Background and Purpose
Select a group of people you believe meets John Swales’ six defining characteristics and answer this question:
How does the group you chose exhibit the characteristics of a discourse community? Present your conclusions in a document showing that you understand the six characteristics of discourse communities and know how to apply them to groups as defining criteria.This assignment will help you understand what a discourse community is and how one of them functions. You will learn to think deeply about the use of written communication within a group, and you will examine how that group uses writing to achieve its goals.
Objectives
Understand how language practices mediate group activities
Examine the discourses and texts of different communities
Understand how language plays a role in discourse and community
Identify the relationship between language and identity
Acquire tools for successfully responding to varied discourse conventions and genres in different classes
For this assignment,review the information on Discourse Communities presented in the Module 3 Content, including the LibGuide. Choose a group and determine how that group “counts” as a discourse community by analyzing how the defining characteristics apply.
As you read in the Key Terms Activity, you will not be able to use a sports team or any athletic group as the chosen discourse community to analyze in your writing. You will also not be able to use our University as a subject of your analysis because that type of community is analyzed thoroughly in the Interactive Activity Video.
Before you write,
Brainstorm several groups you are (or have been) in that you think might be considered discourse communities.
Consider how those groups use text and language, then choose one group to examine.
In your writing,
Show how the group, such as a club or a community, possesses each of the six defining characteristics from Swales’ definition by illustrating, one by one, how those characteristics function in your group.
Include your own definitions/explanations of the six characteristics first and then continue to showing how they function in your chosen community.
Consider what you learned about the group that you did not realize before completing this analysis. What do you now understand that you did not prior to the brainstorming and the writing you have now completed?
Add this brief concluding reflection to your writing, explaining the value of performing this kind of analysis. Title this portion of the assignment “Mini Reflection” and include it at the end of your written document.
