Blog 4: Discourse Community - Kean University

Post your analysis of your (possible) discourse community. Make sure to account for each of the 6 features. Give examples for each feature to support your analysis (e.g. examples of what the "public goals" are and how they are made public, what the genres for communication are, ways the group makes the genres their own, the language particular to the group , etc.)

1.  A discourse community has a broadly agreed set of common public goals. (Megan)

Kean University has common public goals between students and professors. The professors have high hopes for students to achieve. The common goals the university has for students would be to give the students a good education.

2. A discourse community has mechanisms of intercommunication among (Filip)

Kean has several mechanisms its members make use of to communicate among one another. One, and probably the main one, is the Kean email system known as KeanGoogle. The other two mechanisms are the use of social networking sites like FaceBook and Twitter. The members of the Kean community are able to easily communicate with one another via all three of these mechanisms, thus making Kean a discourse community.

3. A discourse community uses it participatory mechanisms primarily to provide information and feedback. (Filip)

At the end of each course towards the end of the semester, professors of Kean University hand out surveys to their students, who are required to complete and provide truthful answers to the questions. This survey allows students of the Kean community to provide valuable information and feedback about their experiences within the class and professor to the University, fulfilling the third requirement of Kean being a discourse community.

4. A discourse community utilizes and hence possesses one or more genres in the communicative furtherance of its aims. (Megan)

• Different classes
• Looking up and reviewing professors
• Talking to administration

5. In addition to owning genres, a discourse community has acquired some specific lexis. (Dina)

Deals with specific language utilized in the discourse community. Here at Kean, we have several examples of this: CAS, Cougar Dollars, One Stop, Kean Exchange, Cougar's Byte. This lexis is used to identify locations and resources only available at Kean and only understood among Kean students.

6. A discourse community has a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant content and discourse expertise. (Dina)

The final feature of a discourse community is having a large community that is aware and utilizes the discourse fluently. Kean has a very large community. Even though graduation allows for members to come and go, the students can continue to be connected to the resources on campus provides they have an alumni identification, which can only be acquired upon paying a fee.

Can Kean University qualify as a discourse community? (Mark)

Kean University is made up of every race, gender, religion and socio-economic background, but one this is the medium between everyone, the chase of a degree. Kean is an institution that provides means of education, learning, progression and growing, and with that comes specific terms, acronyms, language and beliefs that are shared. Just from our research class alone, we all share one common goal, to pass the class. The degree at which we all do this may be different but the goals are the same.