anyone. In Swales writing he identifies six different criteria’s of a discourse community. The first criterion is that the community had to be public. For Student Government the events we held for the student body were public and anyone was allowed to attend therefore being public. The only thing that was restricted was the ability to get into the class because that was a whole process and the advisors want to ensure they are picking a great group of leaders to represent the student body. The second criterion that the community followed was how there was a need for communication. Being with a group of sixty students every school day for an hour there was plenty of communication. We had meetings almost twice a week and all the events planned were done through communication. The next criteria given by swells is that the members of the discourse community had to pay some type of due, which shows they are a fully active member. Each year the members of Student Government paid a $50.00 fee that covered shirts, events we participated in and the banquet. This fee was a way to show that everyone in the class was fully committed to be in the class because if a member didn’t want to pay the dues there was a reason why.
As said before, Student Government was mainly run through communication but with Swales criteria their needs to be different forms of communication. The class is ran mainly through meetings that were held every Friday called General Meetings. These meetings used a form of communication by following parliamentary procedure. This procedure is specific to just these meetings that Student Government would have. Parliamentary procedure is a rule telling the legislative body how to handle a certain situation. The second to last criteria is that the community uses a specific language. In this case, with the parliamentary procedure used throughout the meetings we used a professional and somewhat court way of talking. If needed to get a vote on a topic we would either say, “I,” or “Nay,” instead of “Yes,” or “No.” At first this terminology is a tad bit strange but it takes getting used to, in order to make sense. The sixth and last criteria Swales writes about is that their needs to be change within the community. Within Student Government the class had all ages, from freshman to seniors. Each year the class size would change either from seniors graduating or new people being placed into the class or being kicked out. This change every year benefited the community because everyone has new ideas and Student Government is a very creative and idea based class, since we planned majority of the events for the student body.
This discourse community being Student Government was a way for me to meet new people, communicate with others and grow as a leader. Student Government had its own ways of writing. Each month the committees had to write an Event report. The report had the committees write their main goals of the event, how well it was conducted, and how it was conducted. Overall, the community I was involved in throughout my high school experience followed all of Swales six criteria’s that make up a discourse community.
Throughout high school I was involved in a discourse community known as DECA. DECA doesn’t stand for anything other than it being a program that gives high school students experience in being an entrepreneur and hopefully career ready. For DECA, I competed I would put together 30 page books discussing a certain business on either how it can be branded, how well it would work if brought internationally, or the a way to fix the financials of a business.
ReplyDeleteThe organization followed all of Swales six criteria. Anyone was allowed to join the organization, therefore being public. Communication was used between my partners I wrote the book with as well as my teachers who graded the books. Swales third criterion was that a due had to be paid. In order to be a member and compete with my high schools chapter for DECA we were required to pay a $20.00 fee in the begging of the year. The fourth criterion was to use a different type of communication used. When we would compete at district, states or national level the way we presented our information to the judges was through a presentation with a PowerPoint and a board. The next criterion was to use a different type of language, the language we used in DECA wasn’t really different but it was professional talk as if we were talking or presenting are ideas to business professionals who want to invest in our ideas. The last criterion was that each year the community had to somehow change. Every year DECA members increased, people decided not to be apart of the organization and students graduated.
All of these aspects of DECA made it a discourse community according to Swales. Also having to write a 30 page book of information, writing a presentation and making a PowerPoint all added to the writing aspect of the community.
Communication is absolutely needed when a project as huge as making a book is involved. I believe that discourse communities should have a method of communication in order to function properly. Through communication comes valuable relationships and connections.I felt that if you included this aspect of communication your response will become well formed. Since you had to work with other people in making the book, describing the roles they had on you would have been a nice addition. It further emphasizes the implication of communication in a community.
DeleteWhat has this community brought to me?
ReplyDeleteI was so fortunate to be part of my high school’s football team. I have been going to their games ever since I was nine years old. My sister was a cheerleader for the football team so that was one of the main reasons for me going to the games. It all started when I was in gym class. My coach was the head coach for the football team and one day he invited me to the spring workouts that they have after school. I quickly agreed and I was excited like a child on Halloween. After the first day, I nearly passed out because I was not in the best shape, but after the first week, I knew I was in the right environment. Why do I say that? Like Swales mentioned, this team had wonderful communication because we all joked around with each other and it made times of endeavor somewhat enlightening. We also had two main goals in common which were to win football games and become better men. I believe this is true because I can tell you that being on that football team taught me discipline. That is really all that matters to me.
When I was in high school I actually put it upon myself to join as many clubs as possible. In my Senior year of high school, I actually had the chance to join 12 separate clubs and societies. The one club that actually made me the person I am today would have to be a performance team called Surgical Precision or SP. In SP, we would dance, step, act, model and overall be activity coordinators of the school itself. We were what some people would say the life of every party.
ReplyDeleteFollowing Swales six criteria to categorize Surgical Precision as a community, I would say that it does. Following Swales first criteria, Surgical Precision's goal was always to give the student body a fun time and to have exciting memories. Following Swales second criteria, members would always have to communicate especially for the dance routines because if someone did not tell the choreographers that they did not understand a move, then the whole dance would fall flat. Following Swales third criteria, members would have to sacrifice some of their time for the extra-curricular activity. In order to gain some, one has to lose some. Following Swales fourth criteria, Surgical Precision had a set of morals and goals that every single member would have to follow and if a member did not follow all of the rules, they would be removed from the club. Following Swales fifth criteria, because Surgical Precision was not the only club in my high school, we would communicate with the other societies and actually gain opinions to follow what should be changed or what the audiences loved/hated most. Finally, Following Swales sixth criteria, Surgical Precision was constantly changing, following the latest trends and fashion of the world and of social media. SP actually has every sort of social media so that the members of the club could actually constantly be enticed in what the club is/has been doing. Because Surgical Precision follows all of the criteria, I believe that Surgical Precision is a community in itself.
The criteria that Swales presents, I agree, are not universal. While I would look at my chosen community as a good depiction of discourse, it only matches up with some of Swales points. The community that I have chosen is the Board of Advisers for the Entertainment Management Major at Rosen College of Hospitality. I am an Entertainment Management major so this will benefit me in placing myself alongside my teachers, and others who already have made it in the industry.
ReplyDeleteTo the point of intercommunication in the Board of Advisers, the meetings they hold weekly match to a great way of communicating. With all of the members having a common goal, another of Swales points, of bringing their knowledge and experience to the students in the Entertainment Management major. They are providing all of this for little to no money, solely so they can train people to take their spots and propel the entertainment industry into the next phase. In review of their meetings, emails are sent between members and the lead of the program, Ron Logan, to discuss ways to build the program to be stronger and more of a cutting edge major.
In the likes of providing different genres, my community addresses this quite well. Because of all of the genres and careers that can be built off of the Entertainment Management major, there are people from most, if not all, places in the entertainment world. These are the characteristics I find to set this community as one of discourse.