Amber Garvey

ENC1101

Discourse Communities

The last unit of study this semester in ENC 1101 concerns discourse communities. Out
of all the units I have been studying in this class this semester, I think that learning about
discourse communities is the most beneficial to me not only in my present life, but also my
future career and social life. Learning how to evaluate and judge different discourse
communities can help me better myself as a person by learning how to fit in to a certain
community as well as understanding that there are some that I never can be a part of. I have
also learned how to appreciate that every discourse community is unique in accordance with
their goals, lexis, intercommunications and valued members.

One author whose work I have studied in this unit is John Swales, a linguist who has
conducted deep research on discourse analysis. In his article, The Concept of Discourse
Community, Swales introduces the subject by first defining a discourse community as groups
that have goals or purposes, and use communication to achieve these goals. He then expands
upon the topic by highlighting that each set of common goals are unique to each discourse
community and the mechanisms of intercommunication for each group have an acquired
specific lexis among its members that are used to provide information and feedback. (Swales
468-473). John Swales also introduced six defining characteristics of a discourse community.
This helped me learn how to analyze and assess discourse communities, and also taught me

how to classify a discourse community in real life and allowed me to realize that I am part of
many different discourse communities myself.

Another author that helped me better apprehend discourse communities in this unit
was Tony Mirabelli, who wrote the article "Learning to Serve: The Language and Literacy of
Food Service Workers." In this piece, Mirabelli explains the job as a waiter at an Italian
restaurant. Mirabelli clarifies that as a waiter, one becomes part of a discourse community
whose job is to effectively intercommunicate between the menu and the customer. Since the
customer is unfamiliar with the menus lexis (language), the waiters purpose is to converse with
the customer in a way that they can understand by using a different lexis, much like being the
translator for two people who speak different languages (Mirabelli 543-553). One part of a
discourse communitys job is to effectively convey their discourse to others that are unfamiliar
with that discourse. I particularly enjoyed this piece the most because I could relate to it with
my current profession.

Over the course of reviewing the terminology, reading editorials about each unit, and
conducting my own research by presenting final projects, I have come to realize that the
textbook we have used throughout the term is indeed a large discourse community which also
houses smaller, more defined discourse communities concerning each different subject matter
(such as writing processes, rhetorical analysis, and discourse communities research). Writing
About Writing, is a discourse community that presents people who study writing. The textbook
is a collection of pieces written by authors, scholars, and researchers posting their different

articles about certain topics they have obtained a great deal of knowledge about. The book is
nothing more than these authors simply communicating with one another about their theories,
research studies, and findings about the topics that they are conveying. They use the text
Writing About Writing as a mechanism to effectively communicate with each other to achieve
their common goal, which is to show each other their findings as well as be used as a tool for
college students in introductory English courses. The authors that take part in the discourse
community in Writing About Writing can relate to the waiter in Mirabellis article because they
need to make sure that they explain concepts and terminology to readers in a simplistic way
that they can understand. In all of these ways, the book Writing About Writing presents itself as
its very own discourse community.
The information that I have gathered from this unit of ENC 1101 has proven to be useful
to me not only in future situations, but also present settings. Before I was introduced to the
terminology of discourse communities, I did not realize that I was already partaking in many
different types of discourse communities myself. James Paul Gee, a researcher who has studied
many different topics including discourse analysis and literacy, wrote an article titled Literacy,
Discourse, and Linguistics. In this article, Gee describes the difference between primary
discourses (day to day language) and secondary discourses (language used in social
institutions). He also brushes across the theory that one person can be involved in many unique
discourse communities based on the different types of scenarios that one person encounters
(Gee 485-487). This particularly relates to my life as I balance between being a full-time student
at the University of Central Florida and working part-time as a dog trainer. While I am attending
school, I am taking part of a certain discourse community, the student body. While I am

participating in this discourse, I am fixing myself into a learning environment by absorbing the
information that is taught to me by my professor. In this case, or discourse community, I am
less knowledgeable than my instructor and I am engaging in lectures, labs and homework to
better understand the material and gain the same expertise as him/her. On the other hand,
when I am working, I become part of a contrasting discourse community. Instead of being the
student I usually am at school, I convert into the more knowledgeable teacher. Just like the
waiter in Mirabellis article Learning to Serve: The Language of Food Service Workers, my job
is to effectively explain concepts and terminology in ways that my customers understand.
Terms such as positive and negative reinforcement/ positive and negative punishment are
examples of expressions that are not commonly used in day to day language, therefore I must
be able to clarify what they mean. Even though training dogs is a lot different than lecturing to
a large group of students, the student-teacher model is still utilized in the same way.

After studying Swales and other authors such as Tony Mirabelli and James Paul Gee, I
have learned that each person belongs in a particular discourse community based on their
lifestyle, religion, career, etc. Some people can even belong to more than one discourse
community based on divided routines. All discourse communities have their own sets of goals
and languages that sometimes need to be altered in order to be effectively communicated to
people who are not part of that discourse. This unit has benefited me in so many ways and also
helped me grow as a person.

Resources:
Gee, James Paul. Literacy, Discourse, and Linguistics. Writing About Writing: A College Reader.
Ed. Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs. Boston/ New York: Bedford/St. Martins, 2011. 481-497.
Print.
Mirabelli, Tony. Learning to Serve: The Language of Food Service Workers. Writing About
Writing: A College Reader. Ed. Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs. Boston/ New York:
Bedford/St. Martins, 2011. 538-554. Print.
Swales, John. The Concept of Discourse Community. Writing About Writing: A College Reader.
Ed. Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs. Boston/ New York: Bedford/St. Martins, 2011. 466-480.
Print.