Project #3 Proposal

Introduction

          As the studies for discourse communities continue, the time has now come to observe a community the writer is interested in. As a starting point, Swales' six characteristics will be used to write down how the language that community can be constrained for the purposes of figuring out the various functions that are used within the community.  Using ethnographic studies, the principles will be used to help further prove how students should use their research to bring a community into a compelling context, bringing that community one is involved in into an understanding of each individual in a way other folks outside of a specific discourse community might not think of. Therefore, the community chosen for this project will be the writer's own family. Why his own family is chosen will be explained by demonstrating how the family can be classified as a discourse community, the writer's own thoughts on the community, how it functions as a member himself, the members chosen for a personal interview, and transcriptions used for research towards the study of the community.

Qualification  

          As identification of a group of individuals, John Swales proposed six characteristics of a discourse community to clarify how he understands discourse community as a literacy concept. For the purposes of this proposal, the writer will use each pointer and explain on how each principle applies to his own community:

          1. A discourse community has a broadly agreed set of common public goals.

Even if they are not explained explicaily at one time, the writer's family do have goals they need to achieve if they want to live together. As a family, the goals of the family, as a whole, will reflect on how each member will be persevered as a group, so as an example, when one member mentions to the other that he must go out and grab objects at a market, that person is adding to the survival not to himself, or herself, or to the one who sent him or her out to grab it, but to those inside the community that needs it, based on urgency. Even if the goals of the indivdiual might not reflect the hopes of another, each member is allowed to help out, out of a sense of loyalty, love, or any concept similar to the previous two. 

          2. A discourse community has mechanisms of intercommunication among its members. 

No matter how important an event might be, meetings of some individual will form if one person thinks it will benefit the community as a whole. This can range from an one on one meeting to discuss on an recently conspired event, to a festive holiday such as Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

          3. A discourse community uses its participatory mechanisms primarily to provide 
              information and feedback. 

If one member acts in a state of embarrassment, or if one member can not set out one particular goal--because of circumstances beyond their control--then another member must come in and help out on whatever the situation needs, whatever it involves cutting the grass or alerting the community on how much loud noise one person is making.

          4. A discourse community utilizes and hence possesses one or more genres in the 
              communicative furtherance of its aims.

Each person within the community have a set of beliefs that belong only to that individual, so as a family, each member must figure out a balance that can not only create a satisfactory response of the individual, but also reflects good on the family as a whole. So if the budget and time will create safety for someone to go out to the mall and hang out with friends, there now lies the choice of whenever or not another individual wants to come along, for completely different purposes (such of wanting to buy something for his own amusement).  

          5. In addition to owning genres, a discourse community has acquired some specific 
              lexis. 

For this principle, one general rule applies: the quicker one sentence can be used to express what it is one member wants to communicate to another, the better that communication will be for both members. This communication can also apply to nicknames, as well if it can further express the affection one member has to the other.

          6. A discourse community has a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of 
              relevant content and discoursal expertise.

When one member of the community leaves, that does not mean that he or she can no longer benefit the community in colder terms. If the possibility of younger offspring arrives, each member can then be promoted into a greater role for that young member, creating more responsibility for each member to work around with.  

Interest 

          Living under the same place with the other members for decades, the writer's main interest really lies on whenever or not his own personal opinion of the family will conflict with the observation other make take with other communities if they were not a descendent of each member of that community. As as offspring of two of its' members, he wants to know whatever or not his personal involvement as a member will make him reflect on that community in a way it might not be is he was simply an observer far away, or non-related, from the family itself. Does he now have authority over the other members, or he is forever labeled as a 'child' of those same members? Has the feelings of his siblings changed over time, or is the battle each of them had at a young age still there? Has the community grown, now that each member is no longer legally classified as a child? Can the writer himself find out a way to express his thoughts of the family without upsetting anybody involved? It is these questions he wants to solve, determined to see if it was all worth it or not.

Interview 

          Regarding interviews, the writer wants to use one or more specific members in mind: the writer's sister, his own parents--consisting of a mother and father--and his grandparents.

Texts 

          For text, the writer is open to the possibility of using the following tools: emails, posts from various websites, PowerPoint presentations, the answers of homework problems, the text of books one member likes, notes written all over the location of the community, and cellphone texts (or Facebook comments) if needed.
         
Conclusion


       As an English freshman, the writer believes that since he has a major impact as a member of one specific community, he will bring a complexity to the text that will bring interest for readers to go through. Once finished, he hopes, the project will help further expand his education on how he should approach discourse communities; help clarify his own thoughts on that involvement as a member. Then he can figure out if his opinion will help him out when he goes out on his own, as an individual of society.

Sources

Wardle, Elizabeth, and Doug Downs. Writing about Writing: A College Reader. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2011. 468-80. Print.