Lin 1

Po-Chen Lin

Instructor Marie Webb

Linguistics 12 – 11am

11 March 2019

Taiwanese Student Association (TSA) - An exploration on how TSA’s existence in UCSB

fits the concept of a “Discourse Community”

Whether we know it or not, humans naturally gather in a group where people share

many things in common. This could be seen in different situations such as academics, work

spaces, and even during people’s leisure time. This sense of exclusiveness has been studied

by linguists and the term coined is called a “Discourse Community.” This idea is explained

and explored in detail by linguist John Swales. According to Swales, a discourse community

is a “group of people who shares goals or purposes and uses communication to achieve them”

(Swales 471).

Swales argues that a group of people can only be defined as a Discourse Community

if they have six characteristics. Each characteristic will be demonstrated through my personal

experience with the Taiwanese Student Association in UCSB, also known as the TSA. The

first characteristic of a Discourse Community is that it “has a broadly agreed set of common

public goals” (Swales 471). In TSA, which consists of a group of international students, the

main goal is to find a sense of belonging while raising awareness of Taiwanese culture in the
 Lin 2

University. The need for feeling at home is essential for Taiwanese students who are studying

abroad. According to Ching-Yi Wu who did an extensive research on Taiwanese students

studying abroad, Taiwanese students who “study English as a second language lack good oral

proficiency and social interaction with foreigners” (Wu 3). Many Taiwanese students in a

foreign country experience a great deal of cultural shock because of how much interaction or

“voice” is involved in American style education compared to Taiwanese education where

students are expected to be “quiet and listen to the teachers talk to learn independently” (Wu

3). Thus, the TSA becomes a mediator in a sense that it helps Taiwanese students to relax and

feel like home after the everyday struggle of trying to fit in and become comfortable with

American culture. I am an active member which benefited from the at-home atmosphere that

TSA provided.

Every winter quarter, TSA faculties will rent a room at Student Resource Building

and host a potluck to celebrate Chinese New Year. Originally, this is a culture which all

family members will gather up during Chinese New Year Eve and enjoy dinner together,

similar to the Western Thanksgiving. TSA president Joyce Lu states that the goal of this

event is to let all the Taiwanese students whether they are undergraduates, graduates, or even

professors to find a home away from home. In the interview, Joyce expressed her enthusiasm

because she thinks that the TSA is great for helping students get through hard times in a

university setting. TSA is a good example of Swale’s own concern about the validity of his
 Lin 3

idea on discourse community that he proposed 25 years ago in “The Concept of Discourse

Community.” In fact, the TSA is “influenced by the larger communities within which it is

situated” (Swales 4). In other words, the TSA was established when enough Taiwanese

students started to show up in UCSB and they shared the same hardships of trying to adapt to

the American education environment. Here, the UCSB environment including the campus,

the school culture and spirit, is the larger discourse community in which the students are

involved in.

As for the second characteristic, Swales mentions that “a Discourse Community has

mechanisms of intercommunication among its members. In the TSA, members always have

to communicate efficiently because everything done for the TSA is the students

extracurricular time. TSA mostly communicates on a closed Facebook Group. It is a great

platform that allows people to speak and post about their ideas on different activities.

Discussion starts easily where people can comment their input immediately. Usually, after the

ideas have been shown on the table, members will start to for a date for a real discussion. The

date that has the most votes will then become the scheduled discussion date where people can

solidify their plans. What makes the group special is that during the discussion process, there

is no language limit. People can type in Mandarin or Chinese as long as it relates to the

content. Since most international students in the TSA, typing in two languages is not a

challenge. In my opinion, the usage of one’s mother tongue is an important activity that all
 Lin 4

international students should do. Since international students are already having a hard time

adjusting to American culture, they need a constant reminder that their hometown is their

own identity especially during a transition period from being in one culture to another. In

“Being part of something gave me purpose”: How Community Membership Impacts

First-Year Students’ Sense of Self by Genesea M. Carter, having a place to let students know

that they are in an exclusive position helps them “reflect on and evaluate the constellation of

communities that intersect their lives” (Carter 284).

In order to make TSA better hosting activities, information exchange between members

is very crucial. This is the third characteristic of a Discourse Community where it “uses

participatory mechanisms primarily to provide information and feedback. As mentioned

above, the main communication tool used by the TSA is the Facebook Group. What makes

TSA even stronger is that members believe in the Chinese proverb, “Unity is Strength” If

individuals work on projects themselves, there will be limited outcome and information to

use. It is encouraged for all members to speak up about their ideas so that all the activities

hosted by the TSA are improved with new surprises all the time. Being in a group means that

each member can use each other’s background and experience to inspire TSA. The TSA

Facebook page includes all the members that have joined before, even those who have

already graduated. Many exchange students whom might only stay for a semester are also

actively giving advice on the group even after they have already left UCSB.
 Lin 5

Other than the above mentioned Facebook group which involves writing and

communication, other types of communicating also happens in TSA. In Swales’ fourth

characteristic of a discourse community, he states that it “utilizes and hence possesses one or

more genres in the communicative furtherance of its aims” (Swales 472). The different types

of writing used in the TSA fit Swales’ description of the genres. President Joyce states that

members need to write formal letters necessary for any kind of event. For example, the event

manager needs to write formal email letters to the faculty responsible for TSA when a venue

needs to be rented for an event. The manager also needs to ask members to contact food

vendors which will involve different kinds of formal levels depending on the vendor. Some

vendors do not require “formal” letters, a phone call would be enough, such as the bubble tea

shop. In addition, detailed reports of events are also required after the event is complete. The

form asks members to include information such as how much money was raised, what went

well and what needs to be improved, and if the event should be continued next year, etc.

Although the TSA is a fun Discourse Community, there are still some responsibilities that the

members need to be aware of, and these reports allows the president and members to make

sure everything is done carefully planned out with a purpose.

Other than speaking the same language, the TSA has specific vocabulary, or lexis, that is

used among its members. By using these lexis, it brings TSA members closer because it is

something that only “we” know the word or only “we” have a special definition for a certain
 Lin 6

word or phrase. This demonstrates Swales’ fifth characteristic where a discourse community

has members that have “acquired some specific lexis” (Swales 473). In TSA, we use the

Taiwanese dialect when we speak if we do not want someone to understand what we are

saying to allow a sense of privacy. We would even make up words that sound like phrases in

Taiwanese but aren't real words. Since we are only the group of people in UCSB who knows

how to speak Taiwanese, it shortens the distance between members even though we might

not know each other very well in the beginning, once the common lexis appears, everyone

instantly became close. For members that are not Taiwanese, the TSA hosts fun “Learn

Taiwanese” bonding lessons so that these members can learn a fun dialect while connecting

with others. TSA leaders believe that one can become a “Taiwanese” if he or she learns the

language and culture, just like how many linguists believe that there is a close relationship

between cultures and languages (Lin 1). This is also the reason why many TSA members are

students who are currently enrolled in Mandarin Chinese class.

Last but not least, Swales’ sixth characteristic states that “a discourse community has a

threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant content and discoursal expertise”

(Swales 473). In TSA, the sixth characteristic works well on its own because there will

always be members quitting and new members joining. “There will always be members

graduating or moving on to something else that is more important for their time. And

freshmen students will also come to find a place for themselves. It’s their first year at college
 Lin 7

and it is a good place for making new friends in a ‘familiar’ environment. Even though the

TSA does not require its members to be Taiwanese to join, all members need to have a strong

interest or passion for the Taiwanese culture. A person is only considered a member if they

have attended a certain amount of events in the past as volunteers. In other words, the TSA

cycle of members happen naturally and people develop their own unique experience in this

exclusive but welcoming group.

After the analysis, it is safe to say that the TSA matches John Swales’ definition of a

Discourse Community as the six characteristics are all fulfilled in the daily operations. The

TSA has a common goal: promoting Taiwanese culture and helping international students

find a place that is like home. Members communicate on a private Facebook page and

interact with each other using a specific lexis. When necessary, different levels of formal

writing is implemented to make sure that events go about smoothly. UCSB TSA has been

around for many years in the university and is has always brought joy to members and

participants. I believe that it will continue to have members who share the same beliefs and

goals.
 Lin 8

Works Cited

Swales, John. “The Concept of Discourse Community.” Writing about Writing: A

College Reader, edited by Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs, Bedford/St. Martin’s,

2011, pp.466-479. Originally published in Genre Analysis: English in Academic and

ResearchSettings, Cambridge University Press, 1990, pp. 21-32.

Swales, John . “Reflections on the Concept of Discourse Community.” S.A.P.I.EN.S.

Surveys and Perspectives Integrating Environment and Society, Institut Veolia

Environnement, 1 Mar. 2016, journals.openedition.org/asp/4774?lang=en.

Wu, Joyce Ching-Yi. Qualitative study of Taiwanese Students Studying Abroad:

Social Interactions, Navigating U.S. Culture, and experiences learning English

language. 2014 Wayne State U, phD dissertation

Carter, Genesea M. “‘BEING PART OF SOMETHING GAVE ME PURPOSE’: How

Community Membership Impacts First-Year Students’ Sense of Self.” Class in the

Composition Classroom: Pedagogy and the Working Class, edited by GENESEA M.

CARTER and WILLIAM H. THELIN, University Press of Colorado, Boulder,

Colorado, 2017, pp. 282–297. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1whm918.18.

Lin, C. (2004). Taiwanese students in a united states university: Expectations, beliefs,

values, and attitudes about learning and teaching (Order No. 3157554). Available

from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses A&I. (305145184). Retrieved from

 Lin 9

https://search-proquest-com.proxy.library.ucsb.edu:9443/docview/305145184?accoun

tid=14522