Jones, Devin

February 7, 2014
ENGL 1311
Discourse Community Map Response

Discourse Communities
A discourse community is a social group that communicates, in part, using written texts
but also shares common goals, values, writing standards, specialized vocabulary, and specialized
genres. Types of discourse communities include academic, professional, private, and public.
Discourse communities can differ or be similar in their requirements to join, conventions, genres,
and topics. People may belong to a variety of discourse communities here I am going to discuss
the discourse communities of Facebook, family, army, and college.
A college is a distinct discourse community. In order to join a college discourse
community a person must have a high school diploma, take college placement exams, apply to
the college, and pay for tuition. The common conventions used in college discourse include
proper grammar and punctuation on assignments and written correspondence. Other conventions
include writing in American Psychological Association (APA) format and or Modern Language
Association (MLA) format. These two formats dictate the type of font, spacing, margins, and
headings that can be used. They also dictate how to cite resources. Common genres used in
college discourse include academic, formal, and casual. For assignments the genre is academic,
for discourse with professors the genre is formal, and for discourse amongst friends and coeds
the genre is typically casual. College discourse topics include assignment related topics that are
generally determined by the professor. Other topics include assignment related discussions and a
variety of topics discussed amongst coeds that could include personal topics as well. College
discourse is primarily formal and academic related because it is preparing students to be a
member of a professional discourse community.
The army is a professional discourse community. To join the army a person has to pass a
physical examination, obtain a qualifying score on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude
Battery (ASVAB), pass a background check, and sign a service commitment contract with the
army. One convention used in army discourse is the phonetic alphabet. The phonetic alphabet is
a list of words that are used to easily identify the letter of the alphabet a person is attempting to
communicate. For example, if a person was trying to spell my name, Devin, out loud for a
soldier they would say; Delta, Echo, Victor, India, November. Notice the first letters of those
words spell Devin and the sound of those words makes the first letter distinct and easily
identifiable. Another convention used in army discourse is army writing. The army uses
different writing rules than standard American English. For example the army requires that the
words army, soldier, and family are always capitalized. Genres of army discourse include
military documents, memorandums, operation orders, oral and electronic presentations, and
emails. Army documents, memorandums, and operations orders all have their own formats that
soldiers must know and use as well as applying the rules of army writing within those
documents. Topics of army discourse are mission and administration related. Example topics are;
an order presenting a soldier with an award and a document from a soldier requesting leave.
Everything that the army does and that soldiers do in the army from deployment to marriage
requires documentation so there is a wide spectrum of topics covered in army discourse. Army
discourse is professional and work related although it could be in regards to a soldiers family.
Family is discourse community that almost everyone belongs to although they do not all
belong to the same family discourse community. People generally join a family discourse
community either by default because they are born into it or by choice because they marry into it.
Conventions of family discourse are informal but must be appropriate if children are present.
Conventions also may include different languages. Genres of family discourse include casual
conversations, emails, notes, and lists. Topics of family discourse primarily include things
related to daily life however they include anything considering that people tend to discuss
everything and anything with their family. Family discourse is very informal.
Facebook is also a very informal discourse community that a lot of people belong to. To
join Facebook a person must have an email account and they must create an account on the
Facebook website. Conventions of Facebook communication tend to be very informal and not
always appropriate although they dont have to be. The conventions are limited by Facebook
itself in that people are asked not to post explicit or pornographic material. The genre of
Facebook discourse is short comments, videos, pictures, and links to outside websites. Topics
include anything that the user feels like posting but are generally related to current events and
everyday life. Facebook is a very informal and popular discourse community that many people
belong to.
Facebook, family, army, and college are just some of the many discourse communities
that people may belong to. Some discourse communities are very different and some are very
similar. Most discourse communities have different requirements for joining, but many are
similar in their conventions, genres, and topics. Most people belong to many different social
groups and therefore belong to many different discourse communities.