Bianey Rios

RWS 1301
Discourse Community Response
Writings is fundamental in our everyday life to communicate between each other. We as
individuals are involved in different discourse communities without even noticing and we
particularly talk a certain way depending who we are talking to. The way we communicate with
each other depends on topics, genre and media, conventions, audience, and the way you join the
discourse community. The different types of discourse communities are based on the personal,
academic, civic, and professional life of each individual. I personally dont have yet a
professional discourse community and Im writing of two personal discourse communities
instead of a professional.
My academic discourse community is being a student at UTEP. In order to join this
discourse community you have to apply, take tests, pay tuition, and be a high school graduate.
The way you communicate with your instructors and professors must be in a respectful and
polite matter. The purpose of writing as a student is to communicate with professors and other
students. Doing class work like essays, memos, journals, and to taking notes in order to
understand better your classes are examples of the genre we use in this community. This worked
is turned in to your instructor or professor via email or blackboard and this is the type of media
we mostly use. Some examples of the specialized vocabulary used in this community is
blackboard, GPA, homework, and eBook as members of this discourse community we
understand the meaning of this words and when and how to use these words.

With my friends I can talk however I want and I dont really care, we dont mind if we
use improper language. To become a member of my friends you have to be trustworthy, friendly,
caring, and never betray any of the members of this discourse community that is as well the
conventions to be in our little group. We communicate to each other via text, WhatsApp, email,
and Facebook messages. The topics we talk about is about gossips, secrets, what is going on in
our life and to make plans. The way we talk to each other is very particular we can go from
calling each other love to yelling at each other stupid or other type of bad words. We can
talk like that to each other because we are around the same age, and we know and trust each
other enough to know to say anything we feel without hurting our feelings.
The youth group I am involved in is my choice as a civic discourse community. The
conventions in this discourse community are to be respectful to each other and participate in the
activities. To become a member of the youth group you have to be Catholic from ages 15 to 20.
We all get together to do activities, community service and learn more from God and church.
While we are in the meeting the genre we use are the Bible, prayers, sermons and songs. In order
to communicate to each other and keep up with the activities we have a Facebook group where
we have schedules for the meetings and community service. There are some words like God,
Bible, church, amen, Father and other religious words that we use in this discourse community
that we would not use with other people because there is a place and situation for each of the
words we use. If I would go to the mall and say amen while Im are talking to someone I just
met they would probably think Im weird for using that word all randomly.
The other personal discourse community Im involved in is my family. As a family
member we all talk improperly to each other, we are so comfortable being dumb with each other.
But when it comes to talking to elders we know that we have to be respectful. This is based on

the values that we have as a family. In order to become a member of this family you have to be
born into the family or adopted, or married to one of the family members. When we
communicate the genre we use is mostly texts, Facebook messages, or phone calls. My mom
always wants to be informed of where I am because Im the baby of my family so I always text
to tell her where I am and that Im doing fine. With my whole family we are always talking to
each other to keep up in news and to let each other know when we are meeting. Among my
family members we refer to each other with nicknames; my nickname has always been flaca
but my family are the only ones that call me this way.
In each of my discourse communities I have a particular way to communicate based on
the audience. These groups are important to me not only because of the members but also the
way I talk to each of them. Writing is essential in our everyday life everywhere we go, this is
what I noticed talking about the different discourse communities Im involved in and they all use
writing as a way to communicate. Even when they all are so different the common thing I found
in all of them is that I need to communicate to all of them a certain way.