OCTOBER 2010 VOLUME #1 ISSUE #1
LET’S GIVE ‘EM SOMETHING TO TALK ABOUT
DISCOURSE COMMUNITY
Do You Kiss Your Mother
With That Mouth?
We sure hope not. It seems instinctive to speak differently
with your family than your friends, classes, or clubs. These
groups make up some of the various discourse
communities you are a part of. What is this discourse
community we speak of? In its simplest form a discourse
community is a social group that is engaged in discussion.
But it is much more than that. There are specific
qualifications that have to be met, Swales laid out a set of
six standards that any group must meet to be considered a
legitimate discourse community.
Where the idea of a discourse community most strongly
comes into play is in the composition process. Faigley
presents us with the idea that “no text is a detached
Calvin and Hobbes document solely influenced by the author but rather
representative of the beliefs and subtle rhetorical nuances
THE NECESSARY
ELEMENTS OF A of the environment in which it is produced.” In other
DISCOURSE words, the community shapes the composition as much as
COMMUNITY
ACCORDING TO the composition has the potential to influence the
SWALES community and it then becomes the responsibility of the
A set of common public goals rhetor to know, understand, and implement the constraints
Mechanisms of of any given discourse community.
intercommunication among
members
Ability to provide information
and feedback
The possession of genres of FSU EDITING, WRITING, AND MEDIA
communication
Acquisition of a specific
lexis, or vocabulary Works Cited
A balance of old and new Bizzell, Patricia. (1992) Academic Discourse and Critical Consciousness. Pittsburgh: University of
members that maintains an Pittsburgh Press.
Swales, J. M. (1990) Genre Analysis: English in academic and research settings. Cambridge: Cambridge
optimal balance of knowledge University Press.
and opinion Nystrand, M. (1982) What Writers Know: The Language, Process, and Structure of Written Discourse.
New York: Academic.
OCTOBER 2010 VOLUME #1 ISSUE #1
Blah, Blah, Blah
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT FOR COMPOSERS TO
UNDERSTAND DISCOURSE COMMUNITY?
A good composer is familiar with their audience; a great
composer also familiarizes themselves with the discourse
community. This involves knowing and following the
unwritten rules of the group, knowing the common
knowledge, and utilizing the jargon.
According to Patricia Bizzell “producing text within a Discourse Communities on Campus
discourse community cannot take place unless the writer
can define her goals in terms of the community’s As faculty, alumnae, and current students of
interpretive conventions” (Bizzell). Imagine speaking to a Florida State University we constitute our own
group of animal rights activists about the merits of hunting discourse community. We all can relate to each
whales for their blubber and meat. The response would be other and share the common goal of promoting
overwhelmingly negative as you might imagine. By and furthering FSU. Broken down further, each
major constitutes its own discourse community
following the constraints of a given discourse community
as well. The conversations and arguments put
you can ensure that your speech will be not only well forward by a psychology student will differ
received but also make an impact and motivate the greatly from those made by a philosophy major.
necessary changes. Even further, the clubs and associations we
choose to associate ourselves with make up
It is important for us to understand the discourse another discourse community we are a part of.
community of anything we compose be it public speech, Discourse is all around us and we usually don’t
written word, or online ramblings. It is smart to keep in even realize it.
mind who will read or hear what you have composed and
how it might be received. Keep this in mind as you work
towards writing effective dissertations and thesis. The
consequences of ignoring discourse community include
embarrassment and gross misunderstandings.
FOR MORE INFORMATION REGARDING DISCOURSE COMMUNITIES OR THE EDITING, WRITING, AND
MEDIA MAJOR, CONTACT THE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT AT FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY
English Department – Florida State University
Tallahassee, FL 32306
850.644.4230 office • 850.644.0811 fax
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