Friend TEACHING PORTFOLIO 1

0.1 Discourse Community Ethnography Assignment

Introduction
The second major writing assignment for the semester asked students to look out-
side themselves and analyze the writing conventions of a discourse community of
their choosing. Students collected genres, interviewed members of the commu-
nity, and analyzed how writing worked to provide a sense of togetherness within
the community. Many of them latched on to the idea of an expert and described
the differences between newcomers to the community and those who are estab-
lished and familiar. That element of this assignment transferred into the next pa-
per, their Analysis of Science Accommodation. Many students identied them-
selves as outsiders when analyzing the discourse conventions of a scientic arti-
cle.
When grading this Discourse Community Ethnography, I provided a rubric on
the assignment sheet and used the same rubric for nal evaluation. I also attached
holistic comments with an emphasis on suggestions for revision, as this assign-
ment should be submitted for their nal portfolio. Scoring statistics appear in
Table 0.1.
Table 0.1: Grade Statistics for the Discourse Community Ethnography
Submissions 48
Mean Score 76.7
Median 79
High Score 94
Low Score 51
Standard Deviation 11
The grade histogram appears in Figure 0.1, showing the distribution of scores
across possible grades. As intended by my rubric design, C grades (7080%) were
the most common, followed in order by the higher grades. Five students earned
high failing scores, typically caused by an absence of one element fromthe rubric.
Below, I have included examples of poor, good, and excellent student sample pa-
pers, along with my scoring and feedback for each.
Reection
The grade distributions for this assignment surprised me. The grading process
frustrated me because no student papers stood out as being particularly excellent,
and none interacted with collected genre samples as directly as I had hoped. The
Friend TEACHING PORTFOLIO 2
0-10
10-20
20-30
30-40
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50-60
60-70
70-80
80-90
90-100
0 5 10 15 20 25
4
17
18
4
5
0
0
0
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2
S
c
o
r
e

(
a
s

P
e
r
c
e
n
t
a
g
e
)
Frequency
Figure 0.1: Grade Histogram for Discourse Community Ethnography Assignment
papers routinely disappointed me, so I was afraid the grade distribution would be
woefully poor. That the average grade was the same as the previous assignment
reassured me that despite my underwhelmed reaction, my students showed they
met the expectations for the assignment.
The next time I teach this assignment, I will be sure to demonstrate with stu-
dents howto pull examples out of their texts and directly cite themin their papers.
I also plan to emphasize their freedom to draw conclusions and provide insights.
Students seemed stuck on identication without being able to progress convinc-
ingly into analysis. I made analysis the emphasis ontheir next assignment, to force
myself to attend to it explicitly.
"TTJHONFOU 4IFFU %JTDPVSTF $PNNVOJUZ &UIOPHSBQIZ
Adapted from Wardle and Downs' 8SJUJOH "CPVU 8SJUJOH, -.
Chris Friend - - Fall
. B
You are rather new to college, and the kinds of writing expected of you here are dierent than what you were
used to in high school. So far this semester, you've been working to understand the EJTDPVSTF DPNNVOJUZ of college
composition students. You may also have noticed that the type of writing you do in each of your classes is dierent
from writing in other disciplines. Writing for your composition class might look dierent from or have dierent
goals than writing in your biology class, for instance. en, when you leave class and go to work, your interactions
with fellow employees and customers is completely dierent again.
In this assignment, you will choose a specic discourse community that either involves or intrigues you, then re-
search an answer to this question: 8IBU BSF UIF HPBMT QSBDUJDFT BOE DIBSBDUFSJTUJDT PG UIJT EJTDPVSTF DPNNVOJUZ
If you explore the characteristics of a familiar discourse community, you might become more aware of strategies for
smoothly joining other discourse communities in the future.
. P
To understand how language practices mediate group activities
To gain tools for examining the discourses and texts of various communities
To gain tools for conducting ethnographic research
To conduct primary research and write about it for a specic audience
To understand writing and research as processes
. P
Although more detailed instructions and a menu of potential guiding questions can be found in your text,
the general stages of the process are:
$PMMFDU %BUB Learn detailed information about a small segment of your discourse community. ink depth, not
breadth. (See Data Collection" on .)
0SHBOJ[F BOE "OBMZ[F UIF %BUB Using the Swales article as a guide, draw conclusions about the community. (See
Data Analysis" on -.)
*EFOUJGZ $POJDUT PS 1SPCMFNT Using Alan (from the Wardle text) as an example, nd and current or potential
trouble spots within the discourse community, preferably those caused by a failure to understand the rules
of the community. (See the six-item list in the center of .)
%FUFSNJOF :PVS 'PDVT Nowthat you have analyzed your data and reached conclusions about your discourse com-
munity, you need to choose what is and is not worth writing about. (See the rst in Planning and Dra-
ing" on .)
8SJUF Dra your analysis, which I expect will likely take - pages to complete. Refer to the bulleted list at the
bottom of for great examples of the moves that would be appropriate for this paper.

' "TTJHONFOU 4IFFU %JTDPVSTF $PNNVOJUZ &UIOPHSBQIZ

You should also read the student sample paper included on -. As you read, bear in mind that
Branick had a full school year to develop, enhance, and polish his paper. You are getting about three weeks.
ough you are OPU expected to have as much detail in your discussion or as many sources in your Works
Cited list, you can see that Branick's paper includes the same structure and elements you should include in
yours.
. A
Because you are again presenting primary research in your paper, it is appropriate to use the and steps
again. at structural framework will help ensure that your writing is clear and professional, and that it is appropriate
for the discourse community of composition studies.
Refer to the What Makes It Good" section of - to focus on what you need to have in your paper.
You will be graded according to the rubric in Table , below.
* " $
" Provides an insightful
answer to the stated
research question.
Writer clearly illustrates
the textual framework
used by the studied com-
munity and highlights
the implications of that
framework.
Author draws insightful
conclusions about the
studied community,
showing the presented
research to be relevant
to the eld.
Writing is clear and easy
to followunderstand; pa-
per is logically and consis-
tently organized.
$ Identies and at-
tempts to answer a
research question.
Writer identies the stud-
ied discourse community
as such and identies its
characteristics.
Author analyzes the dis-
course community and
provides documented
support as evidence.
Writing, organization,
andor idea ow may have
occasional issues that do
not severely detract from
readability.
' Provides no clear re-
search question; may
attempt a thesis state-
ment, instead.
Writer does not illustrate
the characteristics of the
studied group andor fails
to identify it as a discourse
community.
Author presents re-
search ndings but fails
to analyze them or draw
connections.
Technical problems andor
organizational inconsis-
tencies make the writing
dicult to understand
andor distract the reader.
T . Discourse Community Ethnography Grading Rubric
. F
You are expected to use formatting conventions for this assignment. Another template is available from
Webcourses to simplify the process of preparing your document, but regardless of how you create your document,
be sure to include:
double-spaced lines,
one-inch margins on all sides and half-inch indents for paragraphs,
a -point typeface with serifs (like Times New Roman, OPU Calibri), and
parenthetical citations and a Works Cited page.
Friend TEACHING PORTFOLIO 5
Discourse Community Ethnography Writing Sample (Poor)
My feedback on a poor sample Discourse Community Ethnography is below; the
students paper appears on the four pages that follow.
Grade
Figure 0.2 shows the completed grading rubric for this assignment submission.
Figure 0.2: Webcourses Rubric for Poor Autoethnography
Comments
These comments accompanied the rubric:
I dont see a research question in what youve submitted. For revision: Make sure you
indicate what it is that youre trying to discover through your research.
Then, work to more thoroughly analyze the group. Instead of simply assuming that
the coach has all the authority, see whether the team members trade off authority at
all.
Friend TEACHING PORTFOLIO 6
Likewise, provide more examples of the lexis. You gave one example, which is a good
start, but how is that lexis used by the DC members? Can you show examples from
the emails youve talked about?
Adding more detail and analysis discussion, along with a research question, is your
next step.
Poor Paper 1
Poor Example
Chris Friend
ENC 1101
October 28, 2011
UCF Swim Club

1. Introduction
Each organization has a community within that specific organization. That community
works together to complete an explicit goal that was set by the experts in the organization. In
order to ensure that the goal is completed correctly and efficiently, there is a lingo and a lexis
that aids the process. The University of Central Florida swimming club is an organization that I
found to be extremely interesting. The club falls into John Swales description of a discourse
community, (1) it has a broadly agreed set of common public goals, (2) mechanisms of
intercommunication among its members, and (3) has acquired a specific lexis (Swales, 1990).
The clubs goal is to succeed as a team in every competition setting. It is not about any
individual swimmer, every single person is equally important and has something to contribute.
This is the main principle that the team works by. In order to complete this goal they have
various forms of communication. The main source is email. The head coach of the club is single
handily responsible for writing the workouts for every practice. He then emails all the workout
outs for the week to every single person on the club on Mondays. The workouts are written in
short abbreviated lines that are straight to the point. They seem cryptic and confusing to those
who arent familiar with the notation but are as simple as a childrens book to an experienced
swimmer. Another form of communication is orgsync.com and the swim club Facebook group.
Poor Paper 2
These two sources are extremely similar and were made so the team as a whole can get
information out in a quick easy way. Both sites contain announcements on a wall. There,
members have the opportunity to comment into any decision.
After being a member of the swim club, I want to learn more about the lexis of this
group. The purpose is to figure out if our lexis is a contributor to the efficiency of our swim
program. With the amount of work that is required in order to be successful, is the lexis a key
component to that success?
2. Authority
Authority plays a major role within the U.C.F. swim club. Without this hierarchy, the
team would not be as successful. The top of the pyramid structure would be the coach. He
has the final say as to how everything operates, which solves conflict. The reason he is
respected as the leader is because he is most knowledgeable about the lexis. Although all the
members of the club can understand the lexis in the emails and posts on the website, the
coach is the one who is capable of writing them and creating them.
The next in line after the coach in order of hierarchy are the officers. They take
instruction from the coach, but help to govern the rest of the members. The officers are there
to be mentors for the rest of the swimmers as well. If another swimmer needs to ask a
question about the language, they can go to an officer instead of to the coach. This gives the
coach more time to dedicate to the team as a whole and the officers responsibility to help
their fellow teammates. Swimming being an individual sport, the lexis helps to bring the
team together and know that even if a swimmer is the slowest, they still can go to an officer
or someone higher up then them and get help. It makes everyone on the team accountable.
Poor Paper 3
3. Lexis
The lexis is one of the most important characteristics that set this discourse community apart
from others. Without this established lexis, the swim club would not be defined as a
discourse community. The lexis that is used in this community is not difficult to learn but
can be extremely confusing to outsiders. For example, the workouts that are emailed to the
team are made up of mostly numbers. These numbers signify the amount of yardage that you
are to do for a drill, as well as, the number of times that drill needs to be repeated. Although
this may sound extremely simply and outsider may not interpret 4 x 200, DPS 3:20. To a
seasoned swimmer this mean two hundred yards of distance per stroke on 3 minutes and
twenty seconds, four times through. But as shown above, it is not that easy to make out.
4. Analysis
After studying this club for two weeks, reading emails, Facebook posts, observing practices and
swim competitions it is clear to say that the recognized lexis does play an important role in the
success of the club. The lexis allows for practices to run more efficiently without interruptions
or wasting any time on questions. As far as the emails, the lexis allowed for members to
understand specific details that would take up more pointless space in an email. Also the ability
to provide feedback through Facebook or email allows for new members to input their thoughts
and hopefully help the program continue to grow and succeed as the program.




Poor Paper 4
Works Cited
Swales, John. The Concept of Discourse Community Genre Analysis: English in Academic
and Research Settings Boston: Cambridge UP, 1990. 21-32. Print.

Friend TEACHING PORTFOLIO 11
Discourse Community Ethnography Writing Sample (Good)
My feedback on a good sample Discourse Community Ethnography is below; the
students paper appears on the seven pages that follow.
Grade
Figure 0.3 shows the completed grading rubric for this assignment submission.
Figure 0.3: Webcourses Rubric for Good Discourse Community Ethnography
Comments
These comments accompanied the rubric:
You clearly showthat this is a DC. Canyou use that as a starting point and showhowit
functions? For instance, in Meaning, you list many specialized terms completely out
of context. You say those terms help the faculty to communicate about the needs
of their students and events involving staff members. How? Can you show or docu-
ment that happening?
Friend TEACHING PORTFOLIO 12
A similar snag caught you in Authority. You listed the positions of authority and
stopped short of an actual analysis of how those positions interacted. Does everyone
accept that authority structure as-is? How does authority play out in their writing?
Can anyone in the school do something with their writing to challenge or increase
authority?
Youve provided the material fromwhich to develop and explore a question about the
inner workings of the DC. For revision, take this material and question something in
it. Challenge what youve found or ask how/why something works. Thats analysis.
Good Paper 1
!
Good Paper
ENC1101
Friend
October 3, 2011
The Discourse Community of a Middle School Faculty
Elizabeth Wardle and Tony Mirabelli, both recently did a study on discourse
communities. Wardle studied a newly hired computer specialist named Alan who had
difficulty learning the lexis, or the way of written speech, in his community (527). Alan saw
himself as having authority in his discourse community because he fixed the computers used by
his fellow employees, when in fact he had no authority in his community. Employees simply saw
him as a tool. In Mirabellis study, he focused on the discourse community at a local Italian
restaurant called Lous (538). One of the employees named John had been working at Lous for
many years and was viewed as the expert in his discourse community. Harvey however, was a
newly hired waiter, and was in the process of learning how to understand the menu terminology
used among his fellow waiters and customers. Mirabelli and Wardles studies both focus on the
identity, authority, and meaning of a discourse community. I recently studied a community of
middle school faculty members. I was able to observe how a middle school faculty uses identity,
authority, and meaning to function as a proper discourse community, while focusing on the goal
of preparing children for high school.
Good Paper 2
!
Identity
One characteristic that truly defines the identity of a middle school faculty member, is the
shared goal of preparing middle school students for high school content in a safe learning
environment. Each assignment given, whether it is bell work, or a full length written assignment
serves the purpose of helping students to reach a desired level of academic understanding. The
middle school staff have a distinctive form or written communication. All the teachers at the
middle school I observed used e-mail as their primary source of communication. They were able
to discuss upcoming meetings and daily activities through their e-mail messages. The use of
whiteboards is a crucial form of written communication in a middle school setting because the
daily assignments are usually written on the white board in front of the classroom, so that
students can clearly read and understand the instructions for their assignments. A third
characteristic is the use of lesson plans. Lesson plans are typed documentation of what a teacher
plans to teach her students. When writing these lesson plans, a teacher is required to follow a
template, and then send his or her lesson plans by e-mail to their administrator. The teacher that I
observed was required to submit her lesson plans weekly. A fourth characteristic that
distinguishes the identity of a middle school faculty as a discourse community is the way they
receive feedback and information. Teachers at the middle school I observed were required to
give their students written benchmark tests, which allow the teacher to see if their students are
progressing academically. Unit tests are also given to students, so that teachers can see if their
students understand the currently taught material. These unique forms of written communication
that are primarily used by middle school faculty members, ultimately assists the discourse
community in their ability to convey educational messages to their students and their ability to
successfully function as a staff.
Good Paper 3
!
Authority
Although there are many members of a middle school faculty, the principle ultimately has
the most authority over all staff members. The principal of the middle school I observed had
been working in public education for twenty years. She had the most experience in education;
therefore she was the expert in her discourse community just as John was the expert at Lous
restaurant in Mirabellis study (538). The principal is in charge of making sure the school is
functioning properly as a whole. Administrators are a secondary authority in a middle school
community. Administrators are responsible for evaluating other middle school teachers, and they
determine whether a teacher is successfully teaching his or her students the required curriculum.
Meaning
In Mirabellis study he discussed how Harvey, a newly hired waiter was having difficulty
learning the commonly used terminology regarding the menu, also known as a lexis (538). Lexis
and meaning are also used among middle school faculty regarding students and their financial
and academic status. Some of the terms used on written documents include ELL or ESL, which
refers to students who speak another language other than English as a primary language. The
term ESE refers to special education students. TDY refers to temporary duty-work outside of
school campus that is still school related. PLC stands for professional and learning community,
and IPDP means individual professional development plan, which is referring to how a teacher
determines which specific group of students to focus on for learning gains. These are just a few
of the words and meanings used by middle school faculty. These written terms are used only
among fellow faculty members, and are typically used in e-mail conversations or written
Good Paper 4
!
documentation which is filed. These specialized terms help the faculty to communicate about the
needs of their students and events involving staff members.
A public middle school faculty uses identity, authority, and meaning on a daily basis,
and is therefore considered a true discourse community. Middle school teachers have a unique
identity due to their central goal of guiding their students in the right direction so they will be
prepared for high school. They also use different means of written communication, such as e-
mail, to convey messages to each other about their students and required faculty gatherings. A
middle school faculty is led by the principal, who is usually well-educated and has full
experience in the teaching field, which makes them the expert in the community. When
communicating through written dialogue they use code lexis words to describe their students
financial or academic status and to describe events. Overall, a middle school faculty is a
discourse community within society that is continuously working towards educating future
students who will ultimately become the adults of tomorrow.







Good Paper 5
!

Works Cited
Elizabeth, Wardel. Identity, Authority, and Learning to Write in New Workplaces. Writing
About Writing. Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins. 2011
520 - 534. Print.
Tony, Mirabelli. Learning to Serve: The Language and Literacy of Food Service Workers.
Writing About Writing. Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs. Boston: Bedford/St.
Martins. 2011 538 - 555. Print.
Swales, John. The Concept of Discourse Community. Writing About Writing. Elizabeth
Wardle and Doug Downs. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins. 2011 466 479. Print.



Friend TEACHING PORTFOLIO 18
Discourse Community Ethnography Writing Sample (Excellent)
My feedback on a excellent sample Discourse Community Ethnography is below;
the students paper appears on the six pages that follow.
Grade
Figure 0.4 shows the completed grading rubric for this assignment submission.
Figure 0.4: Webcourses Rubric for Excellent Discourse Community Ethnography
Comments
These comments accompanied the rubric:
The language problems that plagued your autoethnography are all but absent here.
Im curious to learn why theres such a difference.
1
You do a great job of portraying the establishment and the interactions within it.
Theres room for a bit more analysis. I think the biggest area of opportunity is in the
Discussion section. Re-read your intro, see the question you say youre researching,
1
This students previous essay was riddled with word-choice problems that made her meaning
unclear and her sentence structure collapse. After I provided the feedback and grade shown here,
we discussed her rst paper in person, concluding that she was trying too hard to use academic
language that does not come naturally to her.
Friend TEACHING PORTFOLIO 19
and see if youve answered it denitively through the Discussion. I feel like theyre
not quite aligned.
Another thing to look out for: transitions and coordinated ideas. Moving into the Au-
thority section is a sudden lurch. Most notable was moving into the Menu section:
You discuss nonverbal communication among employees (Did you ever provide ex-
amples?) then jump right into written info for customers. Seems odd.
Clarity issue: Pasquale & Sons are known for their zeppoles which are not known by
most common people. Wait. Known or not known? Pick one.
Excellent 1

Excellent Paper
Chris Friend
ENC 1101
October 7, 2011
Bon Appetit
Introduction
Now serving order number 302. This phrase might sound foreign to many but to an
everyday Pasquale & Sons employee this is something they say on a daily basis. To most,
Pasquale & Sons would seem as your average Italian restaurant, but it is much more than that.
Pasquale & Sons Italian Restaurant is a discourse community. According to John Swales The
Concept of Discourse Community, [a] discourse community recruits its members by
persuasion, training, or relevant qualification(Swales 471). He details that a group, whether it is
a business, team, or even club, can fall under the category of a discourse community if they meet
all six qualifications.
The discourse community must first have a common goal that is shared by all the
members and methods of communications whether they are written or recorded. A discourse
community also consist of specific genres and specific lexis, where members communicate
between each other in a way that an average person may not understand. Lastly, it should be able
to provide information and receive feedback, and have an identifiable expert (Swales 471-73).
These six characteristics, outlined by Swales, can be seen in Pasquale & Sons Italian Restaurant.
It meets all the six qualifications. I was able to observe and interview Leigh, a counter girl at
Pasquales, to gain inside information. However, I specifically was trying to discover what
Excellent 2

qualities outsiders need to know in order to be a part of the Pasquale &Sons discourse
community.
Communication Devices
Pasquale & Sons Italian restaurant has been around for over 25 years and now has three
different locations: Coral Ridge, Coconut Creek, and Royal Palm. The main location that is the
focus of this study is Coral Ridge. This community shares the general goal to have the best pizza
in Coral Springs and provide outstanding customer service that result in tips. This goal has been
accomplished every year by winning the number one pizza award. This award is their motivation
to provide the best food in their area.
In order for this community to operate there must be some sort of communication that the
members do amongst one another. This business communicates in various ways. One way they
communicate is by orders. The usual routine of a waitress/ waiter walking up to a table and
taking orders is not the concept Pasquale & Sons follows. Orders are computer generated where
they are entered into the computer and immediately printed in the back for the cooks to read.
Here is an example of an order that was taken:

Excellent 3

Viewing this order we can see how by this piece of paper the community routinely,
without noticing, has come up with their own way of conveying information. The orders are
abbreviated in ways that only the cooks are able to interpret. If an outsider was to take a glance at
the order slip, they would have no idea what it meant.
Another communication mechanism is through deliveries and party slips. When a
customer makes an order to be delivered, it is written on a delivery slip and given to the kitchen
in the back, which is then given to the delivery boys to take to each proper customer. When a
customer makes a reservation for a big party, the information is written on a paper slip and
posted on the famous bulletin board which the employees are obligated to check regularly. The
bulletin board is called famous for if an employee is unsure of something or needs information,
the bulletin board always has the answers. The employees in this community communicate in
ways that an outsider would not understand if seen for the first time. They can communicate
nonverbally which impacts the restaurants ability to function as a discourse community.
The Menu
The menu is the main source and genre that provides information to the customers. The
way the menu is displayed shows how important appearance is to the restaurant. It is neatly
organized into section with each dish thoroughly described. The sections include courses, sides,
drinks, and desserts that the customers are easily able to follow. The customers can either take
the manual menu or read the big menu portrayed above the counter. Whether it is at hand or on
the wall, the customers are able to see each available course given at the restaurant.
The food at Pasquale & Sons is well presented in the menu, yet what always has the
customers puzzled is one of the dessert entrees. Pasquale & Sons are known for their zeppoles
Excellent 4

which are not known by most common people. Through the observation, about ten times it was
seen that the employees were asked exactly what are zeppoles. The employees expected to
described what this famous pastry is to the customers. It is, as Leigh described, an Italian donut
that is fried and covered with powder sugar. As shown below, it clearly states what zeppoles
are, yet customers still ask.

It is mysterious as to why this simple pastry is loved by so many customers that they are
the most commonly ordered itemed on the menu. Not only were the zeppoles generally ordered,
but also the pizza. The restaurant serves regular pizza with a normal thin crust and brings that
Italian New York style with their Sicilian Pizza. Sicilian pizza is describe, as Leigh stated, a
deep dish pizza yet with a thicker crust than a normal pizza has. The Coral Ridge menu does
not provide the 20 inch pizza for delivery that the Coconut Creek location does. Since the
Coconut Creek location is the newest out of the three, they are given bigger pizza boxes that can
hold the 20 inch pizzas. This may be a small setback for Pasquale & Sons in Coral Ridge
because customers who are looking for 20 inch pizza will order from the Coconut Creek location
more often.
By providing information via the menu to their customers, the customers are then given
the chance to offer feedback to the restaurant. Feedback can be through the tips the restaurant
Excellent 5

receives. The tips are placed in a jar at the counter. Feedback can also be seen through comments
by the customers themselves. The comments can be about anything whether it is about the
service or even the food itself. The customers provide this feedback by filling out a survey. The
survey is located on the Pasquale & Sons website under the contact section where they are given
room to write their comments and provide their email address so they can be rewarded with
coupons. Coupons consist of deals such as, $5.00 dollars off for a $25 dollar purchase. This gives
the restaurant a win-win situations where they receive critical advice and returning customers.
Authority
The power of authority is a struggle in restaurant business. Elizabeth Wardle, author of
Identity, Authority, and Learning to Write in New Workplace, explains how the power of
authority can be misread. Wardle describes authority as a complex issue amongst co-workers.
However, in this case the perspective of who has the most authority ranges between customer
versus employee and also employee versus employee. One might think that the customers have
more authority since the restaurant cannot function without customers. Yet, on the other hand,
some might think the employees do.
Since this restaurant carries out their orders through the computer, it can be seen that
customers sometimes have more authority. The customers are given the choice to pick where
they want to sit whether it is a booth or table. The customers also have the privilege to come up
to the counter when they are ready to order. Through ones perspective this can be seen as giving
the customers excess amount of authority, leaving the employees having little say in this case.
Yet even though the customers get to choose when they want to order, when they ask about a
certain type of entre, the counter girls description of the particular course can affect the
Excellent 6

customers final decision. For example, as stated before, the customers always ask about the
zeppoles. In most cases, through observation, the customers were always persuaded to order it.
The roles of authority seem to have a see-saw effect where the power of authority can switch
according to the scenario.
Authority also exist between the employees themselves. The experts in this industry are
the bosses and managers. Mike is the manager of Pasquale & Sons, where he is respected by
his peers. The employees always refer to him when there is a problem in the restaurant. What
makes Mike the expert in this case? He has the most experience than the other employees. He
has been working for over seven years and also extremely educated with how the business
works. He is familiar with the menu like it is the back of his hand. Mike is responsible to teach
the beginners how the business works. They must also be able to recite most of the items on the
menu. He does not only manage the business but also cooks the meals in the back. Even though
his authority can be overseen when he is getting messy with sauce in the back kitchen making
food, it is what brings this discourse community even closer.
Lexis
The main quality that highlights this restaurant as a discourse community is the language
use among the employees and even customers. Specific terms referred to as lexis are only
understood by the members within the community. Pasquale & Sons Italian restaurant have
many terminologies that are understood between the employees and even some terms between
the customers.
All of the orders are organized by order numbers. When the orders are up and ready to
be picked up at the counter by the customers, the counter girl announces Now serving order
Excellent 7

number By announcing this familiar term, the customers know to pick up their food. Also
when customers order pizza, the counter girl usually ask reg or sigi? The customers
understand that these terms mean regular pizza or sicilian style pizza.
Terms use among the employees are even more unique. When an order is ready in the
kitchen, the cooks yell get some! The counter girl now knows that she needs to go grab the
order and announce it on the microphone. Another term use amongst the employees is heard.
In some business we assume okay as ten-four. Yet in this restaurant, instead of saying okay
they say heard.
Since business is going great for Pasquale & Sons, they are constantly delivering food all
over town. When certain employees are notified that the delivery boys are on their way back to
pick up more deliveries, they yell green light to the kitchen. The cooks automatically know to
get going on making that specific order so it can be ready in time. In order to keep safety within
the restaurant, the employees say behind to watch out behind each other when there is
extremely hot food. These simple, yet distinctive terminologies are what make the restaurant and
member special and their own discourse community.
Discussion
Pasquale & Sons is a unique Italian Restaurant that has caught the eyes of Coral Spring.
Food and service are the main goals of this discourse community and it cannot be possible
without each individual. Everything within this community serves as a purpose. The menu is
included to provide valid information on what exactly this discourse community has to offer. The
menu outlines all the main focuses of the community. The management skills the expert displays
sets an example for newcomers in the discourse community. Authority also stood out as the
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major issue in this discourse community, where authority power would sway from customer to
employee. The Pasquale & Sons Italian restaurant is its own discourse community where the
members, whether it is the customers or the employees, meet at the same place and come for the
same reason, to enjoy the delicious food.














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Works Cited
Swales, John. The Concept of Discourse Community. Genre Analysis: English in Academic
and Research Settings. Boston: Cambridge UP, 1990. 21-32. Print.
Wardle, Elizabeth. Identity, Authority, and Learning to Write in New Workplaces.
Enculturation 5.2 (2004): n. pag. Web. 18 Feb. 2010.
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