Discourse community: Swales’ (1990) requirements and other contributions

Discourse communities, according to Swales (1990), should meet some requirements such as common goals, interactive mechanisms, information exchange, community-specific genres and specialized terminology and a high general level of expertise to be considered as an academic discourse community or not. Evidence to support Swales’ (1990) theory can be found in the articles by Hoffman-Kipp, Kelly-Kleese and Wenzlaff.

First, Swales emphasizes the necessity of participatory mechanisms to provide specific information and feedback. Reflection leads teachers to generate knowledge which must coexist with meaningful praxis in order to change the world and to create the necessary conditions for the participation of both, teacher and students in the learning process.Hoffman-Kipp, Artiles, & Lopez Torres (2003) state that “teacher reflection is considered an important mean for developing subject matter, pedagogical, and pedagogical-content knowledge about how to teach (…)”. Moreover, “…reflection that develops a political consciousness might involve teachers integrating curriculum around concepts and issues that would be of current interest to both student and teacher”. (p. 1)

Next, Bizzel (1992, as cited in Wenzlaff & Wieseman, 2004) argues that a discourse community share conventionalized language-using practices, knowledge, common purposes, relationships, similar attitudes and values and a flow of discourse that has a particular structure and style. This accounts for Swales’(1990) condition that the group should achieve common objectives and make use of specialized terminology to participate in integrative mechanisms in order to acquire an advanced level of knowledge. (as cited in Pintos & Crimi, 2010)

Finally, groups would not survive unless its members are intercommunicated (Swales, 1990). Collaborative culture allows teachers to learn from one another. Teachers’ input influence what and how we think as a result of social interaction of groups of people. Wenzlaff (2004) holds that “interactions with the people in one’s environment are major determinants of both what is learned and how learning takes place” (p.3). Furthermore, “for learning to occur, teachers need opportunities to participate in professional communities that discuss learning theories and various teacher materials and pedagogy” (p. 3).

To conclude, teachers should seek opportunities to take part in professional communities in order to transform their daily practice. Discourse communities share common practices and objectives which contribute to the development of a person’s academic literacy, and encourage people to take part in the learning process in order to think critically. Furthermore, it is not only the knowledge about particular language conventions that makes people belong to a discourse community, but also their committed participation in the organization of different activities according to the audiences’ expectations.

References

Hoffman-Kipp, P., Artiles, A. J., & Lopez Torres, L. (2003). Beyond reflection: teacher learning as praxis. Theory into Practice. Retrieved August 2010, from

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_mONQM/is 3_42/ai_108442653

Kelly-Kleese, C. (2001). Editor’s choice: An open memo to Community College Faculty and Administrators. Community College Review. Retrieved August 2010, from

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_mOHCZ/is_1_32/ai_n6361541

Pintos, V., & Crimi, Y. (2010). Unit 1: Building up a community of teachers and prospective researchers. Universidad CAECE, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Retrieved August 2010, from

http//caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/resource/view.php?id=6435

Wenslaff, T. L., & Wieseman, K. C. (2004). Teachers need teachers to grow. Teacher Education Quarterly. Retrieved August 2010, from

http//findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3960/is_200404/ai_n9349405