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1.29.06
Discourse
Communities
Purpose
As we have
already established, our writing often gets influenced (disciplined, determined,
shaped) by the institutions that we write within or write for. We have
also established that institutions can be organizations (like the US government,
Canon, the Virginia Beach SPCA) or they can be communities (like "the
South," Hampton Roads, the Ghent district). In either case, these
institutions are often comprised of discourse communities which often
perpetuate institutional conventions. Thus to better understand the institution,
one has to understand its discourse communities. We will discuss strategies
for analyzing discourse communities.
Article Reviews
We will listen to article reviews by Kristen and Sarah.
Discussion–Swales
We will address
the following questions...
- What questions do you have about Swales's article?
- According to Swales, what is a discourse community? how does it differ from a speech community?
- What are the six criteria for establishing a discourse community? What other heuristics would you use to determine a discourse community?
- According to Swales, is a class a discourse community? Why or why not?
Discussion–Ketter
& Hunter
We will address
the following questions...
- What questions do you have about Ketter and Hunter's article?
- What is a liberal arts college? How does it differ from a state university, like ODU?
- What is Ketter & Hunter's argument?
- According to Ketter & Hunter, what is a community of practice? In your own opinion, how does this compare to a discourse commenting?
- How did Erin's respective communities of practice influence her writing in those commodities? How did they influence the writing she did in the other commenting? What does this say about Joliffe's "myth of transcendence"?
- Note that this chapter came from an online book (i.e., a book that by-passes the parameters of the printed page). In what ways do you see this article in its formatting and content working outside the discipline of print? What affect does it have on this text?
Discussion–Scenario
As a class, we will discuss how we might apply the heuristics (on institutions and discourse communities) we created to the following scenario:
Scenario
You have chosen to pursue graduate studies at the Master's level in your field of study. Your goal is to get your Master's degree. What do you need to learn to achieve your goal?
Lecture–White Paper
The instructor will explain the generic parameters of a white paper that you will use for your Context Analysis.