Running Head: DISCOURSE COMMUNITY RESPONSE

Carolina Rojas
RWS 1301/ 16110/ 9:00 am 10:20 am
Fatima Masoud
September 5, 2015
Discourse Community Response
Through out the years we have developed many different ways to communicate with
others. In a discourse community a group of people with a common goal or interest communicate
between each other in various ways. When being a part of a discourse community, the right
word choice and tone used is important because it is different for every community, for example
in school, with family and friends, in extracurricular activities and outside organizations.
To join the discourse community of The University of Texas at El Paso one must finish
high school and receive a diploma, they must meet the ACT, SAT, and TSI score requirements to
be rightfully placed in the courses. They must also fill out and complete an admissions
application before being accepted into the university. The group of people you might
communicate with will be professors, school faculty/staff, and students or friends. When
speaking to the teachers one must use proper language and grammar, be formal and respectful.
When talking to classmates or your friends you can be informal and always be polite to everyone
around. The genre of this discourse community is blackboard, a syllabus, student email, and
research or essay papers. UTEP has many topics but some of the common ones are homework,
group work, tests, assigned readings, lectures and studying. There are many more topics based on
the major the student decides and the different courses they take.
In my family and friends discourse community the feeling and tone is much more
relaxed and comfortable. You can be informal and have a more caring feeling towards each other.

DISCOURSE COMMUNITY RESPONSE

You do have to remain respectful toward adults and the common language spoken in this
community is Spanish. To join you have to born into the family, marry someone from the family,
or become and stay good friends with another person. To communicate, it is mostly texting and
phone calls. To keep in touch with a family member or friend who is far away, you can skype or
talk through Facebook. Topics within family and friends is advice, gossip, how school or work
went, what chores need to be done, and most importantly constantly caring and checking up on
one another.
The discourse community for the Student Support Services Program, the members are
selected based on their eligibility of being first generation, and low-income students who may
need academic help. In this program one must be respectful and formal when speaking to
instructors, advisors, and peer leaders. Among the students and friends, you can be informal. The
genre used in the program are emails, forms, and meetings. The main goal of this program is to
provide help, support, and guidance to students to insure their success in college. The topics
include tutoring for every subject you may need help with, advising for future college courses,
and retreats to get familiar with the program and the members.
Within my church discourse community anyone can join and show up to to mass every
Sunday. The conventions in this community is to speak in a formal and appropriate language.
The church I attend is mostly a Spanish speaking community. The genre is the bible of course,
and flyers and programs that might be handed out after service. There are many topics in this
community for example praying, singing, doing community service, having different retreats and
parties or celebrations.
When you are aware of the different discourse communities you are in, you will be
able to communicate more effectively with that certain group.

Being a part of a discourse is

DISCOURSE COMMUNITY RESPONSE

important, especially when it comes to writing, because you are able to understand what words to
use and how to put them together in order to communicate properly.