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Kappa Delta Discourse Community
In our world today many become members of a community in order to feel a sense of belonging. Inside these groups we share common goals, communicate with fellow members through ways of writing, and hold specific positions amongst the members. John Swales describes this type of group activity as a discourse community through his six characteristics. Since there are several different way to define a discourse community, we do not all know exactly what it means to be in a discourse community. Using Swales’ and Mirabelli’s articles we can use their insight as a reference to describe these certain communities.
The sorority Kappa Delta is an ideal example of a Discourse Community. This discourse community includes all six of Swales’ characteristics. These characteristics are as follows: 1. “A discourse community has a broadly agreed set of common public goals.” 2. “A discourse community has mechanisms of intercommunication among its members.” 3. “A discourse community uses its participatory mechanisms primarily to provide information and feedback.” 4. “A discourse community utilizes and hence possesses one or more genres in the communicative furtherance of its aims.” 5. “In addition to owning genres, a discourse community has acquired a specific lexis.” 6. “A discourse community has a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant content and discourse expertise” (Swales). In Kappa Delta, members share several of the same desires, “We all want to enhance each member’s college experience through the many opportunities they provide. (Zorrila).” In this sorority the members have multiple goals; making friendships between sisters, receiving professional opportunities, and taking part in philanthropy and the community. Another important goal that many Kappa Deltas share is to make a difference, start a movement and lead by example. With the philanthropy Girl Scouts, many members are determined to be a positive role model in younger girl’s lives. To further Kappa Delta’s aims and goals they utilize and possess one or more genres. Kappa Delta participates in several activities. One important genre is Chapter, this is the weekly meeting that all the girls attend and participate in. This sorority’s goals also revolve around sisterhood and community service. “These public goals may be formally inscribed in documents (Swales 220).”
Another important characteristic that helps define Kappa Delta as a discourse community is the mechanisms of intercommunication among its members. According to Swales “Although members may never interact, they all have lines of communication back to base (Swales 221).” In Kappa Delta there are over 150 girls, without talking to one another through mass text messages, Facebook posts, emails, or meetings it would be hard to inform all members of upcoming dates and important KD news. The purpose of these genres or method of communication is to provide every member with the information needed to strive in the community. These communication tools also help improve the performance of Kappa Delta by including a way for feedback and comments to be addressed. If these means of communication were not provided it would be a struggle to make plans and agree on several events.
Years ago, the founders of Kappa Delta created many rules and guidelines for new members to learn and abide by; Specific and unique characteristics were formed where only members of Kappa Delta would be aware of. “We have ritual, which only initiated sisters know. Even if other people knew it they would not have the same understanding or appreciation for it as we do (Zorrilla).” Kappa Delta also has a hand signal that represents something important to another member. If a nonmember saw this hand signal they would not be aware of what it meant. This specialized language is a characteristic of a discourse community that members use in their language and in their genres. These lexis are required by the members of that community for intercommunication. This lexis serves an important role in the community. Having similar vocabulary helps members understand each other easily and fluently. These words and signals all serve to create a unique characteristic for the members to share.
When you first join Kappa Delta everything is so new and exciting. There are a bunch of girls to meet, lots to learn, rituals to understand, and memories to be made. You begin as young new members and look up to the older girls who are more intelligent about KD. After your first year as a Kappa Delta you begin to understand what it truly means to take part in this discourse community. Many girls want to become even more involved and take on leadership roles in the council. “There is council, which includes the President, the Panhellenic Representative, VP Secretary, VP Treasurer, New Member Educator, and VP Standards. Below each council member is a line of appointed officers, each of which hold a smaller position within KD such as being in charge of one of our philanthropy events Zorrilla).” These positions are given to the girls who can be trusted and are seen as role models by the younger members. This discourse community will always exist as long as new members are initiated every year. Without the new members every year this discourse community would not strive and become successful any longer. Every recruitment process insures that the next year will consist of a new great group of girls who share common goals and interests. Newcomers learn the appropriate language, genre, and knowledge of the group, “We have casual meetings for our new girls where their new member educator along with a few older girls teach them all about Kappa Delta and what we stand for as well as what is expected of them (Zorrilla).”
In this discourse community there are rarely issues between one another. “Overall the systems we have keep everything in order. We have sisterhood events all the time also, which keep us all close! (Zorrilla).” Everyone treats each other with respect and there is always someone there for you. Although there is not much conflict, some members do face difficulty within the community. For some girls it is hard to adjust to a new community; leaving home and starting college can be tough, Kappa Delta tries to give you the comfort of being home. Some girls may get overwhelmed with balancing school work and a sorority, but this discourse community does everything they can to make you feel comfortable. Girls in sororities are constantly stereotyped. They are sometimes considered to be “dumb, pretty girls who don’t care about school.” This is entirely wrong when it comes to Kappa Delta at UCF. This discourse community stands for much more than looks. Kappa Delta strives to make a difference and lead by example to start a movement.
Swales’ six characteristics were guidelines for me to use to prove that Kappa Delta is a discourse community because it held all of the necessary qualities. Facebook, mass text messaging, and apps help spread the news about meetings and schedules while using lexis can acquire sufficient means of communication. Kappa Delta shares common goals between its members to ensure a happier college experience and help around the community. After learning about discourse communities, I now realize how sharing common goals and characteristics in a community are very common and benefit our world. Understanding Mirabelli’s article has opened my eyes to why a person may or may not be the way they are. Discourse communities, such as Kappa Delta allows a person to develop a better literacy of being fully comfortable with themselves.
