Angela Bethea Megan Keaton Eng 111-09 18, June 2013

Bethea1

My Two Discourse Communities Discourse communities are communities that use different forms of communication. Discourse communities have different goals to accomplish. Even though these communities are different, they can be similar. Discourse communities can also teach a participant to be social with others. This essay contains the goals, function, types of participants, and genre of writing the communities have. The community Eng 111-09 are college students and a college instructor whose name is Megan. The participants in the community are people of different races, ages, and genders. They are casually dressed, but sometimes dressed professionally. The students are expressive, eager to learn, and opinionated. Some of the students are quiet, but these students have good ideas and opinions as well. The students seem to work well together in groups, they all have different opinions about topics. They also become helpful if someone in the class is unsure about something. Megan has the position as an instructor. The school had the authority of hiring Megan. Megan obtained this position be applying for a job as an instructor and attending a job interview. The students however had a different process to become a student. The students decided for themselves whether or not they wanted to become students. For a person to become a student the person has to first fill out a college application. The person takes a placement test so that they are placed in the right classes. The person attends an orientation to learn how to use the college

Bethea 2

website and student services. They can then register for classes. When a person has a student id made they are officially a student. In Eng 111-09 the community functions are group discussions, posting assignments to moodle and blogger.com, workshopping, and the write into the day. Group discussions help the students come up with ideas about writing. The participants are allowed to state their opinions. This helps them say whatever is on their minds about the topic being discussed. Group discussions can be about writing or they can be about the topic of the paper the participants are working on. The discussions can also help with explaining the write into the day. These discussions usually take place at the beginning or middle of the class period. Workshopping is when the students get into assigned groups and read their first draft papers. Each student has fifteen minutes to read their papers and get feedback from their group members. This helps the students create their second drafts which have to be submitted to Megan for grading. Workshopping is an effective process for the participants because their group members can point out any areas that need improvement. First the student states their concerns about their paper. The student reads their paper to their group members. Then the group members give the student helpful feedback. This activity occurs at the beginning and sometimes middle of class. The participants of the community use resources on the school website. The school website is cpcc.edu on the website there is a program called Moodle. Moodle is where the students submit papers and find homework assignments. Also with moodle the students can check their grades and Megans blog which shows what the participants did in class daily. The students can post blogs on blogger.com. Each participant in the class has their own account. This

Bethea 3

website is used to post daybook entries, to post first drafts, and to answer homework questions assigned by Megan. The write into the day is a daily daybook entry every student writes about in their daybook. Megan puts the write of the day onto the projector for all students to copy and answer. Sometimes the participants talk about the write into the day in group discussions. The write into the day can be used to post on the blog as a daybook entry. The write into the day is used to get the participants in the community thinking and coming up with opinions about what they think about the topic. The write into the day takes place at the beginning or the middle of class. One genre of writing that is used in this community is writing papers. The organizations of the papers have to be in MLA format. MLA format is a writing format that must have one inch margins, the paper must have page numbers, the text has to be double spaced, and the title must be one inch from the header. The context that goes into the writing is what the topic is about. For example, if a topic is about a master student, the paper would contain the qualities a master student has. The exigence of the writing genre for example, is when a student asks their group members in a workshop to correct any problems in their paper. The genre of the writing in this community usually explains the topic to the reader. The rhetors are the students in the community. Megan is the audience of the students papers. Although when the students workshop, their group members become the audience. This communitys genre of writing teaches someone who doesnt know about a subject. For example, the definition essay assignment the participants wrote explains to someone how to write a good piece of academic writing. This helps the community become more specific with the words written in papers. Some participants use examples to further explain what they mean. Writing papers like these help the community become better writers. The goal in this community

Bethea 4

is for participants to understand how to correctly write a paper, and further their education in writing. The other community is called Nazareth Baptist church. Nazareth Baptist church is a church located at 2230 Bancroft street Charlotte, NC 28206. The participants in this community dress in formal wear. The participants ages vary from young and old. The people in this community talk respectfully about God. They are well mannered and like to help others in need. Elder Benji S. McMiller is the pastor of the church. The church also has ushers, decans, a choir, and church members that contribute to the operation of the church. To become a member of the Nazareth Baptist church a person must tell Benji S. McMiller that they want to join the church. The person then has to attend classes in the church teaching the importance of being saved and the operation of the church. Pastor Benji S. McMiller decides the participants roles in the community. A person must first become a member before joining the choir or other groups in the church. Nazareth Baptist church has events to raise money for those in need. The participants help with the events such as, cookouts, yard sales, and other events to make sure everything is in the correct order. The church offers activities for children and teens to become active in the church community. There are Sunday school classes for everyone to attend that are separated by age groups. In the summer the participants help with vacation bible school for the children to attend while school is out. Nazareth Baptist church is welcome to anyone that wants to visit or join the church. One genre of writing the community uses is making bulletins. Inside the bulletins are information about upcoming church events. The bulletins are formal they include correct grammar and organization. The events are in order from dates and times that they occur. The

Bethea 5

context of the writing is suitable for church goers. Tn every bulletin it also includes a bible scripture for the participants to read. The exigence of the writing is to inform participants about events. The rhetors of the writing are the members of the church. The audience are the participants in the community. Both of these communities include communicating with others. The communities both have different types of participants. Each community has a goal to accomplish. Eng 111-09 goal is for the participants to have further knowledge about writing. The Nazareth Baptist church community goal is to help those in need and to teach others about Christianity. Communities can teach people a lot of important aspects in life such as, being outgoing, not being afraid to state their opinions, and to be respectful of others ideas.