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Discourse Communities

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Discourse Communities

Uploaded by

manaxhil
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Discourse Communities

Definition:

A discourse community is a group of people with shared goals and specific methods of
communication. According to Swales (1990), a discourse community has distinct
characteristics that help identify its members and distinguish it from other communities.

Key Characteristics of Discourse Communities (Swales, 1990):

1. Common Goals: Members share common objectives, either formally agreed upon
(such as in clubs) or informally understood.
2. Communication Mechanisms: The community has specific ways of
communicating and exchanging information, such as meetings, newsletters, or
online discussions.
3. Shared Genres: Members use specific types of communication (genres) that are
unique to the community, like reports, service calls, or research papers.
4. Specialized Terminology: Discourse communities develop specialized vocabulary
and jargon relevant to their activities.
5. Threshold Level of Expertise: Members must achieve a certain level of knowledge
and skill to be fully accepted in the community.

Examples of Discourse Communities:

• Telephone Call Centers: As studied by Cameron (2000), call center operators in


the UK were trained to communicate in particular ways to convey warmth and
confidence. They were instructed to “speak with a smile,” control voice pitch, and
maintain an appropriate pace to reassure customers. Call centers have specific
goals (providing service or making sales), a unique vocabulary related to the
products/services they support, and specialized genres (scripts and service calls).
New workers must demonstrate competence during a probationary period to be
considered full members of this discourse community.
• University Communities: A university encompasses multiple discourse
communities (departments, research groups), each with unique communication
styles, shared goals, and specialized jargon. For example, an academic in the
biology department might use scientific terms and formats that differ from those
used in the sociology department, even within the same university setting.
• Personal Overlapping Communities: An individual may belong to various
discourse communities simultaneously, such as a church group, a university
student body, and a community volunteer organization. Each community has its
own communication styles, values, and beliefs, creating multiple "ways of
belonging."

Discourse Communities within Discourse Communities:

• Discourse communities often contain sub-communities with distinct practices,


beliefs, and values. For example, a university as a whole may be considered a
discourse community, while each academic department within the university
operates as a sub-community with its own norms.

Degrees of Membership and Role Variation:

• Members may have varying levels of engagement and expertise within a discourse
community. For example, a doctoral student might also be an academic staff
member, playing different roles within different parts of the academic discourse
community. The "ways of belonging" and communication styles may differ in each
role.

Interaction with Wider Speech Communities:

• Discourse communities are not isolated and often interact with larger, surrounding
speech communities. For instance, an academic community within a university
interacts with the general public in its city or town, influencing and being influenced
by it.

Alternative Terms and Perspectives:

• Communities of Practice: Some scholars, such as Lave and Wenger (1991) and
Meyerhoff (2002), prefer "communities of practice" over "discourse community" to
emphasize shared learning and engagement in collective activities.

Devitt’s (2004) Types of Language User Groups:

1. Communities: Groups of people who spend substantial time together, often


working towards shared goals (e.g., office colleagues).
2. Collectives: Groups that gather around a single, repeated interest but with less
intense interaction than communities (e.g., a beekeeping club).
3. Networks: Loosely connected groups linked through indirect relationships (e.g.,
email groups or online forums where participants may never meet but share
information or interests).

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