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Ibeth Ochoa
Professor Alder
English 1A, CRN #32475
April 8, 2016
How The Teaching Profession And Classroom Are A Discourse Community.
The teacher and the students in a classroom are an exact representation of what a
discourse community is. Discourse is a form of communication either in spoken or written
form. The types of discourse are such as, discussion, asking and answering questions, story
telling, genres, novels, and debates, (Chang). The community in a classroom would be the sense
of common purpose and values that are shared by the teacher and students, so that they work
together in the process of learning. With both discourse and community somewhat defined within
a classroom, this Ethnography will dive deeper into how exactly the teaching profession and a
classroom work together that make it a discourse community.
The author John Swales discusses The Concept of Discourse Community a chapter
written in his book called Genre Analysis. John Swales made a remark that a classroom and a
teaching profession are not a discourse community, due to the idea that there is no community
among teachers across the United States. Swale proposes six defining characteristics to identify a
discourse community. With his remark, that I disagree with, I have set out to identify the
teaching profession and a classroom as discourse community. By using his suggestion of
characteristics I will apply them to the group I am identifying as a community. The teaching
profession exhibits some of those characteristics.
In a classroom a teacher is an instructor to the students. The students or pupil is a learner
who attends an educational institution. The teacher guides them through lectures, lesson plans,

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and activities. Teachers are leaders in schools; they are responsible for each child like a
parent/guardian. They open doors of knowledge in students, planting seeds of knowledge for
students to grow as young adults, in order that students may also express what they learned, and
what they already know. Helping students to develop as critical thinkers. The advantage of this
profession for a teacher who really cares about the students and their education, would be seeing
their students grow and learn. Being a Teacher is a both satisfying and frustrating task, you are
expected to teach and for students to receive information and fully understand a subject. And if
the students show difficulty in the subject, it generally becomes the teacher isnt teaching well.
Teaching is a respectable job, you are held to high standards, because a teacher is like a parent
for long hours a day through out a childs life. Teaching differs from other professions such as
law, medicine, accounting, because as a teacher you are a childs guidance, mentor, and your job
is to help students critically think. So that students may develop skills such as reading, writing,
math, etc. A teacher gives students the basic tools and knowledge to get a higher education after
12th grade, so that they may also be able to get a job. The students already have the ability to
learn, the teacher is just giving them the information. The teacher and students with in a
classroom represent a community. In order to become a member one must either be a student or
the teacher.
What makes a classroom a discourse community is that there is a set of shared values,
rules, and goals. A classroom community is an environment in which students feel valued as
individuals, and connected to their teacher and to each other. Students have confidence in their
need to belong, be competent, experience independence, and have fun can be met in the
community. Students believe they have something to offer the community and the community
has something to offer them. Students feel connected to their teacher and with each other.

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Communities build and honor family ties, have a sense of place and memory through traditions
and customs, and base their decisions on shared goals and directions. People have a say about
what happens on a daily and long-term basis and share in decision-making in communities.
Every child is part of a community outside of the school and classroom. This community helps to
define who they are and what they will become. The entire school itself is a community of
teachers, students, and supervisors. This community helps students grow, learn, and collaborate
through set expectations and rules. Everyone in a school benefits when it is made clear that as a
community each person has concern for the rest of its members, (Partners In Learning). That is
why I classify the classroom as a discourse community. What happens within this group is far
beyond just teaching and learning. There are friendships and relationships formed. The public
role of the teacher and the special relationship between the teacher and the young people make
the ethical considerations for teaching very different from those of other professions, (American
Education pg.32). The students are not the only ones that learn but there is the idea that teachers
also learn from the students every day. When a student has built a relationship with the teacher,
the student is more comfortable to speak, ask questions, and seek help. Also, students build a
need to care for other peers, and ultimately an Anti-Bullying environment. In fact many children
dont enjoy or excel in school, finding it boring and mundane, (Nelson). According to Mrs.
Silverman An approachable teacher is very important in a class with kids, because it may cause
them to even start to enjoy coming to class and participate in activities instead of skipping. The
teacher has authority over the students in the classroom, due to being the adult, educated, and the
role model. Mrs. Silverman states that The school system has made it difficult for students to
adjust to changes within my classroom, and their extracurricular activities make it hard for me to
reteach what they missed, and I have to teach all over again, putting them and me behind on what

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the classroom overall needs to cover by the end of the school year, and then they come to class
and their one there phones. Like Mrs. Silverman, teachers are in charge of the students
activities, what is planned for the days lesson, has sets rules and consequences to have control
over the students and their behavior during class.
A characteristics displayed from this group is A discourse community has a broadly
agreed set of common goals, (Swales). The goal of education and teachers is to promote
individual growth and to prepare the child for full participation in a democratic society. The
goal of the English department is to implement an instructional program, based on the California
Common Core Standards, that will prepare students academically to be college and career ready,
and to prepare students to be successful on the California High School Exit Exam. In the ninth
and tenth grades, students continue to apply the knowledge and skills acquired in the earlier
grades but in more refined and sophisticated ways. Students are taught and expected to utilize the
21st Century skills to reach their full academic potential. These 21st Century Skills involve
students engaging in critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication. Emphasis is
centered on project based learning which involves analyzing literature, analyzing career-related
and other informational materials, completing more complex writing assignments, giving oral
presentations and working collaboratively. In the eleventh and twelfth grades English Language
Arts (ELA) standards are sophisticated extensions of the knowledge and skills targeted in the
earlier grades. They highlight several interrelationships among the different domains of
language arts: reading, writing, written and oral English-language conventions, and speaking and
listening, (Hambarsumian). For this research, I have already begun to do teacher observation on
English Teacher Mrs. Silverman at Pasadena High School for her 10th grade class. These

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academic English goals set for the school, are the common goals shared between Mrs. Silverman
and her students.
With my notes taken of the teacher observation and her teaching methods, notes of the
students, interview questions, and the students behavior within this specific classroom there is a
glimpse of this community. In Mrs. Silvermans classroom the students follow the daily routine
and procedures. They are aware of the classroom rules and expectations, since they are a much
older group than the grade before. They are aware of consequences for their misbehavior,
breaking the rules, and causing disruption during class time. She includes all of the students in
activities and conversations held in class. The teacher teaches in a positive attitude, shows
respect towards the students, and takes her job and responsibility very serious and professionally.
The classroom is a major community for each and every student. Students and the teacher work
together in order to set expectations, goals, and traditions. Each child should feel as though they
are apart of this community and have a voice in the events that occur within the classroom,
(Partners In Learning). This teacher has impacted students to feel a sense of belonging, and sense
of safety.
This discourse community displays the characteristic In addition to owning genres, a
discourse community has acquired some specific lexis, (Swales). The teacher and students use
lexis on the daily basis, they refer to words through their community specific abbreviations. It
can be seen in how they write and abbreviate words such as Months, Essay marks, English
grammar, etc. Another characteristics is A discourse community utilizes and hence possesses
one or more genres in the communicative furtherance of its aims, (Swales). Genres in this
classroom would be journal entries, free writing, research papers, essays, poems, and articles.
Genres in a classroom simply refer to a text, any form of writing that is obvious or simplifying

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what is being expected within that piece of writing from the students. Within this classroom the
individuals communicate through the English language everyday, the level of English in Mrs.
Silvermans classroom is at a 10th grade level, and they should be able to understand and
communicate what is being asked of them through her assignments.
In Elizabeth Wardles article, she explains that one must learn to adjust in a community
and learn to write in more than one complex ways. If we understand writing as one tool among
many through knowledge, identity, and authority, are continually negotiated, then we must view
learning to write in new ways as a complex and often messy network of tool-meditated human
relationships best explored in terms of the social and cultural practices that people bring to their
shared uses of tools, (Wardle pg526). In this specific classroom, writing is an every day activity.
Mrs. Silverman has a daily agenda on the board by which the students follow directions and
know what to start writing on. In the beginning of class she assigns free-writing or journal entries
for 10-15 minutes. The students know what is being expected of them to write in each one.
Followed by in class assignments that involve the students having to write in handouts, work on
essays, peer review and so on. The students as part of this discourse community are adjusted to
writing in many ways and genres. She allows her students to openly share and support others in
their writing.
Community such as Mrs. Silvermans classroom encourages her students to attend school
everyday, achieve and work towards there goals, encouraging others to work hard, enhancing
social skills, and having inspiration to follow the rules. In conclusion, this classroom is a source
of discourse community through the writing and spoken language used by the teacher and
students. The discursive practices and the functioning of the community allow this classroom to
represent and imply that is indeed a discourse community.

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WORK CITED

1."- DANIEL CHANG: CLASSROOMS AS DISCOURSE COMMUNITIES - Teachers.Net

Gazette, Featuring Columns and Articles by Top Names in Education and Your Teacher
Colleagues around the World! The Teachers.Net Gazette Is a Clearinghouse for Teacher Writing,
from Well-reasoned Education Essays to Teacher Prose, Poems and Humor! Bookmark the
Teachers.Net Gazette and Tell a Friend!" - DANIEL CHANG: CLASSROOMS AS DISCOURSE
COMMUNITIES - Teachers.Net Gazette, Featuring Columns and Articles by Top Names in
Education and Your Teacher Colleagues around the World! The Teachers.Net Gazette Is a
Clearinghouse for Teacher Writing, from Well-reasoned Education Essays to Teacher Prose,
Poems and Humor! Bookmark the Teachers.Net Gazette and Tell a Friend! Web. 08 Apr. 2016.
2.Jennifer Hambarsumian. "English."
Http://phs.pusd.us/pages/Pasadena_High/Academics/English. Web.
3.Nicholson-Nelson, Kristen, and Jeanette Moss. Developing Students' Multiple Intelligences.
New York: Scholastic Professional, 1998. Print.
4. Webb, L. Dean., Arlene Metha, and K. Forbis Jordan. Foundations of American Education.
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Merrill, 1996. Print.
5."Partners In Learning." Importance of Classroom Community. Web. 08 Apr. 2016.
6. Swales, John M. Genre Analysis: English in Academic and Research Settings. Cambridge:
Cambridge UP, 1990. Print.
7. Wardle, Elizabeth. Identity, Authority, and Learning to Write in New Workplaces
Boston; Bedford/ St. Martins, c2011.