What is a speech community, community of practice, and discourse community?

Assignment Brief

For this assessment you must select a group of people, then present an initial general description of the group. The group can be based on any aspect of language use: social, institutional, cultural and so on. The group must primarily speak English. Group members must be willing to allow you to record them, although you do not have to record them yet. You must then write a description of the group using key sociolinguistic terms, and provide some hypotheses about how the group’s social variables might affect the group’s language use.

Questions to answer:

1. What is a speech community, community of practice, and discourse community?
2. Which of those terms best describes your group?
3. What social variables (Swann et al., 2004), also known as speaker variables
4. (Milroy & Milroy, 1997) characterise members of the group?
5. How might these social variables affect the group’s language use?

Sample Answer

Sociolinguistic Group Description and Language Use Analysis

Introduction

For this assignment, I have selected a group of university students who are part of a weekly English Literature Study Circle. This group consists of six individuals who attend the same university and meet regularly to discuss novels, plays, and literary theory. All members are native or fluent English speakers, and they have agreed to allow audio recordings for future linguistic analysis. Their shared interest in literature and academic success brings them together, and their meetings typically involve both informal conversation and academic discussion.

Definitions of Key Terms

Speech Community

A speech community refers to a group of people who share a common language or dialect and follow shared linguistic norms (Gumperz, 1968). Members may come from different social backgrounds but are united by their use of a shared language.

Community of Practice

A community of practice (Wenger, 1998) is a group of people who interact regularly and engage in shared activities or goals, developing common ways of speaking and behaving. It focuses on social interaction and the development of shared linguistic practices over time.

Discourse Community

A discourse community (Swales, 1990) is a group of people involved in and communicating about a particular topic or field. They share a set of goals, specialised vocabulary, and communication conventions.

Which Term Best Describes My Group?

While all three terms are relevant, the English Literature Study Circle is best described as a community of practice. This is because the group members interact regularly, engage in a shared activity (literary discussion), and have developed common linguistic norms, such as specific academic jargon, shared humour, and turn-taking rules. Unlike a general speech community, their interaction is purpose-driven and shaped by a shared goal: to deepen understanding of literature and prepare for assessments. It also aligns with a discourse community, but their dynamic and evolving interaction fits more closely with the community of practice model.

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