Category: Discourse Community

First lecture

Our first lecture of Global Business Communication started with the definition of BELF (Business English as a lingua franca). BELF has three contextual features which are important to communicate efficiently in a business environment: “its domain of use, the role of its users, and the overall goal of the interactions” – in other words, global businesses, business professionals and getting the jobs done. (Kankaanranta & Louhiala-Salminen 2014).

BELF can be described as a neutral, shared and equal way of communicating as it is usually neither of the speakers’ mother tongue. It is shared by millions of people around the world and is used for conducting business within the global business discourse community. BELF is seen as an intercultural way of communicating because it is not owned by anyone and its users come from different linguistic backgrounds.

During our lecture, I discussed with my group what does BELF mean to us, the importance of “B” and how we communicate in our discourse community. To me, BELF means communicating in the business world with people from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds – it is a shared language by the speakers to get things done and crucial for multilingual and multinational companies to perform efficiently. How I communicate in my discourse community differs from time to time.

Second lecture

Our second lecture started with an exploration of the term accommodation. Usually, when we hear this word, we think of a place for some to stay, live or work in. In global business communication, the meaning of accommodation can be different. Macmillan dictionary defines accommodation as a change in behavior or attitude that helps people work together or end a disagreement. In other words, it can mean to make an effort to adjust. It is content and clarity that makes people understand you and your choice of words. Sharp, clear and easy-to-understand way of speaking improves your connection with other people and creates more engagement to the conversation. It also reduces misinterpretation and communication inefficiency – a shared business context creates less misunderstanding.

During our in-class discussion, we talked about business community of practice. Communities of practice create an important framework for businesses that helps companies to achieve their goals and share knowledge. In companies, people who share common interests usually engage with each other in collective process of learning. These people belong to different organizational structures and at the same time these communities in different business units shape the organization. In the article of designing and managing business communities of practice in Journal of Knowledge Management, Mariano Corso and Andrea Giacobbe found that a high level of commitment in different parts of the organization and between colleagues had a great effect on the efficiency of the community in supporting learning and knowledge management processes. That is why we must find out what are our business practices, areas of expertise and language used in BCOP.

Third lecture

On our third lecture, we explored the term ´rapport´. According to our lecture slides (Spencer-Oatey & Franklin 2009), rapport means peoples subjective perceptions of harmony, smoothness-turbulence & warmth-antagonism in interpersonal relationships. It means how people understand each other and how good is someone’s ability to communicate well with others – it is an agreement or a sympathy between different groups of people.

According to Spencer-Oatey & Franklin (2009) there are “number of competencies associated with the management of rapport.“ These competencies have relationship between politeness theory. Rapport management competencies include contextual awareness, interpersonal attentiveness, social information gathering, social attuning, emotion regulation and stylistic flexibility. These rapport building behaviors are used to manage positive rapport. The competencies can be seen as a behavior that individuals should use in everyday social interactions. For example, I should be attentive to the context of the situation to create positive rapport.

Our groupwork focused on the framework notes. We talked about situations where we have been misunderstood, how we reduced the tension and what type of contextual factors affected in our context. I think I have been misunderstood when it comes to IT. I do a lot of work with computers, so I sometimes forget that not everybody knows the same terms and applications that I know. Usually, there is no tension if I have been misunderstood. I just have to explain more in detail what I meant.

Fourth lecture

The final lecture of “intern” level of BELF discussed the meaning of discourse community. It is a group of people who share common goals, interests and purposes – a group of people who are involved in a particular field, topic or issue such as advertising or banking. In discourse community, members of the community are trying to achieve these common goals or objectives through the use of intercommunication. (EN 15 slides 2019).

John Swales (1990) has created six different characteristics of discourse community that defines the concept of discourse community: (EN 15 Slides, 2019)

Discourse community is built on these characteristics. In other words, missing one of the above characteristics means that the community is not a discourse community.

Our in-class discussion focused on questions about discourse community that our team is conducting the research project on. Understanding our discourse community is important to our team. Understanding how the community speaks and how language is used is really important factor. When the common goals and lexis of our community are clear, it is easy to get our point across our audience. This understanding goes also beyond words and understandings, it also tells how community members process the information. (Mascle 2008)

As John Swales’ once said in his excerpt “The Concept of Discourse Community,” “a discourse community is a group of people involved in and communicating about a particular topic, issue, or in a particular field”(Swales). Within these societies, they form their own type of subgroup, of people with similar goals who work toward said objective. I encountered a discourse community in my first year of high school when I joined the Cedar Grove boys soccer team.

When I first became a part of the team I was terrified that I would not be able to fit in with the rest of the players. However, they welcomed me in with open arms into their group and worked with me, so that I can become better at the sport. At the beginning of the season, which began on August 2nd, we had mandatory practices everyday from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. except on Sundays. During these practices, we all suffered together and looked out for one another, making sure we all made it through the drills and nobody quit. Before joining the team, I was a shy and quiet person, however becoming a member of this team indicated that in order to properly communicate and collaborate with my team I had to speak up. As the season progresses, the practices become difficult, which affects the entire team because at the end of everyone’s practice our coach increases the pressure by making us complete sprints. During these sprints, we are timed and have to make it across the street in a certain amount of time and if we do not complete it we have to complete the task again. It is at this moment where some players begin to throw up and quit, but within the team, we have a phrase that we live by “We all suffer, but we don’t quit”. In order to persuade the rest of the players to complete the sprints, our captain would say, “Guys, we have all suffered through the same thing and if I can complete this sprint so can you, so get on the line and burnout everything you got left one last time then we can all go home”(Captain Johnny). At the moment, he spoke those words it hit me cause that was me he was talking about. Even Though, I was the slowest in the team he knew I could finish it but just needed a little boost of confidence . After completing the last run we were all satisfied with how much progress we made. As a team, we would always go eat lunch after practice was finished and just talk bad about our coach and how much we hated it, but inside we all loved the way we made our own little family.

Within, any discourse community communication is a key factor that impacts the way a group reaches their goals. For example, in a soccer game, certain phrases are said on the field, so that only our teammates understand what we are about to execute and they are open to score. Common vocabulary used between teammates during a game includes the following man-on (which warns our teammates that there is somebody behind them or approaching them and they should pass the ball). Other similar phrases involve through ball (indicates that you are passing the ball to a teammate between two opposing players) and get-wide ( signaling to your teammate that you are passing the ball to the sides and they should get open to receive said pass). These are just a few of the plays we are taught to know when playing a soccer game to communicate on the field. We used these callouts in and out the field to confuse the opposing teams onto what were about to do. In order to get the hang of these callouts, we incorporate these expressions in practices so that we get accustomed to a similar environment. During practices our coaches will have us fun drills and work on certain skills and work on mistakes made during the game. Our coaches push us to our max to enhance our endurance and stamina with drills that focus on building muscle and cardio. In order to become better and win our games, we would watch tapes of our opponent’s games to analyze there play styles and understand how they execute those plays so that we could work on countering those plays so that we don’t get scored on. We would do this so that we can see which strikers are good so that we have two people covering him so that he doesn’t touch the ball as much and find our angles of scoring to win the game.

In order for the soccer discourse community to prosper, it is essential for players to get more involved in the community and maintain a leadership role in the group. These individuals who step up can, in the end, grow to be captains. They can be seniors in the group who have sacrificed an abundant amount of time into the game of soccer, or even simply players who are more skilled and have impacted the players in the soccer community. As a leader, it’s important to have specific qualities, such as knowledge of the game, right conversation skills, and selflessness. Leadership is essential for any discourse community, but a crew requires each and every character involved to assure a feeling of satisfaction. As a matter of fact throughout my four years of playing soccer for Cedar Grove, I unfortunately never became captain because I was not the type of player he was looking for when choosing a captain. However, the person he choose Johnny was a great pick because he helped every individual person on the team reach their full potential on the squad. To this day we still keep in touch and I asked him about how being a captain impacted his life. He responded, “Being the captain of the Cedar Grove Boys soccer team was a great experience that I would never give up for anything in the world. It helped me gain great knowledge about the game and I enjoyed my four years of high school with my soccer family”. When he told me this I began to tear up because I missed those years, but understand that it is time to leave that discourse community and create a new one at NJIT. Although, having soccer skills is essential to being in this discourse community, there are other qualities that are needed to properly help players develop in the community. Relationships are very essential in this community because they can have an effect on how the crew works together. It is a necessity for teammates to bond so that they are able to have perfect chemistry on and off the field. Having this good chemistry between teammates helps on the field because then you can move quickly with the ball. This allows players to be able to understand one another and pass to one another without having to think about it. Having this type of chemistry with a group of people was quite satifying having people understand the stress and torture you’ve been through helps create a delightful group of friends.

In the end, I have learned the essential parts in the creation of a discourse community and how it has impacted my life. Walking into Cedar Grove High School, I would’ve never thought that I was about to create a family with my fellow students. When I first walked into this new and nerve-racking environment I thought I would feel this way all four years. However, I was wrong as I became a part of the soccer team this action changed me for the better. With this new family of mine we had become a discourse community with multiple goals that we achieved throughout the season. The goal of joining the soccer team was to build a strong relationship and connection with your teammates, in order to defeat opposing teams we faced. This was difficult because those other teams would have similar chemistry with their teammates, but there was always a team that developed a deeper connection with teammates. This skill was tested on the field to determine which team was able to score the most goals and come out on top. Fortunately, my team was the best in the league because of all the hard work and commitment we put toward the team that we were state champions. The experience I learned while being a part of the team will be with me forever and being a part of this type of discourse community taught me a lot about communication and how significant it is working with a team.

Introduction

An activity where you are using some sort of text or communication is called a literate activity. A discourse community is a group of people who share a set of discourses, such as basic values or assumptions, and they have specific forms of communication for them to achieve a common goal. Every single person is a part of some sort of discourse community and some people belong to several communities. Your literate activity is usually different depending on the discourse community that you are a part of. The discourse community that I am involved in is a restaurant, but more specifically the host stand in the restaurant. A common misbelief about hosting is that people don’t understand how important a host/ host stand really is to the entire environment and organization of a restaurant. Hosts control one of the most important parts of the restaurant and most do not realize that. Customers who have not worked in the restaurant industry typically don’t understand, however some of the servers in our restaurant don’t understand it either.

The main job of a host/hostess is the seating rotation. This rotation includes a board with a floor plan of the entire restaurant. Each morning and mid-afternoon, a manager will create sections for the servers and there are always two servers in each section. That section will stay the same over the duration of a shift. Each section gets a letter (starting at A and going through the letters of the alphabet until there are no more sections) and these letters are assigned based on what time the servers shifts start. The sections labeled A and B will be the first two servers that come in before everyone else, they are the openers, and these two people must get three tables each before any other section is sat. Once they get their tables, then you continue the rotation through all of the letters and being careful that you don’t over-seat a section. If a section is over-sat, the server is most likely to get back to back tables and when that happens, they often get very swarmed and busy which makes them prone to mistakes. If you don’t understand this rotation system, then being a host probably isn’t for you. This process is basically only known by hosts; servers have no idea how it works, they are just happy when they get their tables.

There is a lot of research on the important characteristics of a host and what their responsibilities are however these findings don’t have a lot on the effect that the host stand has on the entire restaurant. During the weekend, the restaurant is at its prime time for business and the host/hostess is responsible for keeping customers happy as well as servers, managers, and even the kitchen staff. Another large and important job is the wait list. This usually starts when we have no available tables inside or outside which leads us to have to take down a customer’s information (how many people in their party, are high top tables okay, do they have kids or need any high chairs, etc.) It is important to know how to properly give a guest an accurate time frame as to how long they might be waiting so they do not get mad if you tell them 15 minutes when it might be more like 40 minutes. When we are on a wait, it basically means that the restaurant is in over flow and the kitchen is working non-stop until we are off of the wait list. In order to ensure that the kitchen makes as little mistakes as possible, we tried to up the wait times quotes a little more just so the kitchen has a little space to breathe.

When the host stand does everything correctly, it leads to a very smooth night. Now there may be some slip ups here and there with servers forgetting something or the kitchen not cooking the steak long enough, but we are all one big team and we are there to help everyone. We can’t do our jobs without them doing theirs and vice versa.

There are literacies throughout the entire restaurant. For instance, our floor chart allows everyone to read it and communicate through it. Our computer system is important because it allows us to communicate what the customer ordered and relay the message to the kitchen through a single ticket that is printed once an order is inputted. Servers use this system constantly during their shifts, and hosts use it as well for to-go orders. We also have a system called “hot schedules” that is used to post our schedules for the week as well as communicate with other employees to help get a shift taken or pick up a shift, or even to request days off. Our menu, however, is probably the most valuable and important literacy form in a restaurant because depending on how we have our meals worded, reflects how customers order. If something sounds horrible, no one will order it, but if something makes your mouth water just by reading it, then you will be able to sell more.

As said before, our floor chart of the restaurant is very important. This floor plan shows every table in the restaurant and each table is assigned a number. Since we all work together, it is very important to know the table numbers. When hosts seat a serves section, they must inform the server(s) on which table was sat; when doing this you need to know the table number. You also need to know table number when working in the kitchen or running food. If you are running food, the ticket only has a table number on it so you must know exactly where it is in the restaurant so you don’t give another table someone else’s food. We have hot schedules that gives us all information we need to know about the schedule or shifts being released and ready for pick up, etc. However, we also have a private Facebook page with the front of house staff (hosts and bussers). This page allows us to post mass messages for important information or reminders and it lets all hosts and bussers see it at the same time and you are able to see comment, questions, and replies.

To keep the restaurant running smoothly, the manager who makes the host schedule will assign a job to each host for the night. These jobs are typically only assigned on our busier nights like a Friday night or a Saturday night. There are usually four hosts working on these nights, so we have four job: Board, Runner, To-Go, and To-Go Floater. For the host assigned to board, you are strictly in charge of rotation and making sure each section and server gets their correct tables as well making sure you don’t over seat a section. You will also oversee the wait list. Since it is busy, the person on board is assigned a runner. This person will be running people and seating them at the correct table. They will go to the table in which the person on board tells them. The runner’s job is also to collect menus around the restaurant so we don’t run out, and also to inform the person on board when we have open tables that are ready to be sat. Next, we move onto to-go’s. This job is important because you will oversee taking all to-go orders (by phone or by the uber eats app) and you will input them into the computer. The to-go person will then go to the back in the kitchen and pack the food with the correct sides and then bring it back to the front. The restaurant has a curb-side pick-up for to-go orders so you must greet the customers at their cars, get their method of payment, and bring them their food and change. This job is usually done only by the person on to-go’s and the to-go floater is there in case it gets super busy and they need an extra hand. Otherwise, the floater will be anywhere that she/he is needed. They might be packing to-go’s, they might be running tables, they might even be running food for servers. By giving each host a job, it keeps the host stand organized. Each manager knows the jobs and functions of the host stand, but by assigning each a job, it allows us to do our job smoothly without constantly needing a manager’s approval.

Method

Primary Sources

In order to portray the importance of a hostess, I had to organize and perform my primary and secondary research. My primary research consisted of four interviews and one observation, I interviewed two fellow hostesses, Taylor Cason and Nicole AmRhein, an office manager that was once a host, Casey Bauer, and a server who started out as a hostess, Kacy Lach. Taylor has been hosting for almost two years and Nicole and I were hired together so we have both been hosting for a year and a half. The office manager was a host for close to two years and the server was a host for a year and a half. I orchestrated all four interviews around the same time. I interviewed them to get their input on my research because they all know what the job of a hostess entails. Each interview took around fifteen minutes, I sat with them in the restaurant and questioned them with some of the inquiries that I had come up with prior to the interviews. I did the interviews separately but asked the same questions. I asked about how and why the host stands are essential to the organization of the restaurant and I also asked, “what if” questions such as “what do you think would happen if there were no hostess?”. Additionally, I used my experiences and observed the flow of the restaurant on nights that are busier than others, like a Friday or Saturday night when we have a live band. I have worked almost a hundred of these high stress, high capacity, and very loud and upbeat nights and during these times, I have seen a restaurant work so smoothly and so perfectly and I have also seen nights where every single thing went terribly wrong.

The methods that I used gave me a deeper knowledge on hosting and showed me the perspectives from other hostesses. I used my secondary research to get additional background information on my primary research as well as my topic in general. I used the UCF library database to approach articles that support my research. These articles were used to build my claim and strengthen my primary research. My strategical method to finding good sources was to locate articles that were close to if not my identical claim. My first source was an article on the general topic of a restaurant in hopes that it spoke about hosting.

Secondary Sources

My first source was “The most important position in a restaurant is behind the host stand” and it was written by Bauer Michael. In this article he talks about how the host stand is the “achilleas heal of a restaurant” due to the fact that the host/hostess is the very first person you come in contact with when you walk through the doors of a restaurant. The host/hostess is the first person that will allow you to determine if you will have an enjoyable experience. When you are addressed with open doors (and arms), welcoming faces, and large smiles, you are more likely to have a higher quality visit. Rather than if you walked in and the host/hostess acts as if you are not there or if they have other things to do than to help you.

My second source titled “The Language and Literacy of Food Service Workers” was written by Mirabelli Tony. This article talks about the everyday communication and languages used in a diner and how the customers use the text and descriptions provided on the menus to decide what they may order to eat. He also talks about how universal food items, such as a cobb salad, are made and described differently in every restaurant. He mentions the specific and specialized languages that are created just for the restaurant industry to communicate.

My third source titled “What makes a Great Host” was written by Cruz Clarrissa. This article talks about the characteristics that a host/hostess should possess that will allow them to be successful. Clarrissa interviewed a couple managers to distinguish what they look for during an interview with a host. A few characteristics, in my perspective, that are the most important would be that a host/hostess needs to be able to handle any sort of customer and be able to change things around to satisfy someone’s specific needs. They also need to have the ability to work well under pressure and if they are stressed, they need to be able to handle it without having a complete meltdown ( because we all know that the meltdown would be the easier way.)

Discussion

These articles were useful and helpful in the aspect of my research because it shows that not every restaurant works the same so there may be things in my restaurant that work well whereas in others, they may not. My interviews and observations helped me in the long run because the four different perspectives gave me a new look on things but they also helped to confirm my research topic and main question.

Primary Research

My primary research may have been biased towards my restaurant because I only interviewed those that I know and who work in my same restaurant. Due to the fact that we all work together, it is more likely that we all have the same experiences as well as the same interpretations. At my restaurant, Rock and Brews, our hosts do to-go orders whereas in other restaurants, they don’t. I have come to realize that every restaurant runs differently and not every host stand has assigned jobs at night; it all depends on what restaurant it is and their style.

At Rock and Brews, our style is to stay focused and organized but also to be one big family. No matter what your job or position is, you are there to help those around you. If a busser is busy, servers and hosts will always help clean off a table. If a host is busy, servers and managers will help seat a table. If a server is busy, the kitchen and managers and hosts will help run food to a table. When our shifts come to an end, even if we worked a double or had a very stressful day, we will all sit at a table together and eat and crack some jokes and just enjoy ourselves. To me, that is a very important part of a restaurant.

Secondary Research

In Bauer’s article, he says that the host stand is the achilleas heal of a restaurant. This text is useful to my research because it shows the impact a host has on the customer from the moment they enter the restaurant this is from the customers personal perspective. The article talks about the important that the host stand has but he talked from a customer’s prospective, so instead he spoke of the impact the host has on the customer from the moment they walk through the door.

In Clarrissa’s article she talked about a few characteristics that a host should possess to be successful in the industry and what the managers look for when hiring new hosts. These characteristics are important and valuable to my research because they help show why and how hosts are important in a restaurant. An energetic, welcoming, hospitable, and charming host all help to make a better experience.

Another flaw that I realized in my research is that not every restaurants has a host stand. Which got me thinking: those that have hosts are typically larger restaurants but on the other side, do smaller restaurants not do to-go orders or do customers just seat themselves or have they realized that a host stand wouldn’t be needed? I wish I did more research in smaller establishments to get their view point and maybe answer some questions, however I feel as though those that I work with at Rock and Brews not only hosted in our restaurant but they have worked elsewhere as well which may have furthered their opinions.

Conclusion

My claim was proved by my primary and secondary sources. As I was researching, I realized that the only thing people write about restaurants is the 20 percent tip and they ignore the actual jobs, and because of this, it resulted in a large gap in my research. I found it very tricky to find articles that spoke about a host in a restaurant. As I continued to research, I found articles that spoke about the entirety of restaurants and broke them down into the different jobs and they also had claims about the importance of a host stand. My secondary research showed that the responsibilities of a host/hostess are far more important than what most people think; there is way more to hosting than just seating people. Before I worked in a restaurant, I thought hosting was so easy and so stupid and why would anyone want to be a host. Most people are picky when it comes to seating because they don’t like tables and they prefer booths however what they don’t know is that if we sit them at a table and they want to move to a booth, our entire seating system and rotation is messed up because of one table. When that happens, it takes anywhere between 5 minutes and 50 minutes to get the rotation back to normal. Now as a host, I believe everyone should work in a restaurant as a host because it changes your whole perspective of the industry and it allows you to be more open to seating arrangements and even wait times.

Because I hold a role in the discourse community of a restaurant, it opened me up to a more personal perspective on my subject. I know what it takes to be a hostess and the responsibilities and capabilities of a hostess and this allowed me to fill in some of the major gaps in my research. I also filled those gaps with the interviews from my coworkers.

With this paper, I shine a spotlight and share the knowledge that I have and that I recovered in hopes to grow an appreciation for the hosting position in the restaurant industry. Even in Rock and Brews, the servers and even the managers often take the hosts/hostesses for granted because they think we are lower than them, when in reality, we have the same number of if not more responsibilities than them. It is hard to appreciate the hard work that goes into hosting if you are not a host. I also hope to share my knowledge with those who have never worked in the restaurant industry. With this, I hope it allows them to broaden their vision when being seated or when getting mad about how long the wait is (the host cannot control how busy the restaurant is).

Although my primary and secondary research supported my claim, I still feel that every restaurant is different. There is a lot of research that could still be done on this topic and I hope that someday, the hosting position in a restaurant will be praised for the hard work that is put into it.

Works cited

1. Bauer Michael. “The most important position in a restaurant is behind the host stand.” InsideScoop SF (2013) SFGATE. Web. 18 March 2018.
2. Mirabelli Tony “The Language and Literacy of Food Service Workers” in Writing About Writing, edited by Jabari Mahiri, Peter Lang, 2004, pp. 143-162.
3. Cruz Clarrissa. “What makes a Great Host” Inc.com Contributor. Inc.com. Web. 22 March 2018

Donald Trump was never a credible leader. He formally became the President of the United States of America on January 20, 2017. He was an agent and used to come to unscripted TV dramas. While Trump lost the mainstream vote by an edge of 3 million, he won the appointive vote in a presidential challenge which, as indicated by the American Intelligence Agencies was a consequence of the Russian Interference Campaign. Trump has owned tricky expressions in his political race battle. Several political and history specialists depicted his political crusade as something that had never been found in current American political issues previously. Tailing it will be of nothing unexpected to the peruser that substance in his inaugural speech would be of a similar worth as his announcements in his political battle.

Trump utilizes different expository systems to persuade the group of spectators, American individuals, that he is the most believable president chosen in US history. His particular methodology is the ‘Overstatement’ – he exaggeratedly shows things that persuade the peruser more by assaulting the feelings of the crowd as opposed to convincing the group of spectators through explanation and rationale. Although Trump attempts to utilize each of the three talk gadgets in his discourse to be specific ethos, logos, and emotion, the most unmistakable among these is tenderness to persuade the crowd why they should bolster his future arrangements.

Trump utilized ethos in his speech but was not successful in it. Trump more than once lost his validity according to basic eyewitnesses. By persistently utilizing the word ‘we’ in his discourse, Trump tries to portray that he is a piece of the populace on the loose. Notwithstanding, he is an extremely rich person. By pointing out in his discourse that the foundation has been appreciated for quite a long time to the detriment of the individuals, and saying that currently power will be moved from Washington back to the individuals of the United States, Trump shows himself as someone who opposes establishment, however as a general rule, himself is the piece of this foundation. By alluding to the school kids and their privileges, Trump praises himself as a saint battling for the individuals who get abused, however, in all actuality, through assessment gaps and deception (Trump University), he misused the American individuals more than any other President of the United States up to this date. By saying in his discourse that today was the day when the power is being moved back to the individuals, Trump attempts to commend himself as an extraordinary hero, yet freeing them from whom? Obama was a tyrant, which is difficult to accept since it was likewise a vote-based government. Trump attempts to utilize logos in a better fashion than ethos.

Trump uses logos in his contention to bring out faith in his group of spectators toward his future strategies. Trump guarantees in his discourse that each American kid merits a superior more promising time to come. He, at that point, proceeds onward to give realities to help this case. He says in his discourse that Obamacare premiums across the country have expanded by twofold and triple digits. Accordingly, Arizona went up by 116 percent a year ago alone. Senator Matt Bevin of Kentucky recently said that Obamacare is bombing his state is unsustainable and falling. At long last, Trump utilizes a warrant to make a coherent association between his case and proof. He says that slicing the controls at NDA and crosswise over the Government will spare more youngsters like Megan Crowley, an uncommon ailment survivor. By utilizing this strategy, Trump initially persuades the group of spectators that the American’s childrens’ future can be improved by lifting the controls at NDA. Through this warrant, he is in a considerably more agreeable situation to challenge the credibility of previous President Obama’s human services program. Henceforth, he utilizes human triumph to his benefit (Megan Crowley’s fight against the illness) which is an extremely amazing proclamation as few individuals would not be moved by Ms. Crowley’s staggering voyage, just to endure. Aside from this, little rationale is being found in Donald Trump’s Inauguration discourse. Generally, he made cases in his discourse without giving any bits of proof. He says that in the past individuals have endured, industrial facilities have been shut, and kids have been denied training, however gives no supporting realities to demonstrate his cases. These cases likewise demonstrate that Obama has done no good thing previously and in this manner, demonstrates Trump’s desire to recognize just the information that supports his point of view while not uncovering the information that supports the opposite. This misrepresentation of his discourse throws a negative impression of his information and decreases his believability inside the group of spectators. Trump uses pathos in a much improved than his use of ethos and logos.

Donald Trump depended intensely on the utilization of feeling in his contention. He utilized passionate interests as a substitute for rationale and reason. He utilized feelings to control individuals instead of persuading them through a balanced contention. He says that Americans as a whole drain a similar blood. They as a whole salute a similar banner and they are altogether made by a similar God. With this, Trump asserts that we are individuals with one goal. He likewise says that he is soliciting all individuals from Congress to go along with him in thinking beyond practical boundaries, and striking and brave things for the nation. These cases of Trump were acknowledged by American individuals with the compliment and unrealistic reasoning. Even though this case isn’t upheld by any proof, the individuals simply acknowledged it as truth since they wanted America to be like this. He additionally says that Lincoln was correct and it is the time Americans should pay attention to his words. He promised that he would not let America and its extraordinary organizations and laborers be exploited any longer. Trump utilizes speculation from a little model. This isn’t a point-to-point case of how 220 years back America tackled comparative financial issues, yet rather utilizes President Lincoln as a legitimizer rather than an upheld model.

All in all, Donald Trump’s discourse spins around the possibility of what changes will be there later on that were not there previously and how the power will be moved from Washington to the everyday citizens in the remainder of the States. Trump failed to utilize ethos in his speech as the genuine data was opposing to what has been told by him in his discourse which makes him less dependable inside the crowd. He tries to utilize logos in his discourse, but he does not give proof or measurable numbers to help his cases, yet rather depends on enthusiastic intrigue (poignancy) to pick up the help of the crowd for his future arrangements. Subsequently, regardless of whether we talk about the individual pieces of the discourse or the discourse all in all, the most prevailing talk procedure that Donald Trump utilizes in his discourse is poignancy which makes his discourse viable among his supporters. 

A discourse community is people with similar interest and goals in life, share a language that helps them discuss and accomplish these interests and goals. In the nursing community, many codewords are used for different events in situations. All nurses maintain the same goals for every patient; they all have to follow their scope of practice. Everybody works together, share responsibility, and make a decision to devise and carry out plans for patient care. The main goal is to be the patient’s caretaker for the time of their stay at the hospital. Swales six characteristic of the discourse community shows that nursing can fit with each topic.

Communication is a big part of being a nurse. There are various ways of communication being used. Nurses must outline messages verbally, written, and occasionally through signals depending on the patient’s need. Patient interaction is also a big part no matter what nursing specialties you choose. They have to explain the procedure no matter how small it is to the patient. It required them to use a language that the patient can understand. They must use a calm and low volume voice. Using a large vocabulary that patients don’t understand can be difficult. They must communicate with other nurses constantly. They can ask for help with how to do something or giving orders to save a patient’s life. Learning to listen is essential. You don’t want to miss any important information.

Two forms of a documentary in the nursing community are charting and technology. Charting is a handwritten form of documentation which provides medical and personal information about the patient. Today, technology has taken over. Hospitals are using electronic charting, a faster and easier way to access information. Some nurses use pagers to communicate with doctors and colleagues, but many nurses tend to use their phones instead. Nurses have a huge responsibility to complete a patient’s charting properly, as well as keeping a patient’s information disclosed and safe. Nurses must follow federal laws, which are strict guidelines preventing others from accessing the patient’s history. If a nurse is to violate patient privacy, they are likely to have a lawsuit filed on the hospital or themselves; which could result in receiving a fine or termination from their jobs.

Feedback improves knowledge, skills, and behaviors. It can motivate them and make them want to perform better. When exanimating a patient ask for their feedback on how you did. It will give you an understanding of what you did good and what you need to improve. You can learn from negative feedback. The American Nurse Today is the authorized journal of the American Nurses Association. (ANA) The journal supports nurses, provides trusted information sources, answer some questions that you may ask.

Nurses frequently use codes, abbreviations, and medical terminology that the patient is not well known. Some medical abbreviations used in the patients’ chart are: “Abd – Abdomen, A&D – Admission and discharge, ADL – Activities of daily living, Amb – Ambulatory, AP – Appendectomy, Cath – Catheter, CBC – Complete blood count, CBR – Complete bed rest, GI – Gastrointestinal”, etc. Nursing terminology is important to communicate with administrators and other nurses to care for patients. A nurse that doesn’t understand the terminology can hurt the patient. Errors in nursing can be very dangerous. Doctors rely on nurses to provide them with correct information.

Without any education or training, you cannot enter the medical field. Nursing is a very high demanding field. You need to have an associate’s degree or bachelor’s degree. Nurses must pass the National Council Licensure Examination- Practical Nursing (NCLEZ-PN) to receive a license. The test is computerized and has an average of 119 questions and must be completed within six hours (Learn How to Become). You can retake the test in 45 days. The average rate is around 70-75%. Once you pass the test you can work in hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, schools, and state prisons. You need to pass the nursing interview to get into these programs. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, nursing has a job outlook of growing by 12%, which is fast. There will be a lot of nurses joining the medical field in the next couple of years. Nurses are able to maintain their career for a long time. Nursing can be stressful, and you have to take care of sick patients all day. Why would you choose this career? Victoria said “I love helping people and I want to make a difference in people’s lives. The best way to handle stress is to be organized and attention to detail. Making a list of what you need to get done help. Stay calm and focused on what you need to get done. You have colleagues that will help you. Working as a nurse I see very weird things. Some days you have good days and other days you have bad days. Just remember not every life is going to be saved. You have to push through it and try to save the patients you can”.

In conclusion, Swales six characteristics of the discourse community shows that nursing can fit with each topic. They have goals, genres, communication, feedback, lexis, and hospital staff to help them. Nurses provide hands-on care to patients by monitoring a patient’s condition, maintaining records, and communicating with doctors. They provide emotional and psychological support to patients and their families. They spend more time with their patients than doctors. Nurses care for their patients and save lives.

I have been playing soccer since I was at the age of six. Over the time, I learned so many skillful attributes that are not only helpful for the team but also have been useful in my life. The soccer community enabled me to practice great work ethic, a closer bond between my teammates, and valuable life skills. I can bring these attributes to strengthen the Deerfield community.

Playing soccer developed various attributes such as concentration, focus, dealing with failures and success, perseverance, confidence, teamwork, active lifestyle, balancing time between sports and academics. All these things made me a well-rounded candidate to deal with everyday life challenges.

My soccer community helped bring up the overall teamwork by having our own group chat and being close to each other more than just a team that sees each other 4 times a week. My Valeo soccer community sharpened my skills by always pushing me to the fullest. The accomplishments I have had is when my team Valeo PSG won the NEFC tournament twice and ranked first in the state of Massachusetts. I am so proud to say that my team made it to the quarterfinals in Barcelona, Spain tournament called Iber cup. All these things boosted me and my team’s overall confidence. I can bring this confidence to Deerfield Academy to contribute and grow with the environment.

Winning or losing is part of the game and life. We never castigated the teammates for the mistakes and failures. We continue to learn from the failures and work hard as a team for success. These qualities made our team to be ranked first in the state and we work hard to retain that position.

Soccer also taught me self-discipline that I use in everyday life. Some of the soccer fields are about 2 hrs drive from my house. In addition, games are scheduled in the morning with 45 minutes warm up before the game. I get up early in the morning, get ready and show up on time for the warm-up

I have been playing soccer since I was at the age of six. Over the time, I learned so many skillful attributes that are not only helpful for the team but also have been useful in my life. The soccer community enabled me to practice great work ethic, a closer bond between my teammates, and valuable life skills. I can bring these attributes to strengthen the Deerfield community.

Playing soccer developed various attributes such as concentration, focus, dealing with failures and success, perseverance, confidence, teamwork, active lifestyle, balancing time between sports and academics. All these things made me a well-rounded candidate to deal with everyday life challenges.

My soccer community helped bring up the overall teamwork by having our own group chat and being close to each other more than just a team that sees each other 4 times a week. My Valeo soccer community sharpened my skills by always pushing me to the fullest. The accomplishments I have had is when my team Valeo PSG won the NEFC tournament twice and ranked first in the state of Massachusetts. I am so proud to say that my team made it to the quarterfinals in Barcelona, Spain tournament called Iber cup. All these things boosted me and my team’s overall confidence. I can bring this confidence to Deerfield Academy to contribute and grow with the environment.

Winning or losing is part of the game and life. We never castigated the teammates for the mistakes and failures. We continue to learn from the failures and work hard as a team for success. These qualities made our team to be ranked first in the state and we work hard to retain that position.

Soccer also taught me self-discipline that I use in everyday life. Some of the soccer fields are about 2 hrs drive from my house. In addition, games are scheduled in the morning with 45 minutes warm up before the game. I get up early in the morning, get ready and show up on time for the warm-up followed by a game. In the same manner, for exams, I get up earlier, get my checklists reviewed and be there in the exam center in advance to prevent the last minute rush.

Soccer community taught me a ‘Unity in Diversity’. Our team is made up of people that come from different backgrounds. However, that doesn’t matter because we are a team and we accept one another and their positions in the field.

I have been an offensive-minded player since my beginning of the soccer time. Being an offensive player, I have scored an ample number of goals at the required times for my team. My number #1 ranked NPL club team lost many defensive players that I truly cared. The team badly needed a defensive player to defend the team and to retain the ranking. Based on the team’s need, the coach asked to play a position where I never played before. Defense!!!! I got so scared that my heart almost missed a beat. The first time, when the coach asked me, I was uncomfortable and nervous, but being a team player that I am I did it, and I did it to help the team out. I have started this season as a defensive player for the first time in my life. The season is just over. You know what? My team is still ranked #1. I feel I am fully satisfied as I did my part well for the team, though the defense was not my strongest and favorite position. This boosted my overall faith in myself when dealing with any uncomfortable but required task. The confidence I learned from that instance was that if I work hard and face my fears I will be just fine to handle any given task. One of the important skills I have been looking to improve is my public speaking skills. I will definitely use this technique and hard work in Deerfield to get better at it.

We lost players that I truly cared about and I had to welcome and be a leader to new players coming in. That’s an emotional experience for anyone to go through and true life skills I have been getting from the soccer community. I expect such situation in Deerfield Academy to handle and help juniors.

Overall, my experience in the soccer community enabled me to become a better person. The attributes I have gathered from soccer helped often in the other aspects of my everyday life. I will bring such attributes to Deerfield Academy to achieve success in academics and sports teams, create meaningful friendships and attain better social and everyday skills.

Currently, being student of Occupational Therapists Assistant and Physiotherapists Assistant at Fleming college, I am writing this description for the students willing to join the physiotherapy discourse community. What is the history of physiotherapy community? What are its principal mechanisms of intercommunication? What kind of terminology does it have? This report will explore these and associated queries, drawing on my thoughtful observation and study of this community. I will accomplish with four recommendations on the significant steps a novice can take to become a fruitful member of the physiotherapy community.

Background

Physiotherapy is a healthcare profession that helps clients to re-establish, sustain and increase their strength, function, and movement. Physiotherapists are also known as movement specialists and have in-depth knowledge of how the human body works. After pursuing the program at university, they appear for Physiotherapy Competency Examination (PCE) and gets Registered physiotherapist after clearing it successfully. Physiotherapist do have assistants that helps in conducting therapeutic interventions. Physiotherapist’s Assistant (PTA) is not the registered label, but they have pursued the 2-year diploma program at college. Assistant works under the physiotherapists license.

Research and Analysis

Physiotherapists community fulfils all six characteristics that a discourse community should have, as described by john swales. According to swales, a “discourse community has a broadly agreed set of common public goals” (COMM202 – Communications II, 2019 para. 1). Physiotherapists focus is to gain maximum possible functional capacity of the client. Physio’s emphasis is on regaining the movements by exercise program. The common goal of all physiotherapists is to perform movements within the available range by not overstretching the muscles which can lead to serious injuries. The minimum set of goals are to make client independent and can carry out activities of daily living (ADLs). Patient’s satisfaction is the aim of every physiotherapist and they achieve this goal by providing results of the physical therapy treatment. Swales also notes that “a discourse community has mechanisms of intercommunication among their members” (COMM202 – Communications II, 2019 para. 2). Physiotherapists and their assistants communicate in medical terminology. For describing the movements like front, raise, lower, outward, invert, inward, rotate back, above, below, side, turn, bend we use the words like flexion, extension, abduction, adduction, internal rotation, external rotation, dorsiflexion, plantarflexion, inversion, eversion, protraction, retraction, elevation, depression and circumduction. When physiotherapist communicate with the patients, they used the laymen terms as described about, but when communicating internally we use the specific words for specific action or movement. This is to maintain accuracy while communicating about client’s status to other professionals. Swales stated “a discourse community has a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant content and discoursal expertise (COMM202 – Communications II, 2019). Mittal Sanishwara is head of physiotherapy department at SAL multi-speciality hospital. She has pursued Master of physiotherapy with specialization in cardiopulmonary conditions. She has experience of 20 years in this field with great leadership qualities. In an email conversation with her she explained, “I have been regularly participating in workshops and variety of training programs to keep up with new researches in the field” (M. Sanishwara, personal communication, February 1, 2020). Interns are the beginners in the field and are on placement under the observation of Physiotherapist at different hospitals and long-term care facilities. MPT are the masters in the field with specialization in orthopedic, cardiopulmonary or neurological conditions.

Conclusions and Recommendations

As revealed above, the physiotherapy community has its own set of exclusive goals, verbal communication through medical terminologies, and threshold levels of members. Grounded on my descriptions, education and knowledge, I would recommend the ensuing four moves for becoming successful as a physiotherapy professional in the area of health care:

1. Be a good listener because as a professional we need to assess numerous clients on daily basis. For diagnosing the correct condition, we must listen each of clients complains and make decision accordingly.
2. Gain the mandatory education at university and make yourself a competent professional to clear the high standard PCE license test.
3. Professionalism is an integral part of health care system. Learn to be disciplined and punctual.
4. Keep oneself healthy and fit. We need to be physically strong and should have good body mechanics to prevent ourselves from the injuries when treating clients.

Overall, new technologies and trends continues to open up with researches made in medical field. To become a successful physiotherapist, you need to be active, hardworking, dedicated and ready to receive knowledge anytime. Over a period, your advancement from beginner to proficient within this discourse community will depend on your competency and devotion in the field.

References

1. Templeman, B. (2020). In Depth: Six Characteristics of Discourse Communities. Retrieved from Fleming College my Campus Portal.

Texting is the downfall of the young generation’s minds and linguistic skills. This misconception drives the older generation mad due to their inability to get outside their stubbornness to allow the adaptations to the times. My reasons for researching this topic are to understand the way this community conducts itself and presents its rhetoric. Being able to control your rhetoric and apply it to your work is something essential when it comes to a community trying to make a claim. My discourse community focuses on the effects of texting on our youth. There is a scientific journal called PLoS One where there are articles that cover the effects that texting has on younger generations. My discourse community is simply trying to address the misconceived notions that revolve around the topic of texting. Most people believe that texting ruins our linguistic skills when it comes to writing, speech, and social situations. However, my discourse community wants to make it clear that this is a normal part of the evolution of language and is the reason why language to this day still thrives due to its ability to adapt. My sources use various tactics to relate to their projected audience, including, visual rhetoric, injecting a pathos into their writings, and finally adding an ethos to persuade the audience with facts.

My first source by John Mcwhorter, is a Ted Talk expressing his view on the stigma that affects our older generation. He takes the stance that texting is advancing language rather than the preconceived notion that it’s destroying it. Mcwhorter uses examples from previous generations to try and make his audience see that they aren’t the first generation to have the same concerns. He uses these examples to make the audience self-reflect, but at the same time allows him to connect with his audience and claim to be just like them. The goal of his presentation is to show the audience the errors in their mindsets and try to make them adopt his way of thinking. His point of view on texting and his expertise allow him to persuade his audience as well as make the audience see him as a reliable source. His visual rhetoric also allows for the connection between him and the audience because he is dressed casually just like an average blue/white collared worker. These minor details enable him to persuade his audience and build a connection with them to solidify his claim.

The article written in English Live uses a comedic approach to start the reader off with a connection to the article. It then makes an argument for both sides of the debate and shows the differences in opinion. On top of that, it also acts as a pros and cons to texting and the effects it has. The article was meant to target the older generation and with that in mind, the way the article starts is key to its success. The exaggeration of the abbreviations at the start of the article shows how comedic texting can be. This makes the audience not take it seriously which is the goal of the article. Texting shouldn’t be something that’s taken so seriously, but rather taken in a comedic way where it’s just people talking and not writing deliberate forms of writing.

Both articles inject pathos through comedy to show their audience that texting shouldn’t be taken so seriously. Texting is simply a new form of communication that was enabled through technology and the evolution of our language. Another aspect of the two articles is that both make it so that they include facts and examples to show why their point is valid and correct. The stance that these articles take is what makes their entire argument come together and what enables them to use tactics that involve their rhetoric. Taking a stance against the common stigma brings them attention and the increased attention also allows for their ideals to be heard by a larger mass of people. Any subject that’s against the norm causes it to become looked at more even if it’s not in a positive light. Being able to take that attention and transform it into an experience for the audience enables them to persuade and show why their mindsets should be adopted by their audiences. Both articles try to show the reasons why texting is not destroying language and the beneficial outcomes that come from texting.

In conclusion, the way these articles present their argument and the way that they connect with their audiences allows them to highlight the misconceptions that revolve around texting. The rhetoric presented by both articles is similar in a way and expresses the way that this group comes together to push the same point. Although both sources have different levels of credibility the endpoint is the same whether it’s a Ted Talk from a scholar linguist like McWhorter or a writer for English Live. It’s important to understand that the constant bashing about texting and its negative effects is simply the ignorant words of the older generation who doesn’t fully understand it due to it being the youth’s evolution and not their own.

My analysis is on the misconceptions of texting and the projected audience that I am trying to convince is the older generation. I am showing how my sources use rhetoric such as pathos and ethos to convince their audiences that the stigma that they all believe in is misguided and wrong. My rhetorical situation is to state the ways that these articles support my thesis and to use ethos to show my readers why these sources are key to understanding my argument. Showing the techniques used by this group allows the readers to self-reflect and allows them to get out of their ignorance. My issue with my draft is that I believe that I may have messed up with my punctuation especially when it comes to my commas. Another concern that I have is that I want my analysis to appeal to an older generation and the fact that I’m of the younger generation creates a barrier where I can only relate to them so much. I’d like to know if my draft possesses good rhetoric to connect with my projected audience while at the same time making it clear that I am of the younger generation for credibility purposes. The only sources I have is about older generations connecting and I want my analysis to have a younger generation member connect to an older one to diminish the gap between our mindsets.

Sources:

1. “The Influence of Texting Language on Grammar and Executive Functions in Primary School Children.” PloS One, Public Library of Science, 31 Mar. 2016, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4816572/ (Links to an external site.)
2. McWhorter, John. “Transcript of ‘Txtng Is Killing Language. JK!!!’.” TED, https://www.ted.com/talks/john_mcwhorter_txtng_is_killing_language_jk/transcript?language=en.
3. “Is Text Messaging Ruining the English Language?” EF English Live, 30 July 2019, https://englishlive.ef.com/blog/english-in-the-real-world/is-text-messaging-ruining-the-english-language/.

Contemporary Genre Theories (ESP, New Rhetoric, SFL)

The term comes from the French (and originally Latin) word for ‘kind’ or ‘class’ and appeared in rhetoric, literary theory, media theory, and more recently in linguistics as referring to a distinctive type of ‘text’. Different approaches applied in order to form a basis for defining genres.

Vandenberg provides the following definitions of genre as these appear across many different disciplines, for example:

Hyon (1996) stresses that there are three main approaches to genre in applied linguistics. The three schools are English for Special Purposes (ESP), the North American New Rhetoric and the Systemic Functional Linguistics approach (SFL).

Swales (1981, 1990) studied the discourse structure and linguistic features of scientific research articles, thus he is deemed as the founder of ESP genre analysis. In the ESP realm, discourse structures are usually described in terms of moves, and communicative purpose is given an important role. Hymes (1972) was the first who developed the concept of a ‘communicative event’ and its importance lies in the fact that it can be used to deal with the communicative reality of professional contexts. Therefore, a genre (Swales, 1990, p.58) is defined as “a class of communicative events, the members of which share some set of communicative purposes”. Swales (1990, p.58) further states “these purposes are recognised by the expert members of the parent discourse community, and therefore constitute the rationale for the genre”.

Swales did not father the notion of ‘discourse community’, but he states that it is the “parent of genre” (Swales (1990, p.58). Although he acknowledges the contribution of various social constructionist theorists to the formation of the said notion (for example, Wittgenstein, Kuhn, Perelman Rorty, Porter, Geertz), he endorses the definition given by Herzberg, (1986, p.1, as cited in Swales, 1990, p.21) where “language use in a group is a form of social behaviour”.

Swales is of the opinion that a discourse community is considered as a sociorhetorical unit comprising of people who share objectives where socialization and solidarity are not required. According to Swales (1990, p.24), a discourse community “recruits its members by persuasion, training or relevant qualification”. He proposed (1990, 24-27) six defining characteristics for identifying a discourse community, i.e., members’ common public goals; mechanisms of intercommunication; a participatory mechanism for exchanging information and feedback; use of genres to further the community’s aims; specific lexis; members possessing relevant expertise. His definition has been criticised, for example, Mauranen (1993) argued that Swales’ definition of discourse communities is restrictive because it excludes academic and scientific communities, since only individual disciplines might meet all or some of these criteria (Martines, 2003-4).

The modern ESP approach to genre is more pragmatic than theory- centred. As Alyousef & Alyahya (2018) observe, ESP classifies genres as the formal properties and the communicative purposes of both spoken and written texts within the social context.

Swales’ definition is influenced by New Rhetoric Genre theory. He (1990, p.58) defined genre as “a constitutive aspect of specialised languages”. In shaping this definition, he combined rhetoric and linguistics. His approach to genre theory, as Devitt (2015) suggests, is “highly rhetorical, involving such classically rhetorical concepts as purpose, audience, and means”.

The New Rhetorical approach qualifies genre studies as discourses which are socially motivated, generated, and constrained (Coe & Freedman, 1998, p. 137) thus enabling us to define “the possibilities of meaning in discourse” (Hanks, 1987, p. 670). Therefore, the distinguishing feature of the new theory is that a discourse should be judged on what it does (Coe & Freedman, 1998; Coe, Lingard, & Teslenko, 2002a). In other words, the New Rhetorical theory treats genre “as typified social action rather than as conventional formulas” (Devitt, 2000, p. 697).

According to Miller (1984/1994a, p. 37), who is considered as the most influential figure with regard to the new rhetoric approach, genre is a rhetorical means which mediates “private intentions and social exigence; it motivates by connecting the private with the public, the singular with recurrent.” The development of ‘recognizable genres’ assists rhetors with “the recognition of situations as alike as recurrent” (Bazerman, 1997, p. 22). The rhetorical situation is seen as socially constructed and as Artemeva (2004, p.8) emphasised, by situating exigencies within the social context, Miller’s definition considers genre as extending beyond regularities in textual features. Exigence is not only part of our experience and our concept of a recurring situation but also part of our response to the situation (Bawarshi, 2000). In plain words, exigence is a moment in which something happened or did not happen and compelled a person to speak or write.

In summary, according to Miller (1984/1994), a genre can be understood as a frequently repeated social action by an individual social actor or group of actors for fulfilling their rhetorical purpose, is rule-governed, is distinguishable from form, in the sense that form is more general than genre, genre is a pattern of language use, i.e. genre shapes the culture. Therefore, human action, whether symbolic or otherwise, “is interpretable only against a context of situation and through the attributing of motives” (Miller, 1984/1994, p.24).

Pare & Smart (1994, p.147) further elaborated on Bazerman,’s theory (who stressed that genres are sets of shared expectations among both readers and writers) by defining genre as a distinctive profile of regularities across four dimensions: a set of texts, the composing processes involved in creating these texts, the reading practices used to interpret the texts, and the social roles performed by writers and readers (Artemeva & Myles, 2015).

Berkenkotter & Huckin (1995) also contributed to the new rhetorical approach by introducing a sociocognitive aspect of genre. They suggested five principles that constitute a theoretical framework for genre study. The first one is that genres are dynamic rhetorical forms subjected to changes when the discourse community and its members’ perceptions of the world change as well. The second principle is ‘situatedness’, meaning that genre is a form of ‘situated cognition’ in the sense that knowledge is embedded in communicative activities of daily and professional life. The third principle states that genre knowledge includes both form and content. The fourth principle is called duality of structure, i.e. genres constitute and reproduce social structures and the fifth principle is called ‘community ownership’ and states that it is genre conventions that indicate a discourse community’s norms, epistemology, ideology and social ontology.

The New Rhetoric School, which is more ideological, explores the sociocultural aspects of genres and sees them from the perspective of literary theories rather than linguistic ones. According to Alyousef & Alyahya (2018, p.93), “genres include members who have values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviours”.

The Systemic Functional Linguistics approach (SFL) was developed by Halliday during the 1960s in the UK and then in Australia (Almurashi, (2016)). In SFL, a text is analyzed in four ways: Context, Semantics, Lexico-grammar, and Phonology. Context is integral to the overall process of making meaning. In fact, when language occurs in a context, it will relate to or is linked to the Context of Culture (genres) and the Context of Situation (register) (Matthiessen & Halliday 1997). Martin (1985, p. 25) defines genres as a “staged, goal-oriented, purposeful activity in which speakers engage as members of our culture”. There are thus as many different genres as there are recognizable activity types in a culture.

In SFL the use of language is a social semiotic, in the sense that language is a meaning-making system (Thompson 1990). The semiotic nature of language allows for language to be meaning creating. Halliday (1998, p.2) states that language is “the only semiotic system that embodies all human experience and all human relationships.” To sum up, the forms of language are shaped by key features of the context of situation which can be described in terms of register variables.

According to Halliday’s model concerning the context of situation, the aspects of the context relate intimately to the language used to create text, in terms of three important strands (Matthiessen & Halliday, 1997). These are Field, Tenor and Mode (Halliday 1978). Field is the area of external reality with which the text deals. Tenor is the relationships between those participating in the linguistic act and Mode is the means through which the communication takes place.

The SFL model is construed in terms of three metafunctions, i.e. Mood (interpersonal), Transitivity (ideational), and Theme (textual) which act simultaneously and systematically not distinctly or independently in a text. The ideational, interpersonal and textual metafunctions (Eggins, 1994) are reflected in a huge system network of meaning potentials including subnetworks of Transitivity, Thing, and Quality with specific set of semantic features for an utterance production (Haratyan, 2011).

Eggins (1994, p.78) relates genre, register and language as follows: 1) Language is used with a function or purpose, and this use is related to a given situation and a specific culture. 2) The context of culture (genre) is more abstract, more general, than the context of situation (register). 3) Genres are realised through languages, and this process of realising genres in language is mediated through the realization of register.

For Systemicists, genre is a schematic unit characterised by social conventions. The schematic structure of a text is the crucial factor which identifies that it belongs to a particular genre. There are elements of schematic structure that are defining of a genre (i.e. obligatory elements) and others that are optional. A genre is thus defined in terms of its obligatory elements of schematic structure and variants of a genre (i.e. subgenres) are those texts in which the obligatory schematic structure elements are realised together with optional elements (Martines, 2003-4). According to Hasan (1996, p. 54), Placement, Finale and Moral are optional elements, whereas Initiating Event, Sequent Event and Final Event are obligatory. By identifying the obligatory and optional elements in the text, we are able to explore, in terms of genre, what are their variable and invariable properties.

For the Systemicists, genre can be defined in terms of linguistic properties alone. However, Paltridge (1997a, p. 104) is of the opinion that the structure of a text is not genre defining, since it is not the presence of particular discourse structures alone which leads to the recognition of a text as an instance of a genre, but rather “the co-occurrence and interaction of each aspect of discourse structure with other components of interactional and conceptual frames in their entirely”. Paltridge thus sees genre assignment on the basis of both pragmatic and perceptual conditions (Martines, 2003-4).

To sum up, Systemacists’ major contribution to the genre theory was the introduction of the Generic Structure Potential (GSP) (Hasan 1996; Halliday & Hasan 1985), which is the above mentioned analytical framework that allows us to identify the possibilities of instantiation of any genre. Moreover, SFL takes a linguistic approach towards genre by applying functional grammar and discourse theories. The author’s/speaker’s social purposes affect the linguistic choices made.

Bhatia (1993, 2004) bridges the gap between New Rhetoric and SFL by proposing a multi-perspective four-space model of discourse analysis (2002 and 2004). Bhatia’s interest is on professional discourse analysis, in which discourse, as defined within this context, is ‘an instance of the use of written language to communicate meaning in particular context, irrespective of any particular framework for analysis’ (Bhatia, 2004, p.18). Therefore, as Wan, Fakhruddin & Hassan (2015) suggest, Bhatia’s model is based on textual, tactical, professional and social spaces. They state that “These spaces represent the overlapping grounds where discourses operate within and across these spaces from different perspectives” (ibid, p.59). Therefore Bhatia’s pattern commences with a textual analysis and extends to the socio-cognitive and socio-critical space.

Both SFL and ESP approach the study of genre from the linguistic perspective, however, SFL sees genre from a cultural point of view, which is at a macro level (explanations, recounts, reports) while ESP, according to Wan, Fakhruddin & Hassan (2015, p.65) “locates genre within the context defined by discourse communities (research articles, legislative documents, job application letters)”. ESP treats genres as communicative tools situated within social contexts, while RGS sees genres as sociological concepts which include textual and social ways of knowledge, being and interacting in particular contexts (Bawarshi & Reiff, 2010).

However, these theories have been widely criticised. First of all, it is genre’s definition that is problematic. According to Feuer (1992, p.144), “A genre is ultimately an abstract conception rather than something that exists empirically in the world”, therefore, genre cannot be accurately defined. As Chandler (1997) suggests, what meaning a theorist attributes to genre, for another may be sub-genre or even super-genre. Another problem is who defines what genre is and who determines the shape of genres. Is it the author, the reader or the text itself? According to Rosmarin (1985), none of them, it is the critic instead. Genre is a critical tool rather than a language-making tool; it is not an operational tool either. However, to rhetoricians it is the author and reader those who define and determine the conceptual shape of genres (Devitt, 2000).

Another problem is that genres may constrain and inhibit authorial creativity but contemporary theorists reject this view (Fowler 1982), in the sense that authors “can rely on readers already having knowledge and expectations about works within a genre” (Chandler, 1997), although some theorists are of the opinion that readers consume generic texts passively, owing to the facts that they are aware of the generic conventions and others, such as Knight (1994), believe that genres provide a framework that helps readers to identify, select and interpret texts, hence it is an active process for readers.

However, as Artemeva & Myles (2015) state, in the recent years genre researchers are of the opinion that a combination of these approaches could be productive in terms of genre research and pedagogy. More particularly, by combining ESP and RSG, since they share the same view of genre as the social practice of a community, the outcome would be the expansion of the fundamental views on genre and the ways in which they are studied and researched.

In Diane Guerrero’s article “My Parents Were Deported” she argues that those who have had their parents deported often go through a tough time in their life. She states that “Children who grow up separated from their families often end up in foster care, or worse, in the juvenile justice system…” (Guerrero 488). Using language and a common goal to connect with her audience who, like me have had their parent(s) deported, she is able to put herself into a position where she can be a part of those communities with people alike .This is important because throughout her article she explains how some people whose parents are taken away by deportation can have a negative impact on their life. Guerrero’s use of persuasive devices like ethos, pathos, logos and her uses of causal and factual classes of arguments not only let her connect with her audience but helps her write a logical argument. Although Guerrero uses persuasive devices and classes of arguments in her writing, her writing can be seen to have comparison to what Don Murray, John Swales, James Gee, and Keith Grant-Davie say about someone’s language and writing and how that can make them apart of a discourse community.

First, Guerrero who has firsthand experience with her parents and other family members being deported gives her credibility to connect with her audience. Guerrero states that “I am a citizen daughter of immigrant parents who were deported when I was 14” (487). she gives herself credibility by saying that she too has gone through her family members being deported which gives her audience the idea that she knows the struggle and knows what she is talking about. In other words, her ethos suggest that she is like other people who have had their family deported. This gives her audience a sense that they are not in this alone and that someone is out there in the world trying to better the life of people who also have experienced this traumatic life experience of loved ones being deported and is bringing awareness to the issue.

In fact, I would argue that Guerrero’s writing can relate to what Don Murray says in that “all writing is autobiographical”. Murray says “we are autobiographical in the way we write…my voice is a product of Scottish genes and a Yankee environment… (67). Guerrero whose writing is a product of her parents being deported uses specific language like “I am a citizen daughter of immigrant parents who were deported…” through her experience of her parents deportation she bring that forth into her writing and is able to easily relate to her audience. Through this she is able to further her reach to a younger audience and further credibility.

Guerrero then uses pathos to engage with her audience emotionally. She states that “…my childhood was haunted by the fear that they would be deported” (487) showing that she was always is constant fear that she would come home to an empty house. She then adds that “My family and I worked very hard to keep our relationship strong, but too—short phone calls and the annual summer visit I made to Columbia didn’t suffice” (487). Her writing makes the audience think that what if that was them, what if they were only able to see their loved ones during the summer and phone call where shortened, she makes those who are reading feel sympathetic for those in that position. Guerrero continues the use of pathos when she notes that “And though I was surrounded by people who cares about me, part of me ached with every accomplishment because my parents weren’t there to share my joy” (487). She brings attention to the fact that although she is accomplishing once in a lifetime events, they all felt worthless because the people who she wanted to share that feeling of worth with is not with her or even witnessing it. In her writing Guerrero thoroughly considers her audience by showing some feeling and emotion on how she felt at that time for those who might now have gone through the same thing. She gives off strong use of emotion with words like “ached” and “haunted” to give off the message she intends to send which is the state of which people go through as they have their family members taken away from them.

Additionally, we can see that Guerrero uses what John Swales defines as a characteristic of a discourse community. Guerrero engages with her audience through the use of “specific lexis” or language used in a discourse community. Her usage of specific word like “ached” and “haunted” shows that she knows how it feels to be living in constant fear and pain. Doing this she shows how she belongs to a discourse community. Her use of these words further prove that she knows what it feels like to have your parents deported or knowing that it’s a possibility any day. Further, we can see that Guerrero’s article can also refer to what James Gee describes as an “identity kit”. Gee says that “a discourse is a sort of identity kit which comes complete with the appropriate costume and instructions on how to act, talk and often write… (7). Through her use of specific words, Guerrero is able to connect with those in her audience who have experienced the same as her and has become a part of their “identity”.

Secondly this article has a kairotic moment for immigrants. She writes this article during the time President Obama was in office. She writes the article at a time when talk about immigration is at its highest. She even writes “President Obama has promised to act on providing deportation relief for families across the country, and I would urge him to do so quickly” (488). By stating that President Obama has promised relief to families, she gives her audience a motive to hold President Obama somewhat accountable if he does not. Therefore, Guerrero argues, “Keeping families together is a core American value” (488). Here Guerrero appeals to her readers, though her audience has now broadened from immigrants and their families to people who appreciate American values and want to keep families together. This allows Guerrero to paint a bigger picture and point out that the deportation of families is not only tearing families apart but also going against the American core value

In the same way, Guerrero uses another characteristic of a discourse community that John Swales describes as a “common public goal”. Swales says, “In some instances, but not in many, the goals may be high level or abstract” (471). Guerrero sets a goal for the American people that there needs to be change on how immigrants are represented. Although this may be a tough goal to accomplish Guerrero tries to get the attention of President Obama to act quickly on the situation. In doing so Guerrero has now set constraints for her writing. Keith Grant-Davie describes a constraint as ‘persons, events, objects, and relations which are parts of the situation because they have the power to constrain decision and action needed to modify the exigence” (266). Since Guerrero has addressed the President and Congress, they now are a part of this common goal she has asked needs to be fixed, they now too have the power to help with the goal or not. Likewise, with Gee’s “identity kit”, since she is addressing the President and Congress, she needs to have a sense of formality in her writing so they can recognize her problem.

In addition to using persuasive device, Guerrero also uses causal and factual classes of arguments to further her argument about the impact of deportation. Guerrero writes that “Children who grow up separated from their families often end up in foster care, or worse, in the juvenile justice system…” (Guerrero 488). She states that children who may have their parents taken away may cause them to make bad choices or end up with a family who really does not care for them. Guerrero also uses a factual class of argument when she observes that President Obama “…promised to act on providing deportation relief for families across the country, and I would urge him to do so quickly” (Guerrero 488). She uses President Obama’s promise to help to show that there is proof of people trying to help and that there is discussion about deportation to further her argument that deportation is not only something she faced, but a problem thousands of people have also faced across the country.

In the end using ethos, pathos, logos and causal and factual classes of arguments Guerrero develops a logical argument in her writing. Also, with the use of language and the characteristics of a discourse community, Guerrero is able to put herself into a community of people, like me, who have had their family members deported and have been through the struggle of life. First, we must see that Guerreros own struggle with her family being deported give her credibility. She has gone through the emotion and feeling that comes after the realization knowing that your parents aren’t coming back. She says that her parents were deported when she was just 14 gives her the experience that she knows the feeling of being left alone. Secondly, we see Guerrero use pathos throughout her article to connect with her reader emotionally in her writing. This is important for her audience because not all her audience have probably gone through times like these, but it gives them an insight of what people might have gone through or were feeling at that time. The use of classes of arguments further her writing and connect with the audience and create an argument that the separation of families is against core American values. Guerrero also encourages other to do more about separating families by saying “…it’s not just in the interest of immigrants…it’s in the interest of all Americans” (488). Finally Guerrero is able to refer to John Swales, James Gee, Don Murray, Keith Grant-Davie to further her credibility and show that she is apart of a discourse community.