Semester Reflection Questions

Why do people form discourse communities, that is, what motivates people to join these communities?

• In my opinion, discourse communities are formed and joined for multiple reasons. People can join or form a discourse community because they want to be around people who think the same way or share a common interest. For example, in the assignment two example paper, the Ripper Paper, the author joined a discourse community where everyone shared a common interest in solving the Jack the Ripper case. People might also join or form a discourse community because they will gain money or power. For example, someone might become a doctor, and join a discourse community of doctors, because they feel that doctors are respected or make a lot of money.

What do you think people gain from joining a discourse community?

• People can gain a lot of things from joining a discourse community. For example, as I discussed in the last answer, people can gain power and money from joining a discourse community. As I also discussed in the last answer, people can gain friendship and a sense of belonging through joining a discourse community of people with common interests or ways of thinking.

How is writing used to police the community’s membership? 

• Discourse communities can use writing to define the rules that members of the community must follow. For example, the social work community has a written Code of Ethics that polices the members of our community. The Code of Ethics outlines rules and behaviors that social workers must uphold, such as respecting a client’s right to privacy. If a social worker chooses to violate a client’s right to privacy, then that social worker may lose their license and be expelled from the community.

Why do you think writing is key in delineating a discourse community from a speech community?

• Writing is key in delineating a discourse community from a speech community. This is because traditionally, as explained by John Swales, speech communities communicate through specific speech, which requires a knowledge of that speech and its patterns. According to Swales, this makes speech communities much more localized, whereas discourse communities use writing that takes away the localization and makes it more likely for people in distant places to reply.