John Swales: A Discourse Community Analysis

According to John Swales a discourse community is a group of individuals that use specific words, or lexis, to work together to achieve a shared goal. The community has different forms of intercommunication that helps the members decrease any weaknesses and improve on any strengths. John Swales goes on to explain that there will be “six defining characteristics that will be necessary for identifying a group of individuals as a discourse community” (220). In order to really understand what a discourse community is I took specific observations of a group. These observations would lead me to understand what a discourse community is.
Keeping in mind the six characteristics needed to make a discourse community, I studied a community that I am apart

The soccer team, like any other athletic team at the University of Memphis, has a strong desire to win a conference championship. That is ultimately their number one goal that they have as a team. In order to reach their goals, six out of the sevens days a week, they train at 6:30 am, to obtain their goal. The practice, that ranges from two hours to an hour and a half, is a way for the to win a conference championship. Another common goal amongst the players and coaches, is to qualify for the NCAA 2015 College Cup Tournament. This is a tournament where the best Women’s soccer teams in the country compete for the national title of being the best Division I soccer team in the

This is her third year on the team and is from Montreal, Canada. Maryse was recruited to play for the soccer team at the age of sixteen when she was playing for her provisional team. After talking and emailing the coaching staff she chose to play for Memphis. She explained that “everything we do is for a conference championship”, everyone on the team is working toward that goal. There are a lot of sacrifices that you have to make to achieve the team’s goals and “if you’re not ready then you will be cut”. If a player is not contributing to the team, actively working towards the goal or has a bad attitude of any sorts a that player could become at risk to get kicked off of the team. She explains that while some relationships between some players are closer than others the team is still good friends with each other. When asked who are the leaders are of the team she exclaimed, “Oh, that is definitely the seniors of our team!”. She explained that the seniors on the team have been around for a long time and have the most experience with college level soccer. They are the ones that new and incoming freshman can ask questions to and have the maturity and expertise to be the leaders of the team. This team intends to take their season one game at a time and intend to win a conference championship. Maryse has a very level headed view about this season, explaining that “things just take of themselves”. The team trains