Running head: DISCOURSE COMMUNITY 1

Discourse Community Ethnography

Victoria Canales

University of Texas at El Paso (RWS 1301)

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Abstract

This paper will be talking about John Swales discourse community and its six properties.

In the paper it gives examples of why the RWS 1301 class is a discourse community.
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Discourse Community Ethnography

John Swales, author of Genre Analysis, has argued and discussed what a discourse

community is and what characteristics it is made of. A discourse community is a group of people

who have common goals, share information with each other and are built on the foundation of

six components, or as Borg puts it “communities of groups that have goals or purposes, and use

communication to achieve these goals” (p.398). John Swales explains and even gives examples

of how each of the six characteristics is used and defines them and their properties. Porter claims

that a discourse community is “a group of individuals bound by a common interest who

communicate through approved channels and whose discourse is regulated” (p.38-39). Each of

the six characteristics is very important to a discourse community and all have their own special

part to play. Based off of Swales’ six characteristics this paper claims that the RWS 1301

classroom is a discourse community.

Literature Review

The six components are all very important on what the discourse community is built on,

and are ordered as such; common public goals, intercommunication mechanisms, looped

intercommunication, specialized vocabulary, and self- sustaining hierarchy. As a team that the

professor assigned us in, sources chosen from a variety of different ones and websites that helped

create the process of researching and observing this assignment were sources like John Swales’

“The Concept of Discourse Community” journal. With this source it was a lot easier to obtain and

write down the information that helped with what was needed. Another source used was Erik

Borg’s “Key Concepts in ELT: Discourse Communities” journal, from this journal came very

useful information that was applied to the assignment. A third source that was used was James E

Porter’s “Intertextuality and the Discourse Community”. Having this source really helped out a
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lot and it gave a very strong foundation how it worked in the discourse community, and what

ways discourse communities connect to other things.

Methods

As the group worked on the assignment in class, notes were taken, subjects and

surroundings were observed to see if it acquired the characteristic that we were given. Each

person in the group interviewed and asked for each other’s opinions on whether the classroom

had the looped intercommunication characteristic and if we ourselves had that characteristic not

only in class but in other areas of life. Throughout the class time that was given for two days, we

would look around and see if there were characteristics of a discourse community, specifically if

they used looped intercommunication. We were able to compare and contrast ideas, help each

other out, observe not only the peers in class but the professor as well, and come to a conclusion.

The methods used were interviewing others, each other and even our professor and used

observation as well to see what we could come up with.

Discussion

Common Public Goals

The first characteristic from John Swales’ six characteristics is common public goals.

Common public goals can be defined as a community who share the same interests and have

similar aspirations and/or goals by communicating with one another. An example of common

public goals in our RWS classroom would be that we all aspire and have the goal to pass the

class with a decent grade.

Intercommunication Mechanisms

The second characteristic that is said in Swales’ journal of discourse community is

Intercommunication Mechanisms. Intercommunication mechanisms are defined as

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communicating with others is any form and trying to reach the same goal though this way. An

example of this characteristic in the classroom would be when we are emailed by the professor

about an assignment change or classroom location.

Looped Intercommunication

The third characteristic of Swales’ discourse community is looped intercommunication.

The definition of looped intercommunication is when someone is given information and then

another person provides them with feedback on that information given to them. An example of

looped intercommunication in the RWS 1301 classroom would be when we are required to

comment on someone’s blackboard post and give them feedback on what they wrote. With

looped intercommunication, we have the advantage of being able to talk with others, express our

feeling and thoughts with them, allow others to express their ideas, thought, and feelings with us,

and we are also able to get along with one another in a well-rounded society.

Dedicated Genres

The fourth characteristic that Swales discusses as a discourse community is dedicated

genres. The fourth characteristic is defined as a specific text or category used in any type of

community. An example of dedicated genres in the classroom would be when there is any type of

written papers, essays, and assignments. Even this paper that we are writing right now is an

example of a dedicated genre because it is devoted to one big subject, which is a discourse

community.

Specialized Vocabulary

The fifth component that John Swales talks about in the discourse community is

specialized vocabulary. Specialized vocabulary is defined as specific and unique vocabulary,

abbreviations, and acronyms that only members of the community understand. An example in
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the classroom would be how understand as a class that a secondary source is much different from

a primary source or tertiary source, many people do not understand the difference or even know

that there is a difference, much like me before I was in RWS 1301.

Self-Sustaining Hierarchy

The sixth and final characteristic that John Swales mentions in his writing of a discourse

community is self-sustaining hierarchy. Self-sustaining hierarchy is best described as a

community that has both leaders and new-comers, where the leaders or experts can teach the

new-comers or beginners so that they may continue with this way of being. An example of self-

sustaining hierarchy in the RWS 1301 classroom would be how the professor teaches their

students to become better rhetorical writers so that they (the students) can carry on with that

knowledge of writing in their upcoming classes and even into the real life world.

Conclusion

Based upon Swales’ discourse community six characteristics this paper explains how this

class is a discourse community. John Swales explained what it is to be in a community where

people share common goals, are there to listen to you, give you information and advice and you

do the same for them, just like Porter stated “an individual may belong to several professional,

public, or personal discourse communities” (p.39). I personally believe that a discourse

community is a group of people who can understand each other and even care for each other to a

certain extent and can be seen in many different places, like an RWS 1301 class. In a discourse

community it is most common that every person in the group need to acquire each of the six

elements/characteristics that Swales mentions and you need to honor them in a certain manner, as

in you need to acquire at least most of them and you need to respect those around you so that you

can be known as a discourse community. As John Swales said “‘discourse communities' to

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signify a cluster of ideas: that language use in a group is a form of social behavior, that

discourse is means of maintaining and extending the group's knowledge and of initiating new

members into the group, and that discourse is epistemic or constitutive of the group's knowledge.”

(p.468)
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Bibliography

Porter, J. E. (1986). Intertextuality and the Discourse Community. Taylor & Francis, Ltd.

Borg, E. (2003). Key Concept Swales, John. "The Concept of Discourse Community."

Genre Analysis: English in Academic and Research Settings. Boston: Cambridge UP,

1990. 21-32. Print in ELT: Discourse Community,

Swales, J. (1990) "The Concept of Discourse Community." Genre Analysis: English in

Academic and Research Settings. Boston: Cambridge UP, 21-32. Print.