John Swales’s article, “The Concept of Discourse Community” serves to define what exactly a discourse community is. He does so by relating it to and distinguishing it from the concept of a speech community. He identifies six key characteristics that embody a discourse community and provides examples of what would fall under this category and what would not. He concludes that in oder to be considered a discourse community, a social group must consists of individuals all striving for a common goal, must have communication between members, must have information exchange, contain specific genres or standards that they abide to, must have a specific form of communication through terminology known to them and not others outside the group, and its members should have certain degrees of expertise.
Having been in various organizations in the past, I can relate to the idea of a discourse community and how they all differ. For instance, being in a discourse community such as that of an orchestra ensemble with the same goal of creating music is completely different from a discourse community in a hospital. This article relates to other readings because it of course deals with the written and spoken word. In this case it is studied as it is applied to a specific group of people.
Having been in various organizations in the past, I can relate to the idea of a discourse community and how they all differ. For instance, being in a discourse community such as that of an orchestra ensemble with the same goal of creating music is completely different from a discourse community in a hospital. This article relates to other readings because it of course deals with the written and spoken word. In this case it is studied as it is applied to a specific group of people.