Swales

Before you read:

2.) When I first arrived at college I felt very out of place. I didn't really know anyone and it was like starting all over again. I had to make new friends and meet new people.

Summary:

In John Swales' article "The Concept of Discourse Community" he talks about how there are six characteristics of a discourse community. He explains them as: having common goals, mechanisms of intercommunication, mechanisms to provide feedback and info, possesses one or more genres in the communicative furtherance of its aims, acquiring a specific lexis, and members of expertise. Swales goes on to give examples of a discourse community such as the HKSC (Hong Kong Study Circle). Swales also discusses issues relating to discourse communities.

Synthesis:

When reading, I related the article to Porter mainly because both authors discuss the importance of a discourse community and how it can help develop ideas a concepts of people. Swales also mentioned Porter at the beginning of the article. I also relate this article to Glenn. Both authors talk about how discourse communities can have a large effect on the way they communicate their ideas to the public. Glenn and Swales also discuss the negative impact discourse communities can have. The other article that I related this reading to was Brandt. This is because I found that sponsors and discourse communities are very similar, both set out to teach or practice a certain principle so that they can influence and communicate their goals to the public.

Questions for Discussion:

5.) A discourse community that I belong to is Ohio University. They strive to teach their students,communicate through campus wide events and through staff. The university uses is classes in order to teach students specific areas of study in which they can learn specific lexis'. Teachers and professors are the university's area of expertise.

6.) A discourse community that I participated in but resisted was playing soccer when I was little. I didn't understand how to really play and didn't enjoy it a whole lot. I didn't like the sport at all and thought the rules were stupid.

Thoughts:

Probably the worst article I've had to read so far. Swales' way of writing is not interesting what-so-ever. I had to force myself to stay awake while reading this and his choice of words were not easy to understand at all. The concept was probably a good one.