A discourse community is described by John Swales as a group of

individuals that have the same purpose and use communication to fully achieve
the common goal. For a group of people to be considered as a discourse
community, it must have six characteristics that are used to achieve the common
goal. John Swales (1990) states, In a discourse community, the communicative
needs of the goals tend to predominate in the development and maintenance of its
discoursal characteristics(p.471). The six characteristics that are necessary for
identifying a group of individuals as a discourse community are: the group of
individuals all share the same purpose for their discourse, the action of all
participants in the community discussing in the conversation, all feedback made
in the discourse community must relate to the purpose, the discourse community
can have one or more topics if it is required to achieve the shared goal, the
discourse community can use simpler language to communicate easier, and people
who are participating in the discourse community must have experience in the
topic discussed.
I was required to observe two discourse communities and collect data to
later analyze and compare how they communicate to reach their goal. Before
starting my observation I had select the community based on the six
characteristics that Swales provides. After carefully selecting the two discourse
communities based on the six characteristics that Swales uses to categorize a
discourse community, I was able to observe them. The two communities that I
chose to examine was a tennis team and the WIN Academy. Since sixth grade and
up until recently I was part of the tennis discourse community. It was interesting
to take a step back and really see how the discourse community works. In the

WIN Academy discourse community I was an observe who was given the
opportunity to see how it works and how it is used to better the lives of many
students. At first glance you can easily see that these two communities are very
different. One is a rigorous program designed to assist children who have failed
to pass the STARR exam and the other is a an extra curricular activity that is
provided in most schools. The one thing that these two have in common is that
they both use communication, whether it is talking or writing to reach their
common public goal. It was both interesting and informative seeing how all the
characteristics in a discourse community are applied then later on combined to
reach the common goal.
The first discourse community that I observed was the tennis team. For
starters tennis is a year round sport meaning that there is a fall and spring season.
In the fall season there are generally a total of eight girls and eight boys. During
the fall season is when you would play team tennis. This basically mean that two
schools are competing to see who wins. Every game won by the team is added up
and the first team that reaches a total of ten game-wins beats the opposing team.
When I went to observe the team it was during an after school practice. They were
preparing to play a school the following day. The coach had the members of the
team to play against each other, since it is thought that practice makes perfect in
this sport.
Throughout the matches I heard a lot of specialized vocabulary that is used
to communicate easily amongst each other. The tennis team also use body
language to converse amongst each other. Since tennis is a fast pace sport, at
times it is necessary to use body language to communicate. While observing the

tennis team I noticed there was many hand motions and body movements that
signify other specialized vocabulary. The tennis players often use taping or
clapping on their racket when a serve or shot is. They also use the arm and finger
stretched out to tell opponent that the serve or shot was out. The teams also use a
coin toss or racket spin to determine who will start the game. Below I have
provided a list of specialized vocabulary (lexis) used when I observed the tennis
team.
Love
15 or 1
30 or 2
40 or 3
40 all or
duce
Add
Out
Double
fault
Winner
Ace
Slice
Tweener
Lob
Take it
Backhan
d
Forehan
d
Drop
Shot
Frame
Shot
(Framer)
Grip

A total of zero points

Equivalent to one point
Equivalent to two points
Equivalent to three points
Meaning both teams have three points each
When playing with add, the opponent must be winning by two
points
When a serve did not make it in the box or receiver hit the ball out
of the green area
When both serves are out of the receiving box
When the opponent makes a angled
Serve that is hit with a lot of force and the receiver could not hit it.
An angled shot that is hit with a slanted racket, making it impossible
to hit back
A shot that is hit in between the legs
When the opponent hits the ball high enough that the receiver can
not hit it
When the first or second serve hits the net and makes it over the
net and hits the green. The server is given and extra serve.
A hit that is used by a right handed player that hits the ball with the
back of the racket
A hit that is used be a right handed player that hits the ball with the
front of the racket
A shot made by the receiver to catch the opponent off guard
A shot made by the player that makes it over the net made hit by
the frame of the racket
Way of holding the racket

Sweet
Spot
Doubles
Singles

The center of the racket which provides the best hit

A pair (two) of tennis players. Either girl/girl, boy/boy/, girl/boy
One individual tennis player
This discourse community is very selective on who they let into the team. The

members of the team can quickly be identified. The members of the team all seemed to
wear the same shirt for practice. It also seemed that the members of the tennis team were
all given a nickname. As I have established earlier, tennis is made up of two seasons.
During the fall season you usually have a total of eight boys and eight girls. On the side
of the tennis court there is a dry erase board that is categorized as boys and girls.
Both sections where numbered from 1-8 and beside each number there is a name of the
player that currently holds that spot.
The other discourse community that I observed was the WIN (Work hard, I
can do attitude, Never give up) Academy meeting in the Socorro ISD.
This academy is designed to provide intensive curriculum and
instruction in all subject areas. The classroom setup is organized to
have computer access to all the students. The instruction is embedded
with technology. The first thing that I noticed when observing the meeting was that
all the teachers wear their WIN Academy badges. This would make it very easy to
distinguish the academy educators.
During the meeting the teachers and the principle discuss the instruction the
administration has observed in the classroom. The principle later provides an agenda to
all the WIN academy teachers. In the agenda the principle addresses weekly district
initiatives. District initiatives are teaching strategies done throughout the district from
kinder to 12th grade. This year elementary schools are focusing on framing the lesson.

Framing the lesson is based on a book presented in the fundamental five by the author
Stephen Cain. Based on my observation, the principle addresses what she feels needs to
be part of the daily curriculum. All teachers are also provided with an IN (interactive
notebook). Each teacher is also provided with a notebook by administration to take notes
down during the meeting. It seemed that all the teachers follow a two-column note taking
strategy. WIN Academy teachers went through a very selective process to see who can
operate the rigorous curriculum. Since the districts selective process is very detailed, not
all schools are issued the program making this discourse community very small.
Throughout the meeting the administration and teachers use specialized
vocabulary to communicate with one another. Below I have provided a table with all the
specialized vocabulary used.
Teks
Learning
Objectives
Teaching Cycle

(Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills

students learning expectations goals

Spiral Review

Presented in the beginning of each subject to get a quick

assessment
Instruction presented in the three phases (I do, We do, You
do)
Data analysis of the work done by the students

Gradual Releases
Assessment
reports
Monitoring
RTI
STAAR
Tier 1, 2, 3

instruction with all components which include assessment

Teacher indication of how students are progressing

Response to intervention

iStation
Eduphoria
Interventions

Categories that children are placed into according to the

ability to preform
State base reading level program
Internet based data base for instruction
Individual or group instruction based on the student needs

Discipline
AR
Standards

Student Behavior
Accelerated Reading Program
Teacher guide on teaching objective

Readiness
Standards
Supporting
Standards
5E model
5Es
Thrive

Base Standards for every subject for the next school year
Standards that students have been taught
Teaching cycle based model
(engage, explore, explain, elaborate, evaluate)
Digital teaching platform 21st century digital classroom data
driven teaching and differentiated learning

After analyzing both the tennis team and WIN academy I have come to the
conclusion that both discourse communities are somewhat similar. They are similar
because both communities require some sort of specialized vocabulary to communicate
effectively. Each community has their own common goal that must be reached and by
communicating effectively and sharing the same values it can be reached.