DISCOURSE COMMUNITYS ALPHA

KAPPA LAMBDA

Discourse Community's: Alpha Kappa Lambda Fraternity

Its not what you think

University of El Paso

RWS 1301
DISCOURSE COMMUNITYS ALPHA
KAPPA LAMBDA

Alpha Kappa Lambda fraternity is a nation wide fraternity that stretch from the east cost

all the way to the west coast. This unique organization has a large governing body of members.

All though there are many different chapters pertaining to there university we have one simple

goal to achieve and to keep striving for which is to be a man of true character. I have evaluated

this organization and have come to the conclusion that it meets the six characters of a discourse

community described by John Swales a linguistics professor. I decided to write about this

organization due to my current membership and express how its a discourse community. This

organization participates in many different philanthropy's and provide support for the

community. It focuses on developing ones self being in a "educational and social maturing

processes, the goal of this processes is achieving a wholeness of man hood that is prepared to

assume leadership responsibility in fulfilling the obligations of life"(1914).

Methods

Being an active member of this organization gave me a reason to discus and pick this

discourse community. Thru my pledge ship I learn a lot of information about how operations are

run in a fraternity. Not much information was needed to research due to my knowledge of the

fraternity. I did reach out to other members to have a more understanding of how many of our

principles match to a discourse community. This helped me be more accurate with each of the

six characteristics of a discourse community, I had a more profound way of explanation of how

different aspect can apply to this topic in particular.

DISCOURSE COMMUNITYS ALPHA
KAPPA LAMBDA

Discussion

The first characteristic that makes a discourse community is to have a common set of

goals. With this being said Alpha Kappa Lambda has many in mind. Nation wide these goals are

always strived for and are important for life line. Most important is developing in a social and

education way. The fraternity holds up to five ideals, Judeo Christian principles , leadership,

scholarship, loyalty and self support. Of course our studies and education come first, all

members must maintain a GPA of 2.5 or higher to keep current membership. Most important

goal is to be a man of character and to be able to apply the five ideal to our life and live by it. We

want to balance out different aspect of life to stand out as a leader and to be able to fulfil our life

obligations.

Swales second characteristic for a discourse community is having some sort of

intercommunication among its members. Part of Alpha Kappa Lambda agenda is having weekly

meetings every Monday. We all come together to plan out events and business for well planed

out operations for successful work. Also social media is incorporated very much to prompt and

help give out information. Also emailing is used a lot to pass important information among its

members, developing a forward system for a better course of communication is very crucial for

valid operation. It will come to a surprise that many of these things must be very punctual and

accurate to avoid any confusion..

DISCOURSE COMMUNITYS ALPHA
KAPPA LAMBDA

Using more than one genre is another way that communication is used to help reach and

better a goal. In swales forth characteristic he states that a group must utilize more than one

genre of communication. Alpha kappa lambda uses pages like Facebook and other social media

to create blogs. Its very important that we strive for a better understanding of the community to

give back and allow more individuals to communicate. Alpha kappa lambda also host many

different seminars annual and biyearly events. Some of these which are very important for a

university's chapter. Some national programs are also utilized for different type of genre

communication to help connect to its members. One of the most important projects that the

fraternity participates in is "These hands dont hurt" which makes alpha kappa lambda a non

hazing fraternity allowing it to give feedback to nationals and give a better understanding of

communication to individuals that have interest in membership, this very crucial for future

indictment and as well as the continuation of a chapter.

Swales fifth characteristic of a discourse community is acquiring some specific lexis.

When I say lexis I mean something very unique of the community but still uses all its members

for intercommunication. Brotherhood is a major play in the fraternity and requires all member's

to put there part, holding up to this is what makes alpha kappa lambda have a very unique lexis.

We firmly believe in brotherhood as friendship of the highest calling, we support and stand for

each other as a whole to help progress the chapter and its member's. We want true character in

members that are willing to fulfil the lexis of brotherhood.

DISCOURSE COMMUNITYS ALPHA
KAPPA LAMBDA

The last characteristic that swales states is having a threshold level of members that has a

suitable degree with relevant content and discoursal expertise. When having this principle apply

to alpha kappa lambda there are different position to run operations. Basically having a hierarchy

system of positions that can give different responsibility and tasks. To begin with you have e-

board which include President, vice president, recruitment, fundraising, treasure, internal and

external affairs. These are the highest positions in the fraternity basically the hierarchy. Then you

have pledges which are at the the bottom of the system, theses are the individuals that plan on

being indicted for valid membership which usually takes them a whole semester of pledging. All

has its chain of command to excel in the fraternity.

Conclusion

After doing my observations over the fraternity and Swales characteristics of a discourse

community it was clear that all six characteristics apply to Alpha Kappa Lambda. We have many

discourse community's around us, sometimes we just dont realize what's out there. Alpha kappa

Lambda will keep aiming for higher standards and better function of being a man of true

character. All though fraternity's have a larger misconception, you'll be surprised what true

meaning a fraternity holds at a university, its not what you think.

DISCOURSE COMMUNITYS ALPHA
KAPPA LAMBDA

References

-The fraternity of Alpha Kappa Lambda, The truth and the word 25th edition(2015-2016) pg. 11