Prof. Jessica Penner | OL33 | Fall 2021

Agenda: Week 2

Monday, August 30

Before class, do the following READING & WATCHING:

During class, we’ll discuss these assignments, but review the following questions beforehand, so you’re ready to participate! You can answer them before class, if you want! WRITING: Thinking About Community

  • Respond to the Discussion Question “Amy Tan’s ‘Mother Tongue’”: Amy Tan writes, “Recently, I was made keenly aware of the different Englishes I do use.” What are these different Englishes; when, where and how does she use them? What does this piece illustrate about Tan’s responsibility to and feelings about her different communities and the way she moves between these groups?
  • Respond to the Discussion Question “Audience in Tan’s ‘Mother Tongue’”: Who do you think would benefit or be interested in reading this piece? Why?
  • Respond to the Discussion Question “Language and Community”: Think about language and the different ways you communicate or speak. Choose a word or phrase that you use with one group of people (family, friends, co-workers, etc.) that would not be understood by a different group of people in your life. What is the meaning of this word or phrase and how would you explain it to someone who is an outsider to the group who uses it?
  • Complete the three Discussions by class time on Wednesday, September 1.

Wednesday, September 1

Before class, do the following READING:

  • John Swales, “Reflections on the Concept of Discourse Community
  • While you’re reading Swales’ work, find two quotes you find compelling. Write down each quotation and then explain what you found interesting (or even confusing). You MUST do this before we meet on Wednesday in order to actively participate in class!

Before class, review the following RESOURCES:

During class, we’ll discuss how to post/submit the assignment below. But you need to do the above reading and notetaking so you’re ready to write! WRITING: Introduction to Discourse Communities 

  • Write a Post/Submit an Assignment in which you do the following (approximately 200-250 words):
    • Create a “double-entry journal” exploring two observations that Swales makes about discourse communities. To do this, use the two quotes from Swales’ work you found compelling earlier. Write down each quotation and then explain what you found interesting (or even confusing).

Follow the template below for this assignment:

Quote 1:

Explain why you feel connected to this quote:

Quote 2:

Explain why you feel connected to this quote:

  • This post must be complete and published under Introductory Work (which is under Student Work) by the end of the day (11:59 PM) on Thursday, September 2. Title it Full Name, Swales’ Quotes.
    • We’ll talk about how to post on OpenLab in class, but here’s a tutorial if you want to figure it out beforehand. (You have to join this class in order to create a post, so if you haven’t done that yet–do it before class on Wednesday!)

10 Comments

  1. Afroza

    Quote 1: “The people who work in such places have both their own ways of going about their tasks, and their own conventionalized ways of talking about those tasks and with their customers(John M. Swales)”. This is connected to ‘Folocal discourse community’ because in this community people work their own ways and do their tasks. Also, they are confronted their challenges and pressure by internal and external ways.

    Quote 2: “there has emerged over the years a national association that is designed to bind the members together and advance the profession in terms of protecting its rights and using its specialized expertise to lobby against what it views as ill-considered policies and in favor of those that it believes to be more soundly based (John M. Swales).” This is really difference from other community because they are typically work internationally. This group of memebers can be different ages, and occupation.

  2. Hadassel Gomez

    Quote 1: “The basic idea of a rhetorical discourse community arose in contrast to the longer-standing sociolinguistic concept of speech community.” I founded this quote very interesting because it teaches us how the concept of a discourse community arises. Also, since it was created in contrast to the concept of a speech community it helps us understand the difference between them.

    Quote 2: “The third and final main type of discourse community has characteristics of both local and focal DCs, which is why I have coined the fused term “folocal” as a neologistic amalgam of the “local” and “focal”. This quote is interesting for me because “folocal” communities are my favorite ones between the three of them. It could include people from across the world that are interested in the same topic, have the same hobby or just share the same interest.

  3. abdullah

    my first quote is “Many people are occasional members of more than one discourse community. “the reason why I choose this quote is because I relate to him I am in many groups and there different from each other for example I’m in a stock trading group, basketball group and a gaming group.this is the reason why I choose this quote

    my second quote is ” The latter was premised on a homogeneous assemblage of people who share place, background, language variety and who largely share social, religious, and cultural values”.this quote caught my eye because a lot of people don’t know what group they belong to and this tells them that who ever they feel comfortable with that will be there group.there are a lot of groups and these are the examples for if your having trouble finding a group

  4. Jacky Li

    “Such communities tend to be small and isolated, such as those existing in mountain villages, or on small islands, or in desert oases. In some contrast, the former is a largely heterogeneous, socio-rhetorical assemblage of people who broadly share occupational or recreational experiences, goals, and interests.” Discourse communities can exist within small isolated communities as well as in large metropolitan areas.

    “In consequence, when a university becomes established in a town, the presence of this constellation of discourse communities influences the wider urban environment; as a result, the urban environment provides services that are helpful to the university, such as cheap student housing, cheap restaurants, museums, and more bookshops, which in turn further consolidates our sense of a university town like Cambridge, Heidelberg, or Uppsala.” The benefits of being in discourse communites is that they can influence the surrounding areas that they are a part of.

  5. Jenny

    My first quote from “double-entry journal” is The latter was premised on a homogeneous assemblage of people who share place, background, language variety and who largely share social, religious, and cultural values. ” The reason I chose this quote was that there are some words that I found confusing such as premised, and assemblage. When I looked them up it made more sense not only that I like to learn new words and can use them in the future. However, this quote has meaning to it like how a society can gather around just on their culture, religion and etc.
    The second quote I have chosen is ” In addition, discourse communities both influence and are influenced by the larger communities within which they are situated.” The reason I have picked this quote is that discourse communities are making a change such as grouping people together. Also that I don’t see any wrong with that just to unite people on there believes or etc.

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