John Swales describes a discourse community as a group of people who are usually bonded together by a particular issue or interest. The group may comprise of people with similar goals and objectives about a particular topic, and they then come up with a forum where they can discuss these similar interests, as they work towards achieving the specific goals and objectives in life (Swales 217).These people share a common ideology and a similar way of discussing issues. The communities can be from a vast group of heritage such as a fandom, certain fields of study and also a specific lifestyle. This precept of togetherness usually operates on a concept that describes various forms of communication that form a similar pattern. According to Swales, the community discourse has six major characteristics. These characteristics include various definitions; a community discourse has a large sense of common goals that are public and agreed upon by the members. It also has mechanisms with which it communicates with each other. The third characteristics is that the discourse community usually has drafted out participatory mechanisms that are set to primarily offer a channel for feedback and providing of information.
Community discourse also exhibits a characteristic where it may use one or more genres as a way to furthering its aims. The fifth characteristic is the acquisition of a specific lexis, and finally the community members have to meet a specific threshold for them to be able to participate in the discourse. Once people join this discourse community they can only leave following death, or by involuntary methods (Swales 217).The discourse communities become so closely knit and bonded like a family. This paper looks into the mathematics discourse community. It identifies its shared goals, mechanisms of communication, the purpose of these mechanisms, and any lexis specific to the group. It also seeks to find out if there exists any conflicts within this community, whether or not there are any difficulties facing them and the various stereotypes associated with this discourse community.
A mathematics discourse community refers to a group of mathematicians that share similar interests on various aspects of mathematics. A mathematical discourse is an interactive and iterative forum in which mathematics students are able to engage each other in conversations that are centered on mathematical ideas on varying cognitive levels. They rely on the articulation of various mathematical ideas, and this can be achieved by writing, talking about and asking questions on the subject matter .Recently, the conceptualization of learning mathematics as a form of social practice has led to the development of many mathematics based discourse groups. Three mathematical discourse groups have been identified, and they are specific to the various discourse communities. These discourse groups include; The theoretical mathematics discourse community, the applied mathematics discourse community and the school of mathematics discourse communities The main aims of this discourse community are to come up with possible discussion platforms whereby more accomplished mathematicians could assist the budding new comers to solve various mathematical problems. These discourse communities can also be used as a strategy for teachers to educate their students. Another aim of the discourse communities is to create an interactive platform, where students can interact with each other, hold debates as well as review books and journal works by other mathematicians. Members in this community also aim to educate new comers on strategies of problem solving. The teachers utilize these communities to make it easier to get across information to their classes by presenting it in a simplified fun way.
Members of this discourse community have a well-developed intercommunication mechanism that they use to interact with each other. They converge at conferences and seminars that draw out people with similar interests. Besides, members in these forums usually meet to discuss new emerging ideas or concepts in mathematics. They may also meet to review new proposed mathematical theories or evaluate proposed solutions to old theories. Another mechanism of communication is in online forums such as social media pages that are centered on mathematics. There is also a website that has been created, thereby making it easier for members all over the world to be able to share ideas with each other. This discourse community utilizes these mechanisms to; further research on various subjects, to improve understanding of various principles and also to present and evaluate proposals on various issues.
The discourse communities usually use journals as genres for presenting their similar interests. This genre also emphasizes the fact that the members can be part of different discourse groups at the same time. They can be writers as well as mathematicians, especially when they engage in writing books and journals on the mathematical concepts. All members of the groups are familiar with various short-forms and definitions that are specific to the mathematical world. They are also familiar with formulae used to solve, or define mathematical problems. This can be considered as a specific lexis developed for the discourse community seeing as it may not be familiar with everyday people who are non-members. An example of a lexis used in this discourse refers to the use of symbols to represent words in stepwise formulas. Another mode of interaction can be through mathematics competitions between schools and regions. Teachers and professors in the field act as old timers in the discourse communities and students joining are the new timers who usually possess less expertise on the various subjects. The old timers teach the newbies the various genres and issues discussed in the group as a way of orienting them for the community.
The community sometimes faces various conflicts, especially when it comes to approving proposed mathematical theories in case the community splits itself into various, groups some in support of the proposal while others are against it. Another conflict in the community is that the various methods employed by teachers to teach their students may be more theoretical than applicable. The teachers subconsciously assist students to get skills in the subject by making them learn in a fun and interactive way. This method is good because it helps them learn on how to practically solve problems, however, this mode fail to impart the background knowledge on the solving of the solutions. Some members in this community feel that this method is similar to only giving students’ answers instead of guiding them towards how to achieve these answers. New-comers into the community face difficulty catching up with the old timers. The professors in the community have more authority as they have more knowledge on the specific fields. New-comers may also face challenges in trying to adhere to the rules of the writing world if they decide to publish their work. This is because they are forced to adhere to strict writing guidelines of the writing world that they are not familiar with. These new comers are using mathematics competitions as a way of entry into the communities and as a mode of belonging. In this case, the community faces many stereotypes.
Works Cited
Swales, John. "Chapter 2: individual in community”. The context of a discourse community. Cambridge University Press, 1990.Print.
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