Monday, November 12, 2018

Blog #6 Discourse Community and Community of Practice

Me, Myself, and, I



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Growing up I continued to develop many identities depending on the situations I am in, roles I am taking, and the people I am with. I am a daughter, a twin, and a friend. I am a student, and an employee. These identities may be different, but they all are “me”. There are certain qualities of me that makes me who I am and is present in all of my identities. Let us put it this way, if I were to ask a friend and a co-worker about my qualities, chances are that they both would have some similar answers such as that quiet, nice, and, friendly. Those qualities are what I always hear whenever someone describes me to someone else and I believe that those are some of my dominant qualities.

In the article, “Discourse Communities and Communities of Practice: Membership, Conflict, and Diversity,” Ann M. Johns discusses the discourse communities (Groups that have goals or purposes, and use communication to achieve these goals) and communities of practice (complex collections of individuals who share genres, language, values, concepts, and “ways of being”). Discourse communities uses language for effectively communicating within their groups and they also have “unwritten rules” about what can be said how can it be said such as in academic journals. On the other hand, communities of practice can exist in physical settings such as school classrooms, or virtual settings such as thru email, and social media.

An individual may engage in many discourse communities and communities of practice and each community have different set of goals. Thus, it makes sense that we also express ourselves depending on the goals, purposes and values of theses communities. Trying to become a member of a community may be a struggle at first but once you get the rules, and goals of that community, it will be easier to be involved.

At work, I find myself conversing more with other people (just because I have to be friendlier especially with customers) than when I am at school where I pretty much just want to be by myself and not talk to anyone. It was definitely a struggle at first to have to talk so much to strangers when I first started working but once I got the hang of it, it becomes easier. There is definitely some more room for growth and I am continuously learning new things every day at work.

When I am at home or with close friends, I am a different “me” in a way because I am more comfortable to talk to and act around my family and friends. Also, I find that language is also a factor when conversing with other people. For example, the way I talk to my Filipino friends is certainly different than the way I talk to my friends of other nationalities. If I said something funny in my language, it may not be as funny if I translate it in English and may have different meaning.

Learning about these communities is important in establishing my future identity because the groups and organizations I will try to join now will either help or not help me gain experience that would be beneficial to me after I graduate.

3 comments:

  1. Hi MaryC!
    I enjoyed your post! I totally agreed with you with you said about having to develop many different identities depending on the situation you are in because each role is specifically for that community. And in the end, no matte what identity role you are doing, you are still you, yourself. You said this perfectly in a way I understood. When I tried writing that, it didn't make sense...so good job on that part!
    It does take time and practice to get used to become a member in that community if you don't know what it's really about or going on, but yes, eventually it'll be easier to be involved.
    Great job!
    - Jenny

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  2. Hi MaryC,

    I really enjoyed reading your blog! I very much agree about your statement that an individual will be in many discourse communities throughout their life and within all those communities, that individual will have to will have to express themselves depending on the community they are in. I also wrote something similar! I also really liked how you used your nationality as an example and I can very much understand that sometimes when things aren't translated, it doesn't necessarily mean the same thing anymore, or at least not sound the way it would sound. Again, great post!
    ~Shai

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  3. Hi! I enjoyed how you talked about talking between your friends of different nationalities. I find myself doing the same when I talk to my friends who grew up with a different upbringing than me. I grew in a more conservative asian household, but some of my friends grew up in a more "traditional" American household, so I have had to learn to alter the way I speak between friend groups. Thank you for sharing about your experience!

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Blog #6 Discourse Community and Community of Practice

Me, Myself, and, I Growing up I continued to develop many identities depending on the situations I am in, roles I am taking, an...