Post 11

Many clubs and organizations on campus fit John Swales’ standards of a discourse community. The organization that I am most involved in, Phi Gamma Nu Professional Business Fraternity, also fits all six of Swales’ requirements. Phi Gam’s goals are clearly stated in public records. According to our bylaws, the goals of Phi Gamma Nu are based upon our three pillars; professional development, social, and philanthropy. Above all else Phi Gamma Nu is an organization with the intent to prepare its members for professional work endeavors in a business work place. Phi Gam has multiple mechanisms of intercommunication among its members in the form of weekly chapter meetings, quarterly newsletters, and e-mail updates to members. In addition to having these participatory mechanisms, Phi Gam uses them primarily to provide information and feedback. Weekly chapter meetings are mandatory for all members in order to keep members actively involved in the discourse community and to ensure that information and the opportunity to give feedback is open to everyone in the discourse community. Swales asserts, “A discourse community utilizes and hence possesses one or more genres in the communicative furtherance of its aims.” I believe that Phi Gamma Nu also meets this requirement. The genre utilized within this discourse community is professional and formal during meetings and other professional tasks and informal and laidback during social events. There are many occasions that I find myself discussing Phi Gam outside of our formal meetings or around people not in this discourse community. When others hear the conversation it is usually hard for them to follow along. This is because Phi Gam has acquired some specific lexis. This ranges from abbreviations for leadership positions within our organizations (CPR for communications and public relations, Pro-D for professional development, etc.) or simply events that are specific to us that other people may not be aware of (Balls for Balls which is a philanthropy event, Business Olympics which is an annual event we throw within the college of business, etc.) The members of Phi Gamma Nu change every quarter when we receive a new pledge class and seniors graduate. Survival of our discourse community depends on transition from novice pledges to students holding leadership positions. Phi Gamma Nu has a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant content and discoursal expertise. It is assumed that by the time one finishes a pledging quarter they should be prepared to hold a leadership position or be on the road to getting there before graduating and becoming Phi Gam Alumni.