Post 11

 What Gee is talking about when referring to tests that members of dominant Discourses perform on other members is that we are basically judging people to make sure they fit into our Discourse.  He even leads the journal off by making examples of how you would expect your buddies to talk and act at the bar.  If they are very proper, they are using a very wrong language.  This could lead to out casting them and not accepting them into your primary Discourse.  If they came into the bar and used improper grammar and didn’t worry about what was on their seat, they would be acting appropriate.  For those who are not natural or born into our Discourse, we are always watching and making sure they are following our “rules” per say, such as these, in order to be a part of our discourse.  Personally, I have seen this in an organization I am in.  We are meant to be professional and the minute someone does something to risk their professional reputation, we reject them.  Everyone is constantly being tested by being expected to have appropriate behavior 24/7.

            When talking about this organization, Swales proposes 6 defining characteristics that are necessary for it to be a discourse community.  The first is a discourse community has a broadly agreed set of common public goals.  My organization definitely meets these requirements.  We have events we all work towards each year and have to each get ten points a quarter in order to stay an active member.  The second characteristic is it has mechanisms of intercommunication among its members.  The organization meets this standard.  We send out emails with updates and emails highlighting points from meetings.  The third is it uses its participatory mechanisms primarily to provide info and feedback.  We meet this characteristic as well.  Even if you pay your dues, you cannot just be a member.  You have to attend 2 weekly meetings in order to stay up to date with everything and know what is going on.  The fourth characteristic is it utilizes and hence possesses one or more genres in the communicative furtherance of its aims.  The organization also does this.  We have a very structured way of doing things and keep it at a professional level at most all times.  The fifth is it has acquired some specific lexis.  We accomplish this by using abbreviations. The last characteristic is it has a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant content and discoursal expertise.  We accomplish this by having new members come into the organization in fall and spring and old members leave by graduating.