Developed Discourse Project

Improved Essays
My situated discourse project involved a “natural” recorded conversation between my two subjects, TD and ND, and me. The purpose of this experiment was to not only apply the skills that were learned in class in the real world, such as the Ethnography of Speaking, participant observation, and transcription, but also to see whether people communicate the way they believe they do, and compare their perceptions to reality. The following is derived from my data and observations. In order to understand their language ideologies, I, as the researcher, needed to interview my subjects prior to our discursive event. I asked many questions regarding their language habits and ideologies, and not only recorded their answers, but how they communicated the information as well. One observation I made when comparing the two subjects was that they had different answers concerning their linguistic varieties. For example, one of them was familiar with many languages other than English; he is able to speak Japanese, Vietnamese, Spanish, and French, all at the 3 level or above. He knew several more at the one or two level, including Portuguese, Arabic, Russian, Mandarin, and Turkish, which shows that he takes a great interest in learning other linguistic varieties and makes an effort to communicate with locals during his travels. This is fueled by his career, which requires him to go on business trips around the world each month, and therefore, not only increases his experience and appreciation for cultures, but also encourages him to understand them through language. He even chose specific regional varieties when learning these languages, which also displays his interest and understanding of language. On the other hand, the other subject displayed no particular interest in language. …show more content…
She is a native Japanese speaker with a strong background in English, which she spoke with a noticeable, but still mild Japanese accent. She mentions that she wanted to “be a foreigner” during her youth, and her answer reflected that; the fact that she mentions English and Japanese as her only languages shows that she never felt the need to know another language, nor does she have any interest in doing so. In addition, as someone who has known her for a long time, I noticed that she failed to mention her basic understanding of Vietnamese from living in Vietnam for more than ten years. It may have not crossed her mind as something worth mentioning, and this acts as further evidence for the popular ideology, one that happens to be prominent overseas, that labels English as “the best and only language”. However, the subjects shared similar views when it came to answering the questions that involved body language and the importance of nonverbal communication; both believed that silence was just as important in conversations as spoken words, and preferred face-to-face communication while acknowledging texting and calling as something helpful in their daily lives. In the actual discursive event, there were several acts that were performed by the two subjects that did not match their answers at all. To generally summarize the one hour that was recorded, the event mostly consisted of storytelling and the spreading of gossip by one of the subjects that covered a large range of topics as she cooked, while I and the other participant listened and responded when appropriate. One obvious act that was prevalent throughout the discursive event was the first subject’s lack of participation, despite his passion and interest in language. Whenever he did participate, it would be through a reaction to something that was said, or through something unrelated to what was being said, such as his gesture towards the stove within the first few minutes of the discursive event. While this did fit with his mentioning of the importance of listening when others are speaking, I also noticed that he fiddled with his smartphone periodically, but still attempted to participate in the conversation. The latter act contradicts another one of his answers, where he discussed body language and how one can learn a lot just by observing a person’s gestures and facial expressions. Most of the contradictions, however, belonged to the second subject. When asked about how she spoke, she replied with “Slow...always...and soft…” Even though she did speak at a

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    In "The Concept of a Discourse Community", John Swales (1990) aimed to define what a discourse community is; then he carefully deconstructs discourse community into six fundamental attributes that are important for recognizing a discourse community. Swales definition of a discourse community is a group that has objectives or purposes, and utilize communication to accomplish those objectives. The six essential characteristics that he claims to be the core of a discourse community are its goals, intercommunication, participation, genres, Lexis, and expertise. Swales made his interpretation of these attributes very clear; he explains that a discourse community has a concurred set of common public goals that all its participants attempt to attain. A discourse community has a mechanism of intercommunication for all its members.…

    • 731 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The rhetoric in practice project is the second major assignment within the class in which we have to create a work of our own choice and convey some sort of message about Carpe-diem. This project was created in order for us to display our understanding of rhetoric and carpe-diem along with our ability to put them to practice. This project was the first that had me really focus on our course theme of Carpe-diem. Throughout the course we covered many different works that conveyed their own interpretation of Carpe-diem. However there are a few similarities that they all share; that being their negative view of time/future, the lack of faith in a deity or fate, and that the ultimate goal in life is pleasure.…

    • 391 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “The Concept of A Discourse Community” by John Swales is to tell the reader the true definition of a discourse community and it characteristics and goes over the six requirements for it to be considered a true discourse community. He also goes over speech community versus discourse community and argues that they are truly different. In his argument he goes over many definitions of what a discourse community is, such as when Swales says it is “a union of people that have similar motives that communicate with one another in an attempt to accomplish something”(468). Swales also mentions “that discourse is a means of maintaining and extending the group's knowledge and of initiating new members into the group, and that discourse is epistemic…

    • 516 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Purpose There are many groups that are specific to a topic, yet not all of the groups will be considered as a discourse community. Discourse, according to Dictionary.com, means “communication of thought by words; talk; conversation,” and community is a social group that has members. John Swales, a professor of linguistics and best known for his genre analysis is the creator behind the six characteristics that determine if a community is a discourse community. A discourse community follows Swales’ six characteristics: share common goals, has a form of communication, a form of feedback, genres, a specific lexis, and has a level of expertise all within the group (Swales 25).…

    • 1795 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    1. Introduction This aim of this study is to conduct an analysis of the linguistic features that are characteristic of police statement with women reporting rape cases. This study particularly focuses on the ways in which the victims are linguistically characterized by police officers who are in charge of conducting the victim’s initial complaints. For the analysis, the Critical Discourse Analysis approach was used in the determination of the characteristics of language used by the law enforcement officer, which concerns with how social, cultural, and political norms and ideologies influences the construction and flow of discourse in terms of power relation. The data used in this study are written statements of two complaints cases in which…

    • 1066 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A primary discourse community that I am apart of is an academic one. Harris described academic discourse communities as a “…meta-community tied to no particular time or place” (Harris 14). As a college student, I am constantly writing papers and turning in assignments. Likewise, I am held at a high standard as a Miami University student to follow certain guidelines, whether it be a part of Miami’s policy or simple assignment guidelines set by the professor. As Swales talks about in an article, there are several criteria that makes a discourse community.…

    • 257 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Cultural Competence

    • 217 Words
    • 1 Pages

    Our body languages and the words we use can be different to other people’s cultures. Therefore, when working with people from different background, we…

    • 217 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    During the first few weeks of ENG 1301, we’ve learned the significance of learning rhetorical skills while writing; specifically, the rhetorical triangle - also known as ethos, pathos, and logos appeals. Whether you need to beg your parents for more gas money, or you want to receive a raise from that revolting fast food chain you’re forced to work at to pay college tuition, these appeals are the foundation of persuasion and can move an audience in any which way the author pleases to do so. In order to be accepted into a community, one must deeply understand the overall purpose and interests of the group. Once this happens, you’ll be able to intuitively understand the discourse community’s way of communicating and interacting with one another.…

    • 1209 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Discourse Community

    • 1030 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Today we live in an extremely different modern society, a world where many things are accepted now that wasn't in the past, a new world full of discourse communities. “A discourse community is a group of people who share a set of discourses, understood as basic values and assumptions and ways of communicating about those goals.” “Linguist John Swales defined discourse communities as groups that have goals or purposes, and use communication to achieve these goals. I choose the discourse community of anime. I undertook this study because I wanted to observe anime from a member’s point of view.…

    • 1030 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    This is Not Just a Discourse Community, it’s My Life. Throughout our life time, we have all been apart of a discourse community before, whether it has to do with a specific sports team that we participate in, or an online community like Facebook, twitter, and Instagram. John Swales definition of a discourse community is simply a distinctive group with descriptive characteristics. The discourse community I ended up choosing was my own, which is my soccer life.…

    • 1904 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Discourse Community

    • 784 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In order to join this community, you need to be born in it, adopted, or be considered a close family friend. We speak English as the main language, supplemented by well known body and facial language as well. The facial language used will tell you whether one of us wants the other to stop talking, is angry, or we did something right or wrong. Semi-formal language is common too, we don’t have to be very careful about the words we choose or the way we say them,…

    • 784 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Discourse Community

    • 2344 Words
    • 10 Pages

    A discourse community cannot be defined by words alone, it takes a set of specific characteristics that define each of the individuals that created a discourse community. They are what make a discourse community unique and separate from other communities. James Paul Gee’s definition of a discourse community is “A form of life that combines social languages, discourses, intertextuality, conversations, recognition, kits, and mapping” (Gee). According to Gee, these are the seven essential components that are needed to make up any intercommunication among members of a discourse community. A discourse community can be anything from a basketball team to a student organization or a regular classroom each and every member of the group may be coming…

    • 2344 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As a student pursuing a bachelor’s degree in social work, with the hope of obtaining a master’s degree in the same, I will move through multiple threshold concepts within my discourse community. I will analyze the ways in which social work is a discourse community and the influence my degree program at Washburn University will have on my future in social work. A threshold concept is an area in which one learns what they need to do in order to be part of a discourse community (Wardle and Downs, 2014, pp. 1-11). A discourse community is a community that shares common goals, beliefs, lexis, and genres (Swales, 1990, pp.…

    • 1949 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “A discourse community is a group of people who share similar goals or purposes and use communication to achieve these goals” (Swales 220). Discourse Communities are thought to have six characteristics according to John Swales in his excerpt “The Concept of a Discourse Community.” Swales stated that “These characteristics being the community has a set of common goals known to the public, mechanisms for communication, mechanisms to provide feedback, has one or more genres of communication, an acquired specific lexis, and a level of members with relevant expertise to this content” (Swales 221). “Keys to Success” is the name of a learning community for first year freshmen offered at the University of Memphis. I am a part of this community, in…

    • 1865 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Discourse Case Study Essay

    • 1364 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Noel, Nicole, presiding. Factual Background: Molly Berkeley worked as a marketing associate at Robbins Jewelry which was bought by QVC in the summer of 2012. As a result of the merger Berkeley gained more responsibility. With these new responsibilities came numerous salary increases and bonuses based on good reviews. Another result of the merger was that QVC brought some of its senior management from Canada to supervise the new Philadelphia based sight.…

    • 1364 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays