UCBA Education Discourse Community
According to John Swales “, a discourse community is a group of people that have goals or purposes, and use communication to achieve these goals” (Swales). An example of a discourse community is a group of teachers they all have the same goal, to educate others, and use communication to achieve this goal. Everyone is a part of several different discourse communities. Discourse communities range from your job, interest, and friend groups. In each one of these sets, you share goals and communicate to make these goals achievable. Expert John Swales say that to be defined a discourse community you must follow these six criteria: “agreed set of common public goals, intercommunication among its members, provide information and feedback, possesses one or more genres in the community furtherance of its aims, acquired some specific lexis, and level of members with suitable degree of relevant content an discoursal expertise” (Swales).
The UCBA discourse community of education majors consists of pre-early childhood, pre-middle childhood, pre-secondary education, pre-special education, and staff. I fall into this community because I am a pre-early childhood education major. I decided to become part of this community because I share a common interest as the other students in this major like helping others gain knowledge. In this community, we share goals, communication, mechanics, genre, language, and level of members.
“A discourse community has a broadly agreed set of common public goals” (Swales). As a UCBA education major, we all share many common long and short-term goals such as passing classes, acceptance into our program, graduating, seeking a job, and providing an educational experience to others. Overall everyone in this community is trying to become better educated in the education field.
“A discourse community has mechanisms of intercommunication among its members” (Swales). As a UCBA student/education major, I use blackboard and e-mail as a form of communication to my professor and classmates. E-mail makes it easy to communicate to classmates and my professors any time of day. Blackboard is used for the professor and student to communicate. Professors post things such as assignments, grades, and announcements for students to see. Blackboard can also be used for discussion boards. Discussion boards are used so that students can communicate and comment on each other’s work or assignments. “The rise of Internet-based communication has led to an even greater amount of writing than in decades past, as increasingly, people in a wide range of jobs find themselves emailing more often, and using their computers to fill out forms or other types of information” (Collier). One question to think about is having the rise in technology-based communication increased or made it easier to communicate to each other in the community. I think because communication is much easier today it is easier to stay in contact with a discourse community.
I also have face-to-face communication in class and around campus with my professors and classmates. In class, we communicate about the textbook, assignments, notes, and lectures. Most lectures are set up the professor is in the front of the classroom teaching and students are listening and asking questions. In different communities, there are a different amount of communication required. Some communities may require a lot of face-to-face interactions and communication while other may require little to no face-to-face communication and it is all done with technology.
“A discourse community uses its participatory mechanisms primarily to provide information and feedback” (Swales). UCBA offers several clubs, but there is a particular club that is suggested for education majors. The association of student educators is a club suggested to students that are perusing in the education field. Some students are extremely active in this club by being part of the commit. Other students participate in the group’s activities. While others choose to not participate in this club. The purpose of this club is to inform students about education opportunities such as community service, volunteering, and tutoring. Just because this club is offered to the students it does not mean they have to become a part of this organization.
“A discourse community utilizes and hence possesses one or more genres in the community furtherance of its aims” (Swales). As an early childhood education student, I am learning how to read and construct some of these genres such as lesson plans, IEPs, and standards. Most people have heard of these genres but do not understand or know what is all required for these paper or forms. Most of these forms use complex terms or slang that is only understood by people that have been trained in this profession. Most of the textbooks are not like traditional books in this major. Educational textbooks are real-life stories or scenarios that help college student better understand how students learn best. When writing an academic paper in the education field most professors require APA format while in most classes MLA format is required.
“In addition to owning genre, a discourse community has acquired some specific lexis” (Swales). In the education field, specialized terms or abbreviations may only be used by people in this profession. Some abbreviations are more commonly used such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), occupational therapy (OT) and physical therapy (PT). Others are only known to people who are in the education field such as least restrictive learning environment (LRE), assistive technology (AT), and interim alternative educational setting (IAES). While others can be used in different community’s but mean different things in the educational community such as DD. To some DD could mean designated driver, but to the education community, it means developmental disabilities. This community has many other term or vocabulary used by this community.
“A discourse community has a threshold level of members with suitable degree of relevant content an discoursal expertise” (Swales). The level of members is how many the college allows in the school. In the community of education majors at UCBA, the membership is constantly changing because it is a two-year college or an associate’s degree. Members come when wanting to enter the field of education and leave when they have obtained their associate degree and transfer to the main campus to farther their degree to a bachelor’s level. Students also leave the community if the decide education is not appropriate for them or they drop out before receiving their degree.
UCBA education major consisting of pre-early childhood, pre-middle childhood, pre-secondary education, pre-special education, and staff are all a part of a discourse community that share and communicate a common set of goals. This community is compliant with all six criteria that expert Swales sates are necessary to be considered a discourse community. Throughout this essay, I was able to show how the UCBA education community is compliant with the six criteria: “agreed set of common public goals, intercommunication among its members, provide information and feedback, possesses one or more genres in the community furtherance of its aims, acquired some specific lexis, and level of members with suitable degree of relevant content an discoursal expertise” (Swales). Because this community contains all of the criteria all members of the education major are a part of this discourse community.
Works Cited
Collier, L. “Everyday Writing: Words Matter More Than Ever in 21st Century Workplace.” The Council Chronicle, National Council of Teachers of English, March 2009, pp.6-10.
Swales, John. Genre Analysis: English in Academic and Research Settings. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge [England]; New York; 1990.
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