It is the nature of human beings to “belong”; whether it’s at home with family or at school with their peers. Everyone has at least one discourse community that they belong to. Discourse communities are groups of people that share a same interest and/or idea. I belong to four main discourse communities that include voters, Customer Service Representatives, college students and mothers. In the following paragraphs I will describe the goals, genres, and specialized vocabulary of each community.
The first discourse community that I will be describing is the voter community. This community impacts, El Pasoans, Texans, Citizens, non-citizens, voters and non-voters. As a voter, my goal and duty is to be well informed about issues that directly and indirectly affect the El Paso and surrounding communities, to educate on the importance of voting, and to assist in the ballot process. The whole process has set regulations to prevent deception and dishonesty by candidates and their parties to keep voting voluntarily and discourage any bribery. To vote, you must be a registered voter in the El Paso County. The genres used in the voting community are flyers, websites, newspapers, television, radio, and campaigning. These genres are used to inform the public about the candidates running for office, the causes supported by each party, and the advantages and disadvantages of local issues. Commonly used terms are incumbent, polling place, gubernatorial.
Working at a call center allows me the opportunity to belong in the Customer Service Representative (CSR) community. This community includes AT&T wireless customers and AT&T employees. To be hired, several entry tests must be passed including a drug test, audio-data-entry test, and a typing test. The responsibilities of a CSR include processing payments for the customer, reviewing and explaining their monthly invoice and assisting the customer place equipment orders and upgrades. Each of the transactions mentioned above, have certain expectations that need to be provided to the customer. For example, a five dollar processing fee is applied to all payments placed over the phone; the invoice reflects one month of advanced billing for service; and all equipment orders and upgrades come with a 24 month commitment. AT&T is constantly changing and employees need to stay up-to-date with pricing, products, outages, and the competition like Verizon and T-Mobile. CSR’s utilize an intranet website, training guides and forums to stay informed. Customers can utilize the AT&T website that provides pricing on all rate plans and features, device manuals and tutorials for all wireless devices. It promotes all of its products and services via internet, television and radio, thus alerting a global market of consumers. Common terms used in this field are AUX, AutoIn, and Phoenix (all pertaining to the call center environment).
The college student community involves interaction with instructors, other students and even our parents, since for most of us they pay for our tuition, essentially. As a UTEP student, my goals are to prepare for a career that will pay more, and to hone the knowledge and skills that I will need in life. To enroll at UTEP, I had to take an Accuplacer Test to ensure that I was ready for college level courses. Depending on the score from these tests, remedial courses might be needed. Also a University class is required. There is a wide array of topics in this community, ranging from the use of technology, analysis of specific art period to the study of the atmosphere. Fortunately, students have access to various genres to stay abreast. These genres include textbooks, professors and study groups. To enhance the learning experience of all students, there are certain conventions that all students must abide to which include: respect the opinion of others, do not plagiarize, and do not use offensive language. At UTEP, the student jargon includes blackboard, tailgate party, syllabus, and ZTA.
The final discourse community is the most challenging but also the most rewarding, the motherhood community. This community consists of children, spouses, relatives, parents, and parenting experts. Those who are members of this community are individuals who have provided support in raising my children and experts in child care, like pediatricians and dentists. Raising children is not an easy task and fortunately there are many genres to provide guidance. These genres include parenting classes, self-help guides, and parenting magazines. The topics discussed in this community are endless, including but not limited to medical conditions, development stages, and activities that help sharpen the child’s motor skills. The saying “It takes a village to raise a child” is absolutely truth. Although, I might not agree with all the advice given by other community members, I must respect their opinions, customs and traditions and when possible, I consult a professional first. Specialized language used in this community include SBS (shaken baby syndrome), episiotomy and term baby, among others.
In order to feel that we “belong” we must be able to relate to others and this is exactly the meaning of a discourse community. There’s at least one a similarity among the members of a discourse community. Every discourse community, although similar in nature, will vary greatly due to its members and its environment. For example, although the language at work and school must be kept professional, terms will differ. Therefore, individuals will need to adapt to the situations of the various communities.
No comments:
Post a Comment