Running head: DISCOURSE COMUNNITY 1

Discourse Community

Kimberly Ulloa

UTEP
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Discourse Community

A discourse community is when a group of people gather together and have a

specific topic for the group. They communicate with each other and share a common

goal. They also give feedback towards what they are trying to communicate. There are

different type of communities that gather for their own interests, depending of their

goal. Being in a community consist of having time for every day they gather, participate

in all activities, and also be available for anything a group member needs. Being in a

discourse community does not mean that all people are the same, they just have the

same thing in mind that they want to accomplish. In some communities it is rare that

they will have people from different cultures, as long as they have the same goals they

can be in it. The word discourse means a written or spoken speech or debate and the

word community means a feeling of fellowship. Which emphasizes that a discourse

community means sharing common attitudes having to communicate with each person

from the group. Also, they exchange ideas, opinions and any topic theyre discussing.

Each member have a specific tasks but everyone can always contribute to whatever they

want and are free to express their opinion even if it is good or bad. Even though each

one is responsible for one part, another member can help them if they need it, or they

also give feedback so that can the other person can improve their work. They are always

willing to help whenever a member needs something. It is like being in a family, there

are different type of people, different opinions and thoughts but they are always together

no matter what. Sometimes they fight or ague but that does not mean that every single

problem they have will destroy the community, they just talk to each other to try and fix

anything they are having troubles or they dont like. They always support each other

and would never do something to hurt another member. They love each other and will

always be there for whenever a member needs it.

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In a discourse community it is essential to have a communication that will help

everyone get to their goal. In Swales story it interprets that each community have the

same objectives and goals. Each person thinks different but knows what words to use

and how to express what they have to say in other to communicate with others. There

are two types of communities the discourse and the speech community and the

discourse community. They are different because they dedicate to do different things

and expects other things from each other. In a discourse community not all the people

agree to the same things but they always try to accommodate the things so that it can

work for everyone, they try to decide for whatever is more convenient for not just one

of the members but for all the community. In the story it reveals that a community can

be social groups or academic disciplines. Their different type of language that they use

help the community grow in their knowledge and in their goals. In the story Bilingual

education and social change it demonstrates that even if members dont belong to the

same culture they are accepted, in anything that a community members needs they will

always help him or her. They dont discriminate for being different as long as they have

the same goal in mind they are able to contribute to the discourse community. Even in a

person does not speak the same language he can be very helpful in the community,

every person has a talent or something that they are good at and they can help improve

the things they have to get done but in a better way. In both stories they had goals that

could change because they had different ideas and perceptions of new things that make

the community better. They dont always get stuck and repeat the same things, if they

have new ideas they experiment it to see if it works. Not all discourse activity is

relevant to a discourse community, it has different things then what it is expected in a

discourse community but also the activities help them improve and make them do things

that will benefit and continue with the discourse community. They dont need to follow
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the same things over and over they can try to do what they think it will be better for the

goal of the community.

An example of a discourse community is in church, in Juarez there is a church

called Nuestra Senora De La Paz, where teenagers teach other people about

confirmation. The share goals of this community is to teach teens between the ages of

sixteen to twenty one about Jesus and the action of the Holy Spirit in them to be able to

confirm their religion. This groups exist because the confirmation is a sacrament and a

very important part of the Catholic religion that help confirm your faith in God. The

mechanism the group uses to communicate are words such as commission satellite and

liturgy vocabulary. The purpose of this mechanisms is to help them do things faster

since they dont have to explain every single part of the things they need to do, they just

try to explain it in a simple way. Most of the terms they have from the manual of topics

would be considered typography. They do not have a specialized language. The

expertise could be the people who have the best testimony and have the most will, it

does not necessary have to be in person that has been in the group the longest therefore

they hope that the newcomers learn by example of the member that was already in there.

In the beginning they teach the teenager some of the members would have a specific

topic to talk to the kids and also had dynamics to make them understand what it was

about. When it finished, the community had a meeting and there was different

mechanism that they use in their community, they gave each other feedback of the

information they presented, and everyone gave their opinion on what they think it could

change to understand better the topic. There is a girl and a boy that are the ones in

charge of the whole community, they organize what it has to be done but also helps with

anything from the community, they are like another member of the community but they

are the ones that have the leadership to say what it has to be done and what is missing.
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They are responsible to gather all the community in one place to discuss a certain topic.

But between all the community gives ideas of what it can be added or what they want to

take off, they give their own opinion. They also ask any concerned questions they have

and they all together try to answer in a better way.

This community have many tasks but they know how to organize every single

thing and they accomplish everything. This community always gather on Fridays at

someones house to plan the topics they are going to talk about on Sunday but not only

they do work but they also eat together and play video games or table games. On

Saturday they all go to mass then they go and do a service of helping others, for

example, going to feed the homeless, go to the hospitals and spend time with the sick

people. On Sundays they go to mass then they teach the teenagers about the

confirmation, after that they have a meeting where they give feedback. For last when

they finish the meeting they go to a restaurant and eat all together like if they were a

family. They spend too much time together, they see every single detail in everything

which is a good thing because they want to have everything perfect to conquer their

goal. The teenager that are learning, already want to belong to that community they can

see how this community works but not only that but they can feel the love that they

have for each other and all the things that they do together because they try to make

everything fun to have a good time doing what they like and what they have to do. They

always thank God for having their community, for each one of them the definition of a

discourse community is love, which is what motivates them to continue in the

community. When it comes to giving their opinion in a topic they think different they

give their opinions and they argue for that, because all communities have issues but tries

to keep calm and develop a form to understand better how the topic can be explained so

that they can see their perspective a different way. Their word choice is very helpful for
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whenever they are communicating because they express a certain way that makes the

environment feel better. The word choice is from the liturgy which emphasizes in

talking more about their religion, Gods life and all the story that happened in the

Catholic life. The goal of this community is to teach about the sacrament of

confirmation but they also teach how love in a community is important because with

that they get together to make great things and accomplish what it has to be done but the

most important is that they conquer their goal and they do more than what they plan.

This community is well known for always helping the people in need and for always

being available for whatever other people need or an event they have. It is also one of

the biggest communities of all churches in Juarez. Which demonstrates that this

community is the perfect definition of a discourse community, even though not all the

members are the same, there are boys and girls, people that live in El Paso and other in

Juarez they can be together and create many things even though if it is not their goal.

In every place there is always a discourse community, many people may not

know of them but others will always want to join one. In school every club, sports or

any extracurricular activity counts as a community. The people depend on each one of

them because if one fails everyone else will too, but if they are responsible to keep up of

every task they are assign to they will succeed. All together they form a group that with

the time they become closer, also all of the time they spend, it is too much time together

and even outside of the group they continue being friends but it is a benefit because they

get to know each other and how they think of each of their goals. Being in a community

takes a lot of time, if a person is going to be in it they have to participate in every

activity, try to always give new ideas and also always say what they want and their

opinion.
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References

Swales, J. (1990). The concept of discourse community. In Down and Wardle (Eds.),

Writing about writing (p. 212 -229) Boston, MA:Bedford - St.Martins.

Freeman, Rebecaa D. (1960). Bilingual education and social change.

Clevedon:Multilingual Matters (p.225-229).