Matthew Albano

Mrs. Wolcott
ENC1101_CMB-14
November 20, 2014
Discourse Community
Before brainstorming ideas for this paper I first read the introduction to better understand the
authors strategies, background and purpose for creating this book. What I loved about the
introduction was that it mentioned how writing is more than just about the grammar but about the
content within the paper, just like how music is not just about playing the right notes but putting
emotion behind the music to help the audience connect with its message or story. Theres a TED
talk featuring Victor Wooten, an internationally famous guitar Bass player, on his presentation of
Music as a Language; he brings up several ideas but the one that really stuck out to me was that
most music teachers make the mistake of teaching the instrument before they teach the student
music. This is directly relates to how children across the world are being introduced to English,
we are learning the rules of grammar and organization instead of learning how to write. Theres
another great example in the introduction of the Writing about Writing book focusing on how
the SAT is graded; in the 30 minutes we are asked to write about a prompt the grader never
really cares about the content or the message behind the essay, the grader is mainly focused on
the organization, grammar and spelling (Wardle and Downs).
The introduction begins to define that in order to become a better writer the rules we had
drilled into our head in grade school arent necessarily the best way to go about writing because
it can restrict how we write and how we convey our message. However I do believe when
younger students are being introduced to reading and writing it is necessary to have rules to
guide them to become better writers but I believe the type of writing that we are being introduced

in this class should be taught around the middle school level. The purpose of the introduction is
to point out several ideas that we, the reader, should consider before glancing through the
articles.
In a discourse community one characteristic that John Swales, a professor Emeritus of
Linguistics at Michigan State University, tells us is that the group of people must have a
common goal. In the book Writing about Writing by Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs they
have hand selected each article that helps the reader, student, understand how to become a better
writer. In this class we began with steps to becoming better writers with articles such as Shitty
First Drafts by Anne Lamott to articles about strategies and research to back up their strategies
like Sandra Perls The Composing Processes of Unskilled College Writers. These articles
complement each other very well to eventually introduce us to the idea of discourse
communities. In articles such as James Porters "Intertextuality and the Discourse Community",
Tony Mirabellis Learning to Serve: The Language of Food Service Workers, John Swales
The Concept of Discourse Community and James Paul Gees Literacy, Discourse, and
Linguistics we learn in depth the characteristics, the purpose and the types of discourse
communities and their effects on our writing. In the Swales article we need to understand that the
6 characteristics are only guidelines to help us understand that groups like classrooms dont have
to start out as discourse communities but can end up as one once the group has established a
common goal, which is a goal itself to become one by the end. In Paul Gees article we go
beyond defining what a discourse community is and start to understand the types of discourses
and their purpose. The two main discourses we learn are Primary discourses, what we learn from
our families, and Secondary discourses, what we learn from social institutions. To understand
what a Secondary discourse is we can relate to the Writing about Writing book, it not only

teaches the readers how to become better and more efficient writers but it also teaches us how to
become a writing teacher by presenting us with information, methods and research on how to
become a better writer.
Even though my path is not the same as a writing teacher the book Writing about Writing
does relate to my major and my career on a plethora of levels. Musicians use language to teach
others, write articles or reviews of other musicians performances or other music related subjects,
in order to market ourselves we have to have good social skills and understand background
knowledge of other people and other subjects besides music. These are all subjects that have
been brought up in articles within the book help us understand how to become better writers
within our discourse communities.
Something that I really appreciated about not only the book but the class was the similarities
that writers and musicians deal with on a daily basis. Just like writers, music composers are
always creating their Shitty First Drafts and then make revisions based on those drafts.
Composers also try to follow guidelines and rules to organize their pieces but just like writing the
rules can restrict the quality of the composition so we realize that breaking the rules can help
create a beautiful moment in music. Another connection I made was the idea of Intertextuality
of writing, the concept that all modern writing is inspired, contrived or even plagiarized from
other earlier works of writing. Musicians rip off of older composers ALL of the time, for
example John Williams, internationally known movie score writer, has musically quoted from
famous composers such as Bach, Mozart, and Brahms. There are even YouTube videos that do a
side by side comparison of Williams music with the earlier originals.
This book also has helped me understand the importance of what we teach our students. The
whole purpose of this project is to see if the book actually helped us understand the material

which it was because the book was informing us that we must understand how to truly write
instead of checking off a list of rules. In my career as a music educator, specifically band
director, the Florida public schools are being challenged with the recent addition of End of
Course Exams where these exams account for 30% of the students final grade. I bring this up
because it becomes an issue of Am I teaching the students a test OR am I teaching them music.
The purpose of the exam is to make sure that students involved in the music classes understand
basic theory and can perform standard repertoire but I feel that it is more of a turn off towards
music classes and for me as a future educator who wants to inspire students to perform music
with my curriculum instead of telling them how to memorize a test with a restricted curriculum.

Works Cited
Gee, James. Literacy, Discourse, and Linguistics: Introduction. Writing About Writing:
A College Reader. Ed. John E. Sullivan III. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2014. 481-495.
Print.
Lamott, Anne. "Shitty First Drafts." 1994. Writing About Writing. By Elizabeth Wardle and
Doug Downs. 2nd ed. Boston: Leasa Burton, 2014. 527-31. Print.
Mirabelli, Tony. Learning to Serve: The Language and Literacy of Food Service
Workers. Writing About Writing. Ed. Elizabeth Wardle. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martins,
2014.
Perl, Sondra. "The Composing Processes of Unskilled College Writers." Writing About Writing:
A College Reader. Eds. Wardle and Downs. 2nd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2011.
317-336. Print.
Porter, James. "Intertextuality and the Discourse Community." Writing About Writing: A
College Reader. Eds. Wardle and Downs. 2nd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2011.
395-409. Print.
Swales, John. "The Concept of Discourse Community." Writing About Writing: A
College Reader. Eds. Wardle and Downs. 2nd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2011.
215-229. Print.
Wardle, Elizabeth, and Doug Downs. "Introduction to the Conversation." Introduction.
Writing About Writing. 2nd ed. New York: Benford/ St. Martin's, 2014. 1-11. Print.