Intro and Synthesis

            It has been said every day you learn something new. Now I believe this to be a true statement because every day you are constantly learning. Now consider this idea in to literacy learning. Every day you constantly evolve and acquire new literacies. Various authors call these literacies Discourses or discourses, which make up multiple discourse communities. Everything you do can be considered a discourse community, in my personal opinion. Discourses are group members’ shared ways of being in the world. People typically have multiple discourses which, make up their everyday lives. When a group of people share goals or purposes and use communication to achieve them, these groups is classified as a discourse community. Each discourse community has six distinct characteristics helping to define what a discourse community is. Many people also have multiple discourse communities which all require different kinds of attention to be accepted in this community.

            Discourses can be broken down in many different ways, but they are primarily separated into discourses and Discourses. A Discourse could be considered an identity kit, including instructions on how to talk, act, and often write. Discourses with a capital ‘D’ are forms of life being a man or women, Asian or American. Discourse spelled with a lower case ‘d’ is the language used within a Discourse. This is important because you can have a discourse without a Discourse; connecting together to create discourse communities. One of my personal discourse communities is the Ohio University Equestrian Team. This discourse community would be considered a Discourse in my life because it consumes most of my life. This team covers all six aspects of discourse communities by John Swales. We have common public goals and requirement the entire team has to fulfill. Our members are constantly staying in contact with people within and without this discourse community. We have mechanisms in place required of our members to make sure everyone has constant feedback. There are standards for accomplishing tasks. The team has special lexis, which a member outside of our discourse might not be aware what this term means. Finally, the equestrian team has a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant content including the expertise we have compared to the novice riders.

            These are the social practices of the Ohio University Equestrian team. People outside of this discourse community may not have the knowledge and expertise to understand our Discourse community, as James Paul Gee discusses, agreeing with aspects of Swales six characteristics. Gee discusses how the social practice may cause conflict within or between discourses. As I stated before, from scholarly author Elizabeth Wardle, there are certain lexis’s or terms outsiders wouldn’t understand about this discourse. Coinciding with Swales, Wardle, and Gee, Devit et al discusses the genres or small classifications which make up discourse communities. On the other hand Malinowitz talks about gender contrasts and the conflicts that can occur within a discourse community. This applies to the Equestrian team considering it is a female dominate Discourse.