In the Swale’s article, he mentions the six different characteristics of a discourse community. English writing major is described as a discourse community because it follows the characteristics that Swale mentioned. Out of these six characteristics there are strong as well as weak ones. One of the strong one’s would be the sixth characteristic, having enough members to establish a culture.
English writing major is a discourse community because it has enough members to establish a culture. Members (students) of such major come and go, some graduate, some continue on with the major while new members join the program. There is a ratio between novices and experts within the community. There is that constant flow of new students coming into the major and students already graduating or finishing what is left for them to graduate. This is why the sixth characteristic is a strong one for English Writing majors.
Swales’ third characteristic for defining a group of individuals as a discourse community states, “a discourse community uses its particular mechanisms to provide information and feedback”. The purpose of this characteristic is to exchange feedback between the members of the discourse community. As a group, we felt that for English writing majors, this is a weak characteristic. While there are many opportunities for English writing majors to gain information, they may not always be easy to access or even known by some students in the major. The English department has a website where students can access information such as guide sheets; there are also emails that get sent out from department heads to English writing students. Students can communicate with professors and advisors through email any time, but the information is given more independently rather than to all the students in the major as a whole. While these mechanisms are out there for the students, they are not used widely enough for English writing majors to be labeled as a discourse community.
Swales’ fifth characteristic for defining a group of individuals as a discourse community states, “in addition to owning genres, a discourse community has acquired some specific lexis”. Lexis is “the vocabulary of a language, as distinct from its grammar” so the purpose of this characteristic is for members of the discourse community are able to speak with one another in their own versions of language. As a group, we felt that for English writing majors, this is a strong characteristic. For English writing majors, there is a class - Structures & origins of the English Language in which what they need to take to learn proper grammar/language. Having this class, it helps English writing majors have conversations with each other and also to understand what each person goes through when writing their projects. If other communities come in and try and understand the language of which English writing major speaks of, they may have a troubling time with it. It would bring the community together and consider that English writing majors can be a discourse community.
Swales’ second characteristic for defining a group of individuals as a discourse community states, “A discourse community has mechanisms for intercommunication among its members.” At Kean University, English Writing majors suffer tremendously because there is a lack of intercommunication within its discourse. Despite there being email lists, often times the emails are sent last minute enabling people with prior arrangements to participate or simply deal with the content of the emails. Another weak focal point is the English Writing website; it lacks updated information ultimately creating a gap between the English Writing major and its students. English Writing majors have advisors and go through various advisement sessions yet the criteria for the major changes often hence incorrect information is often given accidently. These simple examples are only a small piece of the lack of intercommunication within the English Writing major at Kean University discourse, but they are drastic. These drastic flaws ultimately disable the English Writing major discourse to run smoothly. Hence, it is nearly impossible for the English Writing major to be considered as a discourse community.
Swales’ second characteristic for defining a group of individuals as a discourse community states, “A discourse community has mechanisms for intercommunication among its members.” At Kean University, English Writing majors suffer tremendously because there is a lack of intercommunication within its discourse. Despite there being email lists, often times the emails are sent last minute enabling people with prior arrangements to participate or simply deal with the content of the emails. Another weak focal point is the English Writing website; it lacks updated information ultimately creating a gap between the English Writing major and its students. English Writing majors have advisors and go through various advisement sessions yet the criteria for the major changes often hence incorrect information is often given accidently. These simple examples are only a small piece of the lack of intercommunication within the English Writing major at Kean University discourse, but they are drastic. These drastic flaws ultimately disable the English Writing major discourse to run smoothly. Hence, it is nearly impossible for the English Writing major to be considered as a discourse community.
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