Casey Paris

Professor Leslie Wolcott

ENC 1101
14 November 2014

The first day of my first college English class is something that I have always
been apprehensive about. I knew coming into college from high school there were going
to be some extreme changes, and I was definitely right. However, Im fortunate I have
been able to take ENC 1101, because it has taught me more than I ever thought I would
have learned. Although every assignment was difficult at times, I managed to put lots of
time and effort into every single one to get to where I am now. Ive come to realize that I
belong to multiple discourse communities, my English class being one in itself. This
course, along with the multiple texts I have read during this course, such as the textbook
Writing About Writing, proves that people who study writing are a part of discourse
community themselves. A discourse community is made up of many different
components, such as having lexis, a genre and a common goal. Although I had no clue
what these things meant before taking this course, I now truly understand them and know
how to utilize them effectively in writing. I can now use everything Ive learned to my
benefit throughout the rest of my college career in reading and writing classes, as well as
in my every day life.
Discourse communities initially are not the easiest topic to grasp. One of the most
crucial sources that helped me to understand the true meaning of discourse community
was reading John Swales article, The Concept of Discourse Community. John Swales, a

professor of linguistics, received his Ph.D. from Cambridge University and is now the codirector of the Michigan Corpus of Academic Spoken English at the University of
Michigan. Swales has determined six characteristics that are necessary to define a
discourse community. One of these characteristics is that a discourse community must
have a broadly agreed set of common public goals. As for my English class, the common
goal would be to have an understanding of our personal writing processes, how to be
aware of rhetorical situations and the strategies needed to perform a rhetorical analysis,
and lastly to understand discourse communities and how we can now apply them to help
with our futures. Swales emphasizes how these goals must be public because, spies may
join speech and discourse communities for hidden purposes of subversion while more
ordinary people may join organizations with private hopes of commercial or romantic
advancement(Swales 220). A good example of common goal in a discourse community
would be my sororitys common goal. Although we all may have our own personal
reasons for why we joined, our common goal is working towards faculty approval,
student esteem, and sorority fidelity. As a group we strive to always give ourselves a
great name to our faculty, to make sure we all feel comfortable with being ourselves
while feeling good about it, and knowing everything about our organization and why its
so important to us. On the other hand, a discourse community could also be something
like a profession, such as a doctor. In this discourse community, their common goal is to
help others who are sick or hurt to get their health back to normal. Maybe some doctors
dont necessarily love what they do, but they still have to do what their job consists of
which is where the sharing of the common goal takes place.

Another one of Swales criteria is the presence of one or more genres. A genre is a
type of text that is recognizable to readers and writers that meets the needs of the
rhetorical situations in which they function. Swales states that discoursal expectations
are created by the genres that articulate the operations of the discourse community
(Swales 222). He establishes that discourse communities all use genres, where most are
recognizable to people outside of the group; however, groups then develop their own
conventions of these genres for their desired goals. Throughout the course of this class
we have learned about many different genres. Each one of our major assignments could
make up its own genre. Although when we were younger genres only had the meaning
of what type of book we were reading such as fiction, non-fiction and drama, we have
now learned how a genre can be a rhetorical analysis or even self-writing.
The last criteria of Swales six is that a discourse community must acquire some
specific lexis. Swales states that This specialization may involve using lexical items
known to the wider speech communities in social and technical ways, as in information
technology discourse communities, or using highly technical terminology as in medical
communities(Swales 222). Lexis is basically a way of communicating to each other in
the discourse community, that those not in the discourse community would know, but not
necessarily understand them like the people who are in the discourse community. As
Swales states, the medical field is a perfect example when describing lexis. We hear our
doctors talk to other doctors or nurses, and we know the actual words, but not exactly
what they mean. When describing the lexis of my English class, those who are not in it,
or have never taken it, may not really understand what it means when we would say we
are as a course, a discourse community, or even the word lexis, itself. Those who study

writing have a much more in depth meaning and understanding of writing terms than
those who lets say havent yet taken a writing-focused English course. Referring back to
my sorority is another great example of lexis. Like every other organization, we have
certain things we do or say that others will hear and see us do, but wont really
understand the true meaning of like we do. We have many sacred things that you cannot
know unless you are a member. For example, our secret closed motto that we often say
LML will be heard by many other people outside the discourse community. They may
think they know what it means, but unless youre actually in our discourse community as
a sister, they wont know.
For someone who has never heard of Discourse Community until taking this
course, I was unaware of how common it is to belong to one. Everyone belongs to
discourse communities. James Paul Gee, a researcher in psycholinguistics, literacy, and
discourse analysis explains that, discourse is a sort of identity kit which comes
complete with the appropriate costume and instructions on how to act, talk, and often
write, so as to take on a particular role that others will recognize(Gee 7). For instance,
one Discourse most of us belong to is our family. A Discourse with a capital D as Gee
explains is one that you were born into, or absorb by just being around. Most families all
have certain things that they say others may not understand, their own lexis, and
traditions they follow annually. The familys native language is also something that could
fall under the Discourse because that is something we picked up on by just growing up
around them. However, when you eventually want to learn a new language, its not as
easy as when you were brought up learning the first one. He then goes on to define
discourse with a lower case d as specialized terms for specialized purposes. An example

of discourse could be the specific points you look at when performing a rhetorical
analysis such as the audience, exigencies, and constraints. Its basically like a more
specific group inside a group. It is apparent that discourse ends up being a part of
Discourse.
After thoroughly proving how people who study writing, my English class, make
up a discourse community themselves, now I can take what Ive learned and apply it to
my future. With spring semester right around the corner, I will be taking ENC 1102. As I
have read up on the course, and heard from those in the writing center, ENC 1102 is
almost entirely based off of discourse communities. Now that I have learned the basics at
the end of my ENC 1101, I will be fully prepared to delve further into other assignments
on this topic in the future. In my future English class we will share a common goal, pick
up on many different genres, and develop our own lexis. As a class, I will share the
common goal with my fellow classmates to further our study of writing while achieving
high grades on our assignments. We will also learn about multiple different genres, and
well have a way of communicating and discussing to each other that those not in the
discourse community wouldnt have. The lexis could be used in class while having group
discussion or even online over discussion posts.
I can also take discourse community and everything Ive learned about it to apply
to my everyday life. Once discovering what discourse community means, Ive come to
realize Ive actually used discourse in previous assignments for this class. During the
rhetorical analysis I conducted, I now realize that a rhetorical analysis is a genre in itself.
When speaking about the rhetorical analysis and using the words such as exigencies,
audience, and constraints, those would be considered the lexis. Learning how to look at

something rhetorically is one thing I find myself doing all the time now after learning
about it. The amounts of ads, commercials, and posts on Facebook I see daily have much
more meaning to them now than ever before. I never realized how much effort is put into
the simplest ads and whose attention they are really trying to get.
As a psychology major, the future profession I choose will also be another
discourse community Ill belong to. Although at this time Im not exactly sure where I
want to go with this major, I know I want to do something where I help out others who
are in need. The people I one day work with also belong to my discourse community, as
well as the people who are in my major currently. In my major we all have the common
goal of taking most of the same classes, and graduating one day with the degree in
psychology. Although we may all have our own personal reasons for picking this major,
and different professions we all want to have one day involving this major, we all still
chose this one to study. The College of Psychology students will most certainly have
their own lexis that other students who are in different colleges will not have. Although
students in other majors may have had to take a general psychology class and may have
heard some of the basic words we hear all the time, they wouldnt recognize them as we
do because of the much more detailed classes we will take. In the psychology major there
is also a number a different genres. In the upcoming semester, Ill be taking a
developmental psychology class, which is a genre in itself. I can now use everything I
know about discourse communities and apply it in helping me to figure out what exactly I
want to do in the field of psychology one day.
Whether youre involved in community service, Greek life, have a job, or even
just belong to a small family, everyone belongs to some form of a discourse community.

After almost completing my first ever college English course, I can say that the class,
along with the textbook, and in class discussion, has proved to me that those who study
writing make up a discourse community themselves. As Swales explains his six criteria,
you can match up and relate each one to my English class, which serves to prove that we
as a class, who study writing, make up our own discourse community. After now having
great understanding of what discourse community is, I can relate it to so much in my life.
Whether it is understanding how my next classes will be, or even relating all the criteria
to things like my sorority, or future job I can take everything I learned and apply it to
all of these examples. Overall, I truly enjoyed learning everything I have this semester
because I already see myself utilizing this newfound knowledge. I can say with
confidence that this class has already made me a better writer than I was when I first
started just a few months ago.

Works Cited Page

Wardle, Elizabeth A., and Doug Downs. Writing about Writing: A College Reader.
Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2011. Print.

Gee, James. "Literacy, Discourse, and Linguistics: Introduction. Journal of Education

171.1 (1989): 5-17. Print.

Swales, John. "The Concept of Discourse Community." Writing about Writing: A College
Reader. By Elizabeth A. Wardle and Doug Downs. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins,
2011. 215-29. Print.