Discourse Community

“Discourse Community”
John Swales states that the six characteristics of a discourse community help further support “how people use texts and language to accomplish work together”. (215) For this essay I chose to analyze my Biology 1107 class. Collectively as a whole, we share a common lexis and a text. We use an understand language to solve problems for example it is understood that ΔG is free energy, and we use the Campbell Biology tenth edition text book. This aligns with Swales’ fifth characteristic of a discourse community… “In addition to owning genres, a discourse community has acquired a specific lexis.” (222) We also use methods of intercommunication among each other, which is Swales’ second characteristic. Our professor uses various …show more content…
On the syllabus it states a list of the rules of conduct our professor expects us to follow. This goes along with Swales’ first characteristic... “A discourse community has a broadly agreed set of common public goals.”(220) It is important to recognize that in order to be a discourse community there has to be formality and a widely known set of goals/rules. Our professor does not give out in class assignments, and this might hinder our ability to improve collaborative skills amongst each other. During most lectures, the professor explains molecules on the expo board and draws out models of equations or processes. This is a great way to further explain and communicate information. Homework along with quizzes are mainly completed online using a program called Mastering Biology managed by Pearson. It is a good way to earn a grade while learning at the same time. However, one down fall to the program is some questions cover rigorous material and it cannot be easily answered in a timely manner. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, the course textbook is a form of a specific lexis but it is also an example of a genre. Swales’ fourth concept of a discourse community states “A discourse community utilizes and hence possesses one or more genres in the communicative furtherance of its aims.” Another form of genre we use is the Campbell Biology power points our professor uses. With many forms of genre’s, they can become tools students use to study or further gain knowledge about the chapter at hand. Using many of Swales’ characteristics to form and maintain a discourse community allows students to communicate, gather and use information to learn more about Biology 1107. The textbook, in class notes, and online homework blends many of Swales’ characteristics

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