Blog 6

Christopher Caruso

Blog #6

After several weeks of attending and participating in Section 01 of the course Research in Language and Literature, and after interacting with several of the students within the class, it is my belief that our class in in fact a Discourse Community.  For starters, everyone in the classroom, including the professor, ultimately has one main goal in mind: to aim for high grades and be able to pass the class.  In order for each of us to accomplish this common goal, intercommunication between us students is crucial.  Whether the communication be mandatory in order to complete a certain group project, for the sake of the classroom participation grade, or simply to provide advice and feedback on a certain assignment, being able to talk and cooperate with each member of the classroom is absolutely necessary in order for us get good grades.  On the topic of communication, even the way in which we speak to each other and to the professor reveals hints of the classroom being a Discourse Community.  Our "community" honors the common guideline that, with the exception of the professor, one may only speak unless a hand is raised, and when a person does speak, the speak clearly and confidently.  Since our class has a large focus on language and literature, it is important that our Discourse Community has specific guide lines when writing for research project.  It is mutually agreed that the content of the writing must be clear, professional, and must remain formal.  Writing in a manner that is too relaxed or too casual will result in receiving lower grades, thus detracting from the same common goal.  If you were to apply these sole traits to a much larger scale, one could even make the argument that our class is just one piece in an even larger Discourse Community, which would be Kean University itself!  This is due to the notion that many many of these core values, goals, and guidelines (goal of getting good grades, speaking respectfully and clearly, having to interact with fellow peers, etc.) are ones that could easily be applied to any individual classroom on campus, not just our own!  However, one could also make the argument that our classroom is not entirely apart of a larger Discourse Community because of the fact that the ways and requirements of getting good grades completely differs from classroom to classroom.  For example, one of the main ways that our classroom gets graded is through our blogs, but not all classrooms use blogs in their curriculum.  Some classes may make students write essay after essay or make them take tests.  Each teacher has his or her own unique requirements and grading techniques.