A discourse community and its implications

When describing a discourse community, it is necessary to consider some basic criteria. According to Swales (1990) every discourse community shares these requirements:
Common goals - As Bizzel (1992) points out “a discourse community is a group of people who shared certain language-using practices…(that) can be seen as a conventionalized incomplete idea.” ( p.222)
Participatory mechanism : Discourse communities are described as little ecosystems since they inevitably interact with systems abutting them, they cannot be isolated from other discourse communities (Porter, 1992).
Information exchange - As described by Soltis (1981), interaction with the people in one’s environment is a major determinant of both what is learned and how learning takes place.
Community specific genres : As Cole (1999) reports, human activities are culturally mediated and entail the use and transformation of artifacts. Culture itself mediates human actions in the sense that it is a system of shared meanings or social inheritances embodied in the artifacts of a given social structure.
Highly specialized terminology: Kelly-Kleese (2004) establishes that when community members share knowledge, they are redefining the language
High generally level of expertise: Zito (1984) argues that “an author is granted a certain binding authority to his intended meaning; this is legitimated by academic credentials, professional associations, and the division of knowledge within the academy” (p.89)
The concept of discourse community deals with people interacting and using systems of speech and writing. Teachers are a relevant part of the discourse community, they not only share their knowledge; they also share their attitudes and values which are involved in their discourses. That is the reason why the role of a teacher and his/her constant improvement is so important


References
Pintos, V. & Crimi, Y. (2010). Building up a community of teachers and prospective researchers. Universidad CAECE

Wenzlaff, T. L., & Wieseman, K. C. (2004). Teachers Need Teachers To Grow. Teacher Education Quarterly. Retrieved September 2011, from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3960/is_200404/ai_n9349405

Swales, J. M. (1990). Genre analysis: English in academic and research settings. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Hoffman-Kipp, P., Artiles, A. J., & Lopez Torres, L. (2003). Beyond
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Kelly-Kleese, C. (2004). UCLA community college review: community
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Bizzel, P. (1992). Academic discourse and critical consciousness.
Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press.