Victor Krizan

Mrs. Grant
UWRT
November 14, 2014
30 Life
Discourse communities consist of a group of people with the same-shared goals
and aspirations in life. Discourse communities can help us feel part of something bigger
and are necessary in interactions between other humans. One of the many discourse
communities I belong to goes by the name of Three O Phi. This community in particular
consists of three elite students and involves how they study and have fun in general.
Three O Phi is small in member size, only containing three members, and was established
in Lynch Hall. People tend to think that nothing can get done in a group setting in which
the members play around a lot, however I contest this for various reasons, which I will
state later on in the paper.
Our group is far different from any other study group you will ever encounter.
The reason I say this, is not only are we a study group consisting of three people, but also
a study group in which all the members are brothers. We are best friends and share
similar career aspirations. This inevitably allows us to have fun in an academic setting.
The goal of this group is to work together so we all may become successful in our
classes, which will lead to success in the career force when we get to that stage in our
lives. We also strive to become better men and have more of an influential impact on our
peers. These goals are achieved through hard work in the study rooms in Lynch and in
the room three hundred five. This is how we came up with the name, due to the fact that
we spend most of our time studying and preparing for test in that room.

We are able to communicate through many different mediums, however we

generally tend to only use text messages and Instagram as our means of communication.,
Moodle is also very useful and necessary in our community, because that is generally
where most of our homework is posted and how we turn in many of our assignments and
projects. It is very easy to come into contact with one of my brothers, because we are not
only study partners but also best friends. I am able to freely express myself when I am
with them, so there are no limitations as to what I will say or do. This allows myself to
ask any kind of question, even if they are dumb, therefore I end up understanding the
information better.
On my first day observing Three O Phi I noticed their good study habits and how
they know when and where to push each other outside of their comfort zones. We are
brothers, so I feel as if I know when my other brother wants something, and I can tell
when he is struggling(Cobbins). The sense of knowing what the others want comes with
experience, and from being around one another constantly. We all share the
responsibilities of being the leader and the follower, its pretty much a democracy in that
every member speaks freely(Padilla). Therefore there really is not any oldies or
newbies because there are only three of us and we are all the same in experience, as far
as college goes.
The goal of our brotherhood is to become successful, not only in classes but also
in our community(Cobbins). The Three O Phi group is very diverse in means that all of
the brothers are a different ethnicity, race is certainly not an issue, and even though we
all come from different backgrounds we still share similar hobbies(Cobbins). Therefore,
race does not play an eminent role in the Three O Phi brotherhood.

Every member of the Three O Phi went to a different high school and therefore
has different interests. There are multi literacies inside the brotherhood, because of
different upbringings. This brings different sources of information into the group because
outside of this group we are in different discourse communities where we learn different
things. Therefor, we are able to pick up on the successful strategies that are used outside
of Three O Phi, so we can use that information to our advantage. I played high school
football and Antonio played soccer. Of course Im never going to a soccer game, but Ill
still encourage him to do what he loves and wants to do. Sometimes I have no idea what
he is talking about because he has all of these different words related to soccer and cars.
(Cobbins). This diversity is good, because it allows for not only bettering the group, but
also one another, because it allows us to explore all that is out there.
Lexis is a word that is used for a specific thing within a discourse community.
Some examples of lexis in our brotherhood include: baddd, chya, prick, nark, there you
go, phi, yope, aiiite, come here, 99, bananas, its a doctor thing, and box. Most of our
lexis have come from inside jokes or have been brought from different discourse
communities. These abbreviated words allow for quicker and more discrete
intercommunication. For example, when one of the group members says, there you go
followed by a name, it means they have spotted a girl that they believe you will find
attractive. Therefore instead of whispering or talking quietly so people around you dont
hear, we are able to talk in our normal voices so that we can hear each other.
After observing Three O Phi for the weekend, I have noticed that even though
they do play around a lot, they still get things done. This in my opinion creates an
environment in which studying is fun and more than just memorizing words on a paper.

This is how we are able to make such good grades. Because not only are we having fun
around one another, but we are also learning the material in a friendly environment.
In conclusion, the Three O Phi community represents the growth needed to
become a leader in our society and also to be successful in the workplace. We push each
other to become more successful and get better grades. The progress we make generally
has a positive impact on our surrounding community and peers. We benefit from
constructive criticism and influential personnel, such as practicing physicians in our local
community. When we reach our goals, usually good grades and having fun, we do in fact
have a positive influence on others around us. Therefore, those who think that we can not
get any work done are wrong, seeing that two of the three members have straight As as
of now, while the other has two Bs and three As. This just proves that the Three O Phi
community is successful and is able to get their work done.

Works Cited

Cobbins Jr, Reggie. Personal Interview. 13 November 2014.

Padilla, Antonio. Personal Interview. 10 November 2014.

"You Need to Have JavaScript Enabled in Order to Access This Site." What Is a
Discourse Community: ENC1102-13Fall 0027. UCF, n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2014.

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