Reflecting and analyzing discourse communities...

A deep analysis of discourse communities

Throughout the years, there exist many scholars who continue discussing and reflecting on the notion of discourse communities. According to Johns and Swales (1990), a discourse community is
composed of a minimum number of expert members and a frequently larger number of apprentice members who operate on the basis of implicit and explicit public goals...their members develop and use systems of speech and writing that are sometimes quite specific to a particular´s community´s needs and goals (as cited in Pintos and Crimi, 2010, p. 12).
Swales (1990) also establishes that a discourse community should be considered as such if it meets some basic criteria. In other words, it should have certain characteristics or requirements. For instance, it should have common goals, participatory mechanisms, information exchange, community- specific genres, highly specialized terminology and high level of expertise.
Bizell (1992) also supports the idea that discourse communities should have common goals and specific interests. She emphasizes that developing a common discourse community involves shared knowledge, common relationships, similar attitudes and values, a common flow of discourse with a particular structure and style as well as sharing understandings on how to communicate their knowledge.
Another important requirement to be met by discourse communities is that they should have participatory mechanisms in order to provide information and feedback.
All human activities are culturally mediated and entail the use and transformation of artifacts. From this perspective, culture itself mediates human actions in the sense that it is a system of shared meanings or social inheritances embodied in the artifacts of a given social structure.” (Hoffman- Kipp- Artiles & Lopez-Torres, 2007, p. 5).
The level of expertise is an important characteristic that must also be included in this analysis. Kelly- Kleese (2004) emphasized that “the communicative competence implies that individuals and groups with greater skill in using (and manipulating) the language system will exercise power in naming and thus controlling how others will view social reality.”
It is worth mentioning that information exchange is a crucial aspect of discourse communities. Wenzlaff (2004) argues this idea of exchange in teachers learning on the basis of a cohort since he believes that when educators work as a discourse community they not only grow personally and professionally but they also see and appreciate the perspectives of other teachers/ peers, making the teaching experience more enjoyable.
To sum up, it is merely important to recognize that the scope of discourse communities is broad and most of the times this might lead to discussions and reflections among different scholars. What is more, the flow and behaviour of any discourse community can be better understood and analyzed.











References

Bizzel, P. (1992). Academic discourse and critical consciousness. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press.

Hoffman-Kipp, P., Artiles, A. J., & Lopez Torres, L. (2003). Beyond reflection: teacher learning as praxis. Theory into Practice. Retrieved October 2007, from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0NQM/is_3_42/ai_108442653

Kelly-Kleese, C. (2001). Editor’s Choice: An open memo to community college faculty and administrators. Community College Review. Retrieved October 2007, from
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0HCZ/is_1_29/ai_77481463

Pintos, V., Crimi, Y. (2010) Unit 1 Building up a community of teachers and prospective researchers, Retrieved September 2010, from
http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/resource/view.php?id=7214


Wenzlaff, T. L., & Wieseman, K. C. (2004). Teachers need teachers to grow.
Kelly-Kleese, C. (2004). UCLA community college review: community college scholarship and discourse. Community College Review. Retrieved October 2007, from
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0HCZ/is_1_32/ai_n6361541


Wenzlaff, T. L., & Wieseman, K. C. (2004). Teachers need teachers to grow. Teacher Education Quarterly. Retrieved October 2007, from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3960/is_200404/ai_n9349405