Discourse Classifications

Swales criteria for a discourse community:

1. A discourse community must have and work towards a common goal.

Habitat for Humanity has a goal of providing everyone in the world sufficient housing.

2. A discourse community must have intercommunication among its members.

Habitat implements what is called "Habbychat" where they can easily communicate about builds or other important information within their organization. They also use many other forms of communication such as meetings, email, Facebook, etc.

3. The community must provide either information or feedback.

Habitat build houses for those in need of better housing and this is their feedback. They also distribute information about their organization since they are a volunteer group and are always in need of members.

4. The community must use different genres to work towards their goals.

As mentioned before Habitat uses many forms of communication to spread information and stay organized.

5. A discourse community has an established and specific lexis.

Habitat for Humanity has a specific lexis on the build sites. Their lexicon is made up of specific tools and techniques used in construction.

6. A discourse community has a balanced threshold of experienced and novice members.

This criteria is easily satisfied by Habitat as they have experts in the executive board as well as higher up in site supervisors along with novice members who are just joining or are new to construction.