Discourse communities are something that many have defined and separate from the

speech community, however none have done so well to separate the two communities as well as

John Swales has done but cauterizing them in six different aspects; common public goals,

intercommunication mechanisms, looped intercommunication, dedicated genres, specialized

vocabulary, and self-sustaining hierarchy. Using The Concept of Discourse Community (1990),

by John Swales, and Music, Mind, and Education (1988), by Keith Swanwick, one can fairly see

that the 1301 Rhetoric and Composition 1 class is a discourse community, however one must not

also forget the similarities it has to a speech community.

Swales was dedicated to separate and define a discourse and speech community, going

into very detailed explanations to set them apart and even at times to explain in such great detail

that the one explanation could simply take up the space of two pages. Using each of the six

aspects in a discourse community he makes it straightforward what exactly defines something to

be in a discourse community. However, his points were brought up by several other scholars who

have tried to define the two communities and quoted their diagnostics of speech communities to

aid him. Looking back on this set of information it is quite obvious to see how the Rhetoric and

Composition 1 class fit under that speech community as well.

A speech community was well defined by Hymes, a community that shares knowledge of

both rules of conduct and interpretation of speech. He goes onto saying that sharing comprises

knowledge to at least one form of speech, as well as knowledge, are used in its natural patter,

both are needed to describe a speech community. Looking back into Swanwicks piece as well

helps to support Hymes:

 Everyday observations tells us that children develop as they grow older and that this

development depends on an interaction between the genetic inheritance of each individual and

the environment the physical world, home, school, and society.

The environment itself can either be a speech or discourse community, something that the

Rhetoric and Composition 1 community can be, with it fitting the criteria needed for childrens

development that a still be applied to young adults such as the students attending the class.

Through observations one can deduced that the main class genera is the journals that the

students use for note taking and other definition of words to assist them. A main source of genera

is indeed needed for a discourse community, but a speech community has a much broader

selection, which this class does indeed have as books students check out from their library, the

assigned books that be must purchase to pass the class, and other websites to assists them. Going

back to Hymes, he explicitly explains how both knowledge and speech are necessary and highly

used, such as this class that uses speech at such high levels to discuss the assignments and other

questions and points the professor may ask about them.

Mechanism, looped intercommunication, and specialized vocabulary are all vocal and

writing basses that are apart of Swales criteria of a discourse community. Rhetoric and

Composition 1 uses several resources online for the class, such as Blackboard, UTep email, and

the library website where they can check our sources. Most, if not all, their assignments are listed

and must be turned into Blackboard, making the class almost entirely dependent of it. Looped

intercommunication and specialized vocabulary both go hand in hand, as students converse with

the professor and their peers where they are given sets of vocabulary that are normally only used

in the class and/or in the subject of it. Rhetoric is a word that the majority of students have never

used, except for now in the class and back to when some took advanced reading and writing
courses their senior or junior year of high school. They use other vocabulary words integrated

into the class for assignments and into their discussions between one another. A speech

community would do all of this, heavily speaking more over writing to gain more knowledge

within the class. However, with how much usage of mechanism intercommunications that have

almost little to no conversation between students, its only with the professor of the class. Its

almost like a hierarchy or sorts.

A common public goal within the community of students are the obvious; passing, high

grades, and for some developing an understanding of the class thatll integrate into their major.

Because of this they become indentured to the professor, almost as citizens of a kingdom are to

their ruler. The community is like a literal water fall, or at times a river, where the teacher or

instructor share expertise and knowledge to the newcomers or students. Every student within the

class wants and need to pass their classes, subjecting them into a hierarchy of sorts to pass the

class. Instead of tending the land or crafting things for their kingdom they are listening and

writing down what the professor says and craft assignments and essays into completion to get the

grade they need to move onto the next Rhetoric and Composition 1 platform and the desired

credit hours. There isnt much room for discussion because of this, any and all opinions that

students wish to form cannot stray far from the topic of the lesson for they risk their grade if they

do. A speech community allow those within its community expand pass he topic, crafting more

foundations and add-ons for everyone to share more knowledge, it may not be exactly the

knowledge they need but rather it will most likely be a thin veil of what they do need.

To conclude, going over all the sources at our disposal and the observations used within

the class, it is quite obvious to see the connections between a discourse community and speech

community that the Rhetoric and Composition 1 class has over them both. However, it is safe to
say that following Swales descriptions of both communities, that the class is indeed a discourse

community, one where speech is less needed compared to the need of gaining knowledge

directly from the professor of the class.

1. Swales, John. "The Concept of Discourse Community." Genre Analysis: English in

Academic and Research Settings (1990): 21-32.

2. Swanwick, Keith. Music, Mind, and EducationLondon ; New York : Routledge, 1988,
1988