The document discusses discourse communities and their key characteristics including goals, intercommunication, participation, genres, specialized lexis or vocabulary, and requisite expertise. It then prompts the reader to analyze whether various groups like a soccer team, sorority, university, or class constitute discourse communities based on exhibiting these traits. The document also explores participating in a discourse community without being fully assimilated into it and how understanding discourse communities can help one navigate writing and various communities.

1. Discourse Communities

2. Reflect on your Autoethnography What is the most important or useful thing you learned about your writing process? How will you use this knowledge to your advantage for the rest of the semester? For the rest of your college career? Later in life?

3. Let’s review the six characteristics of a discourse community (as defined by Swales).

4. Goals

5. Intercommunication

6. Participation

7. Genres

8. Lexis

9. Expertise

10. Let’s play “Is it a discourse community?” Goals Intercommunication Participation Genres Lexis Expertise

11. A soccer team Goals Intercommunication Participation Genres Lexis Expertise

12. A sorority/fraternity Goals Intercommunication Participation Genres Lexis Expertise

13. UCF Goals Intercommunication Participation Genres Lexis Expertise

14. Publix employees Goals Intercommunication Participation Genres Lexis Expertise

15. Hong Kong Study Circle Goals Intercommunication Participation Genres Lexis Expertise

16. Republican voters Goals Intercommunication Participation Genres Lexis Expertise

17. College Democrats at UCF Goals Intercommunication Participation Genres Lexis Expertise

18. Composition Scholars Goals Intercommunication Participation Genres Lexis Expertise

19. Occupants of Nike dorms Goals Intercommunication Participation Genres Lexis Expertise

20. Our class Goals Intercommunication Participation Genres Lexis Expertise

21. Genre Analysis: The Language of TV shows http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w536Alnon24 http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/389/frenemies (~23 minutes) In groups of 3-4, choose a TV show you are all familiar with. What are some unique ways in which language works on that show? Think about: Common phrases Show-specific vocabulary Recurring jokes Patterns in plot, show format Target audience, purpose Is it a discourse community?

22. Discussion Swales argues that it is possible to participate in a discourse community without being assimilated in it. What does this mean?

23. Discussion Consider a time when you participated in a discourse community but resisted it or were not assimilated into it. What happened?

24. Discussion Do you understand anything differently about your own writing experiences after reading Swales’s description of how discourse communities work? If so, consider a way that this understanding can help you navigate discourse communities in the future.