"Coaches Can Read, Too"

Establishing the Territory

-       When Sean Branick begins to establish a territory regarding his discourse community of football coaches, he does this very effectively. Swales refers to this move as  “providing necessary background on the topic.” Branick does this by giving a brief intro about the football coach discourse community. He says that they come from your everyday people to “legends”. This knowledge is important because it provides with a little insight on the community before diving into it.

Establishing a Niche

-       In this part of the introduction, according to Swales, is when an atuthor makes their claim or says their purpose. Sean Branick does this in this particular article by making a statement claiming that the work coaches put in is overlooked and that there is many behind the scene factors that go into making a successful coach.

Occupying a Niche

-       In this mode the author will fill in the gaps. They will say how they will accomplish their research question. Sean does this by stating in the final sentence of his introduction the great attributes and characteristics a coach must have to be successful.

"Learning to Serve"

            I thoroughly enjoyed reading Tony Mirabelli’s “Learning to Serve”. Not only because the discourse community I am studying is a restaurant, but also because I found it extremely interesting. I believe that Mirabelli’s research question was more of a point or thesis then a particular question. I thought his point, which is stated in sixths and seventh paragraph of the introduction, is that he believes there are literacy skills required in the restaurant industry that are important for being successful. These skills cannot be taught in academic setting. “How the waitress or waiter understands and uses the texts such as the menu and how she or he “reads” and verbally interacts with the customer reflect carefully constructed uses of language and literacy.”(Pg. 541) He also mentions that he hopes his work will help people in general; especially the “academics” come to a realization that there is something to be respected about service work.

            The data that Mirabelli uses to analyze Lou’s is from his own experiences, observations, notes, documents, interviews, recordings, and transcriptions, as well as some useful literature. (Pg. 543) After his analysis of Lou’s Mirabelli finds modes of communication and knowledge about the menu and food are critical concepts a waiter or waitress must be familiar with to be successful. The last sentence in this article says a lot about what Mirabelli is trying to get at: “The low status of waitressing and waitering belies the complex nature of this kind of work and the innovative and creative ways in which such workers use language.” (Pg. 554) In other words, saying that waiters and waitresses are low status and uneducated because of their job is untrue because to be good at what they do they must use language in new and innovative ways that are very intelligent and creative. People who don’t know what the job entails shouldn’t be so quick to judge. A degree doesn’t always necessarily make you more intelligent.  

Project 4 Proposal

For project four, The Discourse Community Ethnography, I am going to observe and analyze my place of employment, Bagel Street Deli. Bagel Street Deli is a local deli in Athens Ohio. It has been around for many years and it is a crowd favorite in the area. I am a member of this discourse community because I work there. I have been working there since spring of my freshman year (I am now a junior). I think this would be an adequate discourse community to analyze and report on because as employees at Bagel Street Deli we have a way of communicating that may seem foreign and/or incomplete to an outsider or non-native. We refer to certain items or ingredients in the deli by nicknames or abbreviations. There is a certain language that we as Bagel Street Deli employees pick up on, and the longer you work there the more comfortable you become with this particular language. In my project I am going to focus on the differences between a new member or “rookie” verse a “veteran” of the discourse community. I will be asking a rookie and a vet the same interview questions and analyzing the differences and similarities between the two members of the community.

I think it will be interesting to analyze this particular discourse community because I have worked at other restaurants in the past and I think it will be interesting to see how this discourse community compares to the others that I have worked at. I hope to learn how the language and ways of communication affect the group dynamic and comradery of the employees or group members. Being part of this community, I recognize that establishing a good reputation within the community goes hand in hand with being able to understand the lexis and ways of communication within the community. It takes times to build your way up to being respected within the group. I’m going to add and build on what Ann Johns touches on when she discusses authority. Except when it comes to Bagel Street it is more of hierarchy then actual authority with the members. Although we do have authority, owners and managers obviously have authority over most employees, but I want to focus more on the hierarchy of the regular workers within the community. I will try to add to the conversation by touching on the relations and hierarchy or members.

A source I will focus on when writing this ethnography will be “Discourse Communities and Communities of Practice” by Ann M. Johns. I will focus on her section discussing Issues of Authority.  Another source I will be referring to is the article we most recently read by Elizabeth Wardle entitled “Identity, Authority, and Learning to Write in a New Workplace.” This particular article relates very well to the angle that I plan on going with my ethnography because Wardle discusses the modes or ways a newcomer uses to inherit a sense of belonging within the discourse community. Since I intend on focusing on that as well, this article will I’m sure prove to be extremely beneficial. Another source from Writing About Writing that I plan on using in my ethnography is “The Concept of a Discourse Community” by John Swales. I will refer to Gee’s 6 characteristics of a discourse community in “Literacy, Discourse, and Linguistics” as well. I will majorly use Gee and Swales for my description of Bagel Street Deli, and convincing my audience that it is in fact a suitable discourse community to study. I will draw more from Wardle and Johns to state my points and to add to the ongoing conversation of the discourse communities.

"Identity, Authority, and Learning to Write in New Workplaces"

In Elizabeth Wardle’s article “Identity, Authority, and Learning to Write in New Workplaces” she discusses the three ways that newcomers try to belong to a new community. The three ways that newcomers try to belong to a community include engagement, imagination, and alignment. The first way of belonging, engagement, is very important because it is the way that the newcomers of a discourse community become first associated with the older members of the community. For example at my discourse community, Bagel Street Deli, the newer employees must begin a conversation with the older employees to begin to conjure up a relationship with them. If they were to come into Bagel Street and not engage in conversation or even participate in the work, they would never be accepted into the discourse community.

            The next way newcomers become accepted into a discourse community would be imagination. Imagination is important because when using your imagination, you are expanding yourself and your experiences. You create new images of the world and of you and by doing this you become more open minded to becoming part of the discourse community. In my discourse community, Bagel Street Deli the newcomers use their imagination to become accepted when they begin to try to “picture” or imagine what jobs they will succeed at or when they are figuring out what jobs they enjoy doing the best. For example figuring out what techniques of “bageling” or bagel making work best for you.

            The final way newcomers use to become accepted into a discourse community is by alignment. Alignment is the negotiation or the acceptance of how the discourse community works. When becoming accepted into the community new members must align their particular ways with the older members. This requires a combination of conforming and figuring out what works for you. At Bagel Street Deli it would be making sure that you are doing the job in a way that is acceptable to the other members, using your own techniques and what others taught you.

            Each new employee enculturates the discourse community because every time we hire a new person, new relationships form, new methods are created, and new jobs are discovered or maybe old jobs are done in new ways. Each new employee eventually brings something new and great to the restaurant.