Blog 6

I definitely believe our class is a discourse community. Simply by definition, a 'discourse community' is a group of people that all share common vernacular (lexis), goals, behaviors and values. And what is a class? It is a group of students (people) that are all learning the same material (lexis) who want to get good grades (values), so they study and participate in the lessons (behaviors).

Our class shares a lexis, with terms like "discourse," "analysis," "shaggy dog story" "building tools," and so on. The things we've learned through the text book, class discussions and external readings have all been added to our class vocabulary; the more we learn in this course, the more connected our community becomes. In addition to the way we speak to each other, we also have a common set of goals. We all want to receive high grades and pass the class. Also, as a class, we wish to have stimulating and insightful discussions that promote idea circulation and alternative ways of thinking about a single problem. (Without this, it would be a very boring hour and fifteen minutes.) Because of the variety of personalities in our class, no two people will have the exact same opinions, thoughts or beliefs. This variety is what enriches the class. The more exposure to other sources there are, the more informed a person can become. Therefore, as far as "what counts as writing" could be literally anything.

This is true for any class, not just ours. Evidence for this comes from the fact that everybody's learning experience will be different, and not every person will end up taking the same classes (especially in college). Many times, I have overheard students talking to classmates about a particular lesson they had learned, and I felt confused. Why should I feel confused? Was this information beyond my intellectual level? No, it was because I was not a part of that discourse community. Their lesson-- their lexis--was very different than my own. As an English student listening to a biology conversation, this makes sense.

I think our class is part of the "Kean Community" as well as a larger discourse community simply because Kean is a college. As a college, Kean aims to reach a certain goal: to recruit students, and have them excel to give the college a good name while producing productive, influential members of society. This is true for all colleges. That is how Kean is a small discourse community as well as part of a larger one.