University of Texas El Paso
Discourse Community Assignment Reflection
The Discourse Community Map and Response assignment was interesting to work on. The guidelines for this assignment helped me greatly in areas such as what to look for in a community and what is important. It also allowed me to look in-depth on some of the major responsibilities that applied to me within the community that I am involved in. Furthermore, I gained a better understanding of the community and its values and what they believe in as well as what they stand for. Through the process of assembling my community map, this helped me understand the crucial parts of a community as a family member, a UTEP student, a professional and a citizen. In addition, the key requirements of joining the community are being born into or applying to a community. Some of the key factors are what it is required to be part of the community, what conventions to follow, what the genres and topic of the community is required. I also learned how to better structure my essay and pay attention to detail such as grammar, spelling and punctuation as I am writing. I think overall I did accomplish all requirements needed for this assignment and got a pretty good grade at the end.
Discourse Community Map & Response
The Discourse Community that I am a part of is a great way to understand the concept of any community. It guides me on how to be a better participant within my community. As well as taking parts in all areas of the Discourse Community that I am involved in.
Family
Family is the most important to me. To be part of this Discourse Community we are born into the family or adapted into the family. It requires many levels of honor respect, understanding, loyalty and patience furthermore a great deal of love is a must. Family can have an impact on happiness and sadness at the same time. But family is always there for you no matter what. Our goal is to be happy, healthy, advice one and another, and to be there for one and other through thick and thin. We communicate through face-to-face, texting and social media. When it comes to distance families, we all participate in an annual family reunion to bring everyone together and to bond with one another. And during the year we all communicate through Face Time, WeChat, e-mails and phone conferences. In reflecting all of my life experiences, I realized that Family is the core Discourse Community that I am proud to be part of.
UTEP Student
To be part of this Discourse Community first I have apply to UTEP and get accepted to the university. I then register for classes and prepare to meet my professors for my classes and get ready to study hard for the semester to ensure successful outcome. Although being a student has its challenges to overcome but the reward is indefinite. Other challenges as a college student includes juggling between home and academic life style. In addition meeting deadlines on assessments is also a big challenge. Through out this process I have to ensure myself to stay focus, set my priorities straight while coping with the lack of rest. I have to be discipline and participate in all of the classes and complete all of my assignments in a timely manner. One of which is my RWS class, which is helping me greatly to understand how and why we should be a better writer, particularly in our society today. After my first semester I was nominated to join The National Society of Collegiate Scholars (NSCS). One must have a high GPA in order to be nominated to join NSCS. There is a lifetime fee of $95 for this organization for scholars and after joining the NSCS I was invited to participate in the new member Introduction Ceremony. Furthermore, I will be entitled to many benefits that NSCS members will be able to enjoy through this organization.
Professional-Hunan Wok (6 characteristic)
To join this Discourse community first it must have family members as well as other employees. After the employees applied to our company they get an opportunity to be part of this community as well. Then they are put through an extensive training and three months probation period. Our common goal is to operate a successful restaurant business and to ensure the satisfaction of out clients, and to produce outstanding Chinese food in the community. Prior to the start of the business operation we ensure the location is a valid one for the type of business that we intend to place there. Then we come up with the blue print of the restaurant. We then start the advertising process to notify all the local residential and business professionals in our area through television and/or radio broadcasting and newspaper. Among our group we communicated verbally through our multiple dialects such as Fujianese, Taiwanese, and Cantonese due to the fact that many employees had a langrage barrier. English was solely communicated between our clients and those of us who spoke English. Most of our discussion was about the business and how we can make a profit and avoid lost. I realized being in the Family owned business taught me many independent life styles and professional management, as well as positive work ethics. Ultimately it made a big impact in my life.
Citizen
To be part of this discourse community we must be a part of the community by either living within the community or obtaining legal paperwork to live in that community such as Green card/Citizenship. In this community we communicate through newspaper, television, radio and social media. To fit into this community we must be able to adapt easily with the surrounding environment. We also need to obey all the laws within the community and be respectable to the people and community. Depending on the area we live in sometime language can be an issue and communication could be difficult. But there are other sources available to all civilians who live in this community.
Discourse Community is a new topic to me, yet it is not new at all. Now that I have been assign to identified different parts of my Discourse Community in my RWS class, I realized there is a lot more details and different aspects of any Discourse Community. I have given it much more thoughts since I started my assessment. Prior to this assessment it has never cross my thoughts even thought I have been consistently participating in different Discourse Community thought out my life. Furthermore, I know how critical it is to be able to communicate effectively in any Discourse Community to ensure Successful outcome at the end.