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Outline
The introductory part of the topic Discourse Community begins by the discussion about the term Discourse. The body paragraphs speak about the Discourse Community based on Red Cross as one among them. The work also analyses the texts of Red Cross that reveal their field of activity. The concluding part of the paper discusses about the services and features of Red Cross.
Discourse Community
The discussion on the topic Discourse Community probably begins with the proper understanding of the terms ‘discourse’ and ‘community’. The term ‘discourse’, when analyzed, refers to a serious speech or a serious piece of writing. It means spoken or written language including literary works. In the web article entitled, ‘Discourse communities and the social construction of reflection in teacher education’, Alan Ovens shares his views about Discourse Community.
The author remarks; “The concept of discourse relates to the influential role communicative practices play in constituting the social world.” (Ovens, 506). A Discourse Community promotes communicative practices among the group in a unanimous way.
It is common knowledge that discourse can be of two types: discourse of mode and discourse of purpose. Discourse of mode includes narration, description, exposition and argument. In the discourse of purpose, the writer’s or speaker’s purpose is to inform or to persuade or to entertain the reader or listener. There are some categories of language use, which affect language variation. These are tenor, mode and domain. The category of mode is particularly important because it is related to the distinction between speeches and writing. The obvious distinction for English is between the auditory and visual medium.
A discourse community is that which includes the people who share similar thoughts, concepts and ideas. Mostly every one belongs to one discourse community or the other. For example, a child belongs to a discourse community of his/her family and a student belongs to a discourse community of his/her institution. Though there emerges several kinds of discourses, some times it plays a negative role too. Miles points out in his ‘Little Discourse Communities and the Discourse of Experience’ that “The development of new discourse communities can serve positive ends, but discourse communities create risks as well.” (Jordens and Sayers).
When one is in the middle of a group of people who share the same ideas or passions and if one failed to understand their speeches, it will mean that the person does not belong to that discourse community. Of course, a student belongs to a larger discourse community of his family, colleagues, clubs, and class room and so on. Discourse is a method through which one discusses one’s thoughts and ideas either by conversation or by written form.
It is through this that one communicates with the social world one lives in. When a person is in a discourse community he must first of all be aware of what type of language they use, how it is used, what knowledge it gives us and how it generally motivates the community. Most often one does not use language to communicate, but the group gathers together for analysis and discussion. To achieve their goals they will communicate with each other.
The discourse community will have same interest but their goal will be different. For example, if one goes through the works of different poets who are rightly regarded as nature poets, their themes, ideas, use of languages and their concept will be the same but the net result will differ, meaning that the entire work will not be same. When it comes to analyzing literary discourse, the different factors like style, grammar, figures of speech involving irregularities and regularities, cohesion and context are to be taken into account. The excellence of literary artist must be evident ultimately from his choice of language.
Literary samples from great masters of literature can be taken up and analyzed in this way so as to find out the excellence that lies in their work. Tenor has to do with the relationship between a speaker and addressee in a given situation and is often characterized by greater or less formality.
To illustrate this, if the relationship between the speaker and the addressee is distant and official, as in a legal document the tenor will be formal, but if it is close and intimate as in a conversation between husband and wife the tenor will be informal.. Domain has to do with how language varies according to the activity in which it plays a part. In other words language varies according to the function it is fulfilling. Language can be used to convey information, express feelings and persuade some one to do some thing like writing poetry or talking about language itself.
The concept of discourse community developed from the speech community and interpretive community. “Swales described a discourse community that was united only by written communication.” (Borg, 399). The members of speech community bind together by their choice. They usually concentrated on the use of written communication and analysis.
One of the best examples of the Discourse Community that exerts a predominant influence in social service is Red Cross. Their main aim is to give a helping hand to the needy and poor without any discrimination. When there is a heat attack, a need for blood and a call for emergency help there come the Red Cross. Red Cross is a private agency which is based on giving their time, blood and money. They focused on helping the disaster victims by giving them shelter, food and water and so on. As it is an international organization, one can find different Discourse Communities working under it.
The discourse community including Red Cross agencies were blood donating services, which collect enough blood to give those who are the victims of accident, cancer and blood disorder; The Emergency Communication Services which offers a helping hand to the military members and their families; next is the International Services which gives priority on disease preventions, disaster management and also helps to reunite the family links.
The remarkable service rendered by the Red Cross has mostly cantered on war and its disasters. Red Cross’s service among the victims of Sep.11 American World Trade Centre attack was praiseworthy. One gets proof of it from the words of Lincoln Anderson when he rightly remarks about the service of the Red Cross. He remarks: “Chinatown civic and business group and Community Board 3 both got some first aid last Thursday. Each has been awarded a Sept. 11 Recovery Grant by the American Red Cross Liberty Disaster Relief Fund to help improve the community.” (Anderson).
One can see it as their program to help those who suffer from the terrorist attacks. Red Cross has published various texts and online journals warning people of the different disasters and also revealing its aims. The online article entitled ‘A Sure Presence, The American Red Cross Response to Hurricanes’ in 2008, is the one that warns people of the hurricanes which are quite common in America. Another web article ‘American Red Cross Guide to Services’ throws light on Red Cross and its activities as a social service organization. To conclude, one can infer that Discourse Community assumes a major role in promoting group activities which are capable of achieving great things in life.
Works Cited
Anderson, Lincoln. The Red Cross provides aid to Chinatown and L.E.S. The Villager 75. 21 (2005): 12-18. Web.
Borg, Erik. Key Concepts in ELT: Discourse Community. 2003. Web.
Jordens, Christopher F C., and Sayers, Emma-Jane. Discourse Communities and the Discourse of Experience. Health: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the social Study of Health, Illness, and Medicine 7. 1 (2003): 73-86. Sage Journals Online. Web.
Mascle, Deanna. Writing Tips – Understanding Discourse Community and Its Importance: So why is it important for writers to consider discourse community? Isnare. 2009. Web.
Ovens, Alan. Discourse Communities and the Social Construction of Reflection in Teacher Education: Discourse Communities. Herdsa. 2002. Web.
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