Reading Response #14

Summary/Synthesis (Swales):

     In John Swales' article, "The Concept of the Discourse Community," Swales introduces the term of "discourse community" and its importance within the society--as far as writing goes. He gives many different examples to describe discourse communities to his readers and talks about the difference between a discourse community and a "speech community." Swales has his own six characteristics for discourse communities. He brings to light the idea that no one really fully knows or understands what a discourse community is; there is no true, set-in-stone definition. Swales also discusses several specific issues that remain within discourse communities and tries to give them some kind of explanation.

     Swales' article reminds me of the entire semester so far of the ENG 1510 class. "Discourse community" is a topic we have talked about, read about, and applied to the work we have done all semester. I can't think of any specific articles, but I remember having read about discourse communities in past articles a few times. Clearly, they are an important aspect in the writing world and set certain "guidelines" when we write.



Getting Ready to Read:

     A time I have felt out of place was when I went to Miami University for a college visit about a year or so ago. I felt out of place because I could tell it was very preppy and academically challenging. The other high schoolers in my tour group seemed extremely smart and sure that Miami was the school for them, and that they--if they hadn't already--would get accepted. I on the other hand was on the edge, worrying about whether or not I would get accepted because I didn't have the best grades in high school. I was also trying to picture myself being a student, and I couldn't. I felt much more comfortable when I visited OU, which is why I'm here now. My experience at Miami made me feel like I wasn't good enough, and that I had no place to even visit because there was no chance I would belong.



My thoughts:

     I thought this article was okay. I liked how Swales made a point to sort of introduce the term "discourse community" at the beginning. However, it threw me off a little when he started naming all of areas the term could be traced back to. I realize he did his research and wanted readers to see that, but he could have left it for quotes or his works cited at the end. It's too much to throw all of that information out suddenly, especially in one small section all clumped together. It honestly annoyed me and made me not want to continue as much as I would have wanted to otherwise.
     The rest of the article was kind of difficult to understand due to Swales' formal way of writing and use of vocabulary. The times where I did understood what he was trying to say, it didn't last very long. Plus, I had already been lost within the text previously, so it got confusing over and over again.
     The length wasn't an issue. I personally think it was mainly the way he wrote and used his own literacy. While I was reading, I was thinking how obvious it was that he wanted readers to see his literacy, and while I could tell he wanted to share that with people, it wasn't very effective. He doesn't appeal to a larger range of readers.




Questions for Discussion and Journaling:

5. Our own ENG 1510 class is a good example of discourse community. We are not all English majors, but the majority of us are. We have common desires and goals within the language and within our writing. The majority of us want to be largely successful with writing. When we step into the classroom, the general world becomes the writing world. Reality and our own personal lives are a huge factor in our writing, but in the classroom setting, a lot of our everyday routine is far from our minds. We are forced to think in new ways that many others may not understand, and as English majors, most of us already have a knack for writing and a personal desire to make it a career, whereas many people likely would not be able to stand even the idea of writing for a living. We're all different, yet alike in the ways we think and want to think about writing and the world of English.