Julio De La Cruz

Miss Salas
Rhetoric & Composition 1301
16 October 2015
Discourse Community Final Draft
Discourse communities can range from all types of different groups as long as the people
in it share the same goals, and have discussions that can help them reach these goals. My
discourse communities consisted of groups that needed to find an efficient way of
communicating in order to complete their objectives. These discourse communities that I chose
were more work oriented than anything else, they were communities that the people in it chose to
be in for their current benefit such as a job at a restaurant or a group in a course they are taking.
The purpose of observing these communities is to shed light to the importance of communication
within communities, especially discourse communities. It will be noticed that both of these
communities acquire some sort of communication that works out for them otherwise they would
not be successful.
John Swales is a linguistics professor at the University of Michigan. Along with that, he
received a PH.D from Cambridge University also, making his credibility nearly unquestionable.
Ill be referring to an article that Swales wrote discussing the concepts of discourse communities.
In that article, he listed six characteristics that a discourse community should have in order for it
to be deemed a true discourse community. I felt like all of the characteristics that swales had
listed really fit to the ones I chose. These characteristics were having common goals, different
ways of communicating, members providing feedback, incorporating several genres of
communicating, obtaining a lexis, and each member having to attain some kind of skill in the
community. Another article Ill be referencing is Learning to Serve: The Language and Literacy

Julio De La Cruz
Miss Salas
Rhetoric & Composition 1301
16 October 2015
of Food Service Workers by Tony Mirabelli, who has also earned a Ph.D. in Education in
Language, Literacy, and Culture from the University at California. This article resonates with
one of the communities I chose since it is focusing on a food service environment. I chose Olive
Garden, an Italian restaurant and its a very similar scenario since Mirabelli observed an Italian
restaurant as well. Just like my case, Mirabelli observed the working environment and even
interviewed an employee there all while pointing out the facultys communication methods as a
discourse community. Overall, this article was attempting to shed light on the many challenges
food service workers face while.
While observing the workplace of the hostess I interviewed at Olive Garden, I noticed
many code words and conventions that I could not possibly understand unless I wouldve been a
part of the discourse community. Words like Phased which would be the reference to a clean
table and Turning which referred to a section of tables that was closed off, were all codes that I
wouldnt understand unless I was taught to in the workplace. The other form of language the
employees at Olive Garden was the menu. Each employee, no matter what position they worked
in had to have general knowledge of the entire menu since customers do ask all employees about
it. The menu was about three to five pages long and not all of it was English since it was an
Italian restaurant, therefore, they had to memorize the names of Italian dishes along with
everything that comes with it. Employees are also encouraged to provide reviews on dishes and
subtly make sales pitches to the customers in order to give them a sense of security in what
they are ordering.

Julio De La Cruz
Miss Salas
Rhetoric & Composition 1301
16 October 2015
Mirabellis point was that food service workers had to adapt to new knowledge at their
job. When I asked the hostess why she was working there, it was a response that most young
adults in the food service industry would also say; they needed a temporary source of income to
get by. That was also another point of Mirabellis, most youth needed these jobs to get through
their current situation to better their future lifestyle. That is also one way this discourse
community of the Olive Garden restaurant is similar to the second community I observed. The
second discourse community I observed is the Jazz to Rock Class Group. We dont get paid to be
in it, we actually pay to be in it but, we need to get through this course in order for our future
classes to fall in line.
In this Jazz to Rock Class group, we as classmates were assigned to each other randomly
by our instructor at the beginning of the semester. This class is a really big class and as a result
we have about 10 people in each group. Our main goal is to make a large power point
presentation on all the styles of Jazz as a genre. The list of Jazz styles can go on and on, but those
terms for the styles can be considered as our lexis. As a group we were assigned on to each other
on blackboard, but there were many students within the other groups that would not use
blackboard as much, leading to some of the students in our class to tell our instructor about those
issues. After that, the instructor had the whole class physically meet up with their groups to
finally discuss the assignment and communication methods in person, which was a much more
effective way of communicating. There we discussed who will cover what styles, and I agreed to
do the New Orleans Style jazz along with one extra group mate to help me out since there is a
lot to cover for that style. After all was said and done, we carried on with our regular in-class

Julio De La Cruz
Miss Salas
Rhetoric & Composition 1301
16 October 2015
routine which is just note taking. From that point on we continued to contact each other through
our emails.
While doing this project, I learned that communication is important and mandatory when
collaborating on something to reach your common goals with your peers. Not only your peers,
but whoever you have to respond to, whether its a boss or a customer that you may have to
serve. I can see myself applying all these concepts and ideas to any future job that I may acquire
or just a discourse community in general as I never really saw the true importance and
complexity of communication.