Discourse Communty Map & Responce

ALYSE ELLIS
DISCOURSE COMMUNITY

         In the world around us today, we have many organizations, clubs, or even cliques.  These groups of people share the same goals, interests, and values. These groups more appropriately can be defined as “Discourse Communities”.  To be involved in a Discourse Community, you might have to abide by   certain requirements to join. Along with being a part of a discourse community, you can also participate in the specialized language, values, writing styles, or goals the group has. These communities also must use different forms of medium to communicate their goals or conventions. I personally belong to four different types of discourse communities. They can be best described as a civic, personal, academic, and professional discourse community.

                My dance team, for example would portray a personal discourse community I belong to. The audiences we target as a team are any one with a dance history, or want in the experience. There are certain requirements however to become accepted into this group. Tryouts, is one way we determine whether someone is eligible for the group. A series of dance routines are taught and performed in front of judges to be scored. The result of the score will determine if you make the team or not. If you do make the team, immediately after we ask for phone numbers to voice when practices or performances will take place. We use text, flyers, phone calls, and after practice talks to communicate when our next convention will be. It is very important to use these types of communication. Without it we would have nothing organized. In this community we also use specialized language, such as, mental, PK, Axil, or funk. These words alone might not make sense. Although, when used in a sentence during practice it can tell everyone what to do in an instant.  “ Girls, do a mental, don’t forget the PK before the axil, and the last funk.”  This means, do the dance I your head, to remember the specific turn sequence before the axil jump, and to remember the kick sequence called funk. It’s much easier to have nicknames for often used tricks than to say everything properly.  Conventions to gather the team would be performances practice.  As mentioned before we use different types of medium to contact our members.

                My commitment to the Lakers basketball team would be considered a professional discourse community. This type of community however is more open to its members who wish to join. Ways to join are to sign up online with a fan club. Although, it also could be as simple as wearing a Kobe jersey on game day. Types of medium this community uses are, internet, e-mail, text, television, and many others. Specialized language we might use are, travel, championship, push, or 3pt. These words can voice what’s happening in the game, or what a player did to an opponent. It is a way of speaking to another member that can also mean you are familiar with the team. Topics written about this community extend from the winning game, to the players home life. Anything concerning the team is an interest of the members.

                My commitment to the breast cancer awareness is a example of a civic discourse community. This type of Organization is also very open to its members. Their goal as a group is to raise awareness and funds to support the research for a cure for cancer. More specifically, a cure for breast cancer. To join this group you simple start a volunteer project with the group. For instance, Race for the Cure, is a nationwide project held by the organization. The members meet at a certain location to have people run miles to promote the awareness. Members organize this through all types of medium. News casters will film the race as well as announce the upcoming event. Flyers, broachers, phone calls, and t-shirts might also advertise the upcoming convention. Topics written about in this discourse community are cancer. Moreover, breast cancer and how it is caused, what it affects, and goals of the group to find a cure.

                Finally my attendance to The University of El Paso, UTEP, is my example of an academic discourse community. To become a member there are strict requirements to obtain. Transcripts from past schools or institutions are needed, as well as an application. These things are looked over and evaluated to determine whether or not you would be an asset to the institution. Specialized language used in this community might be major, minor or professor. These words can place you in which department you belong to. To be more specific however, once determined the major, for example, chemistry, you can place yourself in a more specific discourse community. A chemistry major may obtain specialized language such as lab, Na, or density. These words can describe what an element is or what you need to find for a substance. The need for this language is essential to understand the subject of chemistry. The purposes of writing in this community are extremely necessary. We constantly have to document our research to verify what paths we’ve taken or haven’t taken. We also can write about our discoveries to further help other people. If Chemists did not document their work there would be no way to move forward. We would keep repeating things or steps and go nowhere. Conventions chemists partake in are research projects, classes, or labs. The way we communicate to one another is to use phone, text, e-mail, and mail.