Down, Set, Communicate: a Discourse Community Analysis

DiHannah Andrews

ENGL 1010

19 October 2015

Suchman

Down, Set, Communicate: A Discourse Community Analysis

If there is a discourse community that utilizes communication unlike any other, it has to be Houston High School’s football team. From a simple word such as “apple” to a complex phrase such as “X post Rail drag 54,” communication of plays during football games are complicated and difficult to understand for regular bystanders. The dialogue used during communication must be precisely said, translated correctly, and understood by the players on the football field and the coaches on the sideline. On any competitive level, communication among Houston High School’s football team is essential to its success on the field and for these boys, success on the field is their number one goal.

The term discourse community has been discussed in various contexts and varying states of definition for several years. However, linguist, John Swales, has most recently appropriated the term. Swales describes discourse communities as “…groups that have goals or purposes, and use communication to achieve these goals” (Borg 398). In Swales’ article, “The Concept of Discourse Community,” he advocates for a fresh conceptualization of a discourse community, which is directly relevant to my football query.

Houston High School’s football team has its own way of communication, culture, and style of play, which drives uniqueness among the team. These qualities help exemplify the football team as their own discourse community as defined by Swales. The six defining criteria of Swales’ discourse communities are “common goals, participatory mechanism, information exchange, community specific genres, a highly specialized terminology, and a highly general level of expertise” (Swales 220-222). This discourse community members which make up the football team are the coaches and players.

Swales’ first characteristic of a discourse community is common goals. The goals of winning games,...