Are Swales’ Main Characteristics of a Discourse Community Backed up?

            Swales (1990) asserts that a discourse community should meet some requirements, which are evidenced by different authors who demonstrate in their academic writings that common goals, participatory mechanisms, community-specific genres, highly specialized terminology and high general level of expertise are a powerful force for having a say in higher education.

Swales (1990; as cited in Pintos, 2012, p. 13) states that a “group should achieve certain objectives and have specific interests”. Kelly-Kleese (2001 – 2004) affirms that “the community college should consider itself a discourse community” (p. 1) and aims at including “teaching as a form of scholarship” (p. 1). Hoffman-Kipp, Artiles & Lopez-Torres (2003) consider that “the purpose of their article is to outline a vision of teacher reflection that is constitutive of teacher learning and praxis” (p. 2). And Wenzalff & Wieseman, (2004) aim to “provide teachers with the confidence to connect what they do in their classrooms to research-informed practices” (p. 1).

Regarding participatory mechanisms, Wenzalff & Wieseman (2004) report that teachers “were able to physically meet with their study groups as well as interact with the entire group electronically” (p. 4). Kelly-Kleese (2004) explains that community college scholars’ discourse “most often takes the form of oral dialogue or text in arenas such as e-mail, electronic mailing lists, and discussion forums on the Web” (p. 9). Wenzalff & Wieseman (2004) state that in their community “qualitative responses on all documents (i.e., open-ended essays, electronic bulletin board responses, and chat discussions)” (p. 3), were analyzed.

With respect to information exchange, Hoffman-Kipp, Artiles & Lopez-Torres (2003) exemplify that “several teachers working in urban multicultural schools might voluntary gather on a monthly basis to study their own professional practice (…) teachers are participating in the construction of knowledge (…)” (p. 4) Wenzalff & Wieseman (2004) describe that “Prior to beginning the actual class sessions, professors met to discuss program vision and interactions among courses. Once the courses began, professors met regularly to discuss how teachers were progressing and how the courses were proceeding.” (p. 5)

Concerning community-specific genres, all the articles written by the above mentioned authors aim to communicate academically. The four articles have an inbuilt dynamic: Wenzalff & Wieseman (2004) write the acronym “NCATE”. Hoffman-Kipp, Artiles & Lopez-Torres (2003) write the term Cultural historical activity theory and its acronym CHAT; they also abbreviate Vigotsky’s (1978) term Zone of Proximal Development  (ZPD) and the “Visible Knowledge Project” (VKP). The abbreviations i.e, e.g are used in many opportunities.

As regards high general level of expertise, Wenzalff & Wieseman (2004) write “Seventy-six percent of the teachers in this cohort teach in rural, small schools; the remainder teaches in urban schools. The teachers hold positions at every level of education from kindergarten to high school and range from two to twenty years of teaching experience.” (p. 3) Outstanding educational institutions have experienced, skilled and trained teachers who have the ability to provide outstanding teaching and rich opportunities for learning. 

To conclude this paper, it can be said that, although all communities vary, the above authors agree on the fact that educational institutions should act as discourse communities following Swales (1990) tenents if they want to grow and have power in higher education.

References

Hoffman-Kipp, P., Artiles, A. J., & Lopez Torres, L. (2003). Beyond reflection: teacher learning as praxis. Theory into Practice. Retrieved September 2013, from http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/folder/view.php?id=29388

Kelly-Kleese, C. (2001). Editor’s Choice: An Open Memo to Community College Faculty and Administrators. Community College Review Retrieved September 2013, from http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/folder/view.php?id=29388

Kelly-Kleese, C. (2004). UCLA community college review: community college scholarship and discourse. Community College Review. Rtrieved September 2013, from http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/folder/view.php?id=29388

Pintos, V. (2012) Unit 1: Building up a community of teachers and prospective researchers. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Universidad CAECE. Retrieved September 2013, from http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/pluginfile.php/46896/mod_resource/content/1/EAP%20Unit%201%20120716%20ARM.pdf

Swales, J M (1990) Genre Analysis English in Academic and Research Setting. Cambridge (Ed.)

Wenzlaff, T. L., & Wieseman, K. C. (2004). Teachers Need Teachers To Grow. Teacher Education Quarterly. Retrieved September 2013, from http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/folder/view.php?id=29388