Assignment Purpose and Objectives: A Discourse Community is a group whose members share common goals, values, and communication forms. Think of times when communication has been “easy” and times when it has been “hard” for you. Typically, you will find that when communication is easy it is because you understand the terms, expectations and “rules” of the group or environment. When you find it harder, it might be because you don’t understand the terms, conventions and expectations. The purpose of this assignment is to help you more fully understand how discourse communities use language to function and accomplish their goals. You will examine how communication is used in one of the discourse communities to which you belong.
Assignment Directions:
Choose a Discourse Community in which you participate. Examples might include: gamingenvironments, organized athletics, shared hobbies, religious groups, social or service groups (a student club, for example), professional organizations, or academic environments. In thinking about possible groups to explore, ask yourself what its purpose is, what values it promotes, what rules it has, what behaviors it encourages or discourages, what types of people join, and what ways it communicates.
Collect information (data) about the Community: Online resources are acceptable, especially during the pandemic. Identify items people in the community read or write: such as “official” publications, websites, newsletters, blogs, WhatsApp group chats, etc. Observe members of the discourse community while they are engaged in a shared group activity. (What are they doing? What kinds of things do they say?). Interview members of the discourse community: Ask questions such as: How long have you been involved with this group? Why are you involved? How do you communicate with the group? What are the group’s main goals, purpose, and values?
- Analyze the information: As you gather and review information about the discourse community, what catches your interest most? What stands out to you about that community? What surprises you? Listed below are some additional questions that can help you dig more deeply in your analysis of the group. You can also use this list to structure your essay (answering and presenting the questions in order).§ Why does the group exist? What does the group do? What are its shared goals?
§ How do group members communicate with one another (e.g., meetings, phone calls, e-mail, text messages, newsletters, blogs, online bulletin boards, etc.)?
§ What are the purposes of the group’s communications (share information, reinforcevalues, improve performance, offer support, define and declare identity)?
§ What kinds of specialized language do group members use in their conversations and intheir written genre? - Write an essay that includes the following: An Introduction with a hook, definition of your chosendiscourse community, and a thesis; Body paragraphs that examine answers to the questions above in the analysis section; a Conclusion that reminds your reader of the thesis and includes a clear takeaway (an answer to the “So what?” question: to why it was valuable for your audience to read your piece).
- Evaluation Criteria: An effective analysis will have lots of details, examples, descriptions, and insights. Discuss in detail what you discovered about the discourse community (use examples and quotes from the interviews and materials you collected) and analyze what makes it significant to understanding that group. A reader should finish reading your analysis and have a clear sense of the discourse community you studied. If asked, a reader could find answers in your analysis to the following questions: What makes this a discourse community? What makes it unique? Interesting? What matters to members of the community? What do they do? What do they value? What are the key forms of communication that the community uses? All paragraphs should have topic sentences, be about one point only, have clear and specific examples, and should be well developed. See also the Grading Rubric below.
Length and Formatting: 3-4 Pages (700-800 Words); typed double-spaced; default 1-inch margins; Times New Roman, font size 12. Include your name, class section, and date on the upper left-hand side of the first page. Include page numbers on the lower right-hand side of all pages. Label the file you submit as follows: Comm 1311 Discourse Community Essay—Your Name—Fall 2021.
Due Date: The essay is due Thursday, November 11th (Uploaded via the Submission Link in the Assignments folder).
Grading Rubric Discourse Community Analysis
- Criteria Organization Data Description Analysis Conventions Scale
A
Follows essay format.
• Introduction with an engaging hook, definition of the discourse community, and clear thesis statement.
Conclusion has a clear “takeaway.”
Clear and specific explanation of how information (data) was collected and what information was collected.
Gives specific examples from information (data) collected to support each point.
Demonstrates a solid grasp of grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
Correct format and APA style.
B
Follows essay format.
• Introduction has a hook, definition of the discourse community, and thesis statement but lacks clarity in one or more.
• Conclusion has a mostly clear “takeaway.”
Explanation of how information (data) was collected and what information was collected, but lacks clarity.
Gives some specific examples from information (data) collected.
Demonstrates reasonable control over grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
Minor errors in formatting and APA style.
C
Mostly follows essay format.
• Introduction with a vague hook, definition of the discourse community, and/or thesis statement.
Conclusion has a vague “takeaway.”
Vague explanation of how information (data) was collected and what information was collected.
Gives some vague examples from information (data) collected.
Consistent problems, but errors do not completely distract the reader.
Several errors in formatting and APA style.
D
Does not follow essay format.
• Introduction is missing 1 -2 of the following: hook, definition of the discourse community, thesis statement.
Conclusion has a very vague “takeaway.”
Very vague explanation of how information (data) was collected and what information was collected (or missing either “how” or “what”).
Gives very vague or minimal examples from information (data) collected.
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