Every student’s journey through their academic education is a meaningful act of independence and self-learning. University requires students to have a strong sense of motivation and dedication to their learning and academic growth. That being said, college is also an opportunity to connect with others and benefit from the value of the community.
Among the many types of circles that form among university students, such as clubs and fraternities, are discourse communities. Broadly speaking, they’re groups of impassioned people who form together under a shared interest and use communication as their primary tool of operation. Curious students can read essays and articles that delve into the world of discourse communities over at Gradesfixer.com to improve their knowledge and save time on research on this topic. These groups of motivated individuals get together to hold academic discussions that help students wrap their heads around new topics, write essays, and prepare for exams.
While there are indeed both pros and cons of being involved in a discourse community at school, these circles can certainly offer students a wide variety of benefits that extend across the entirety of their education. From helping students to grapple with difficult concepts to guide them through the essay writing process, these are just some of the skills a student can expect to encounter within an academic discourse group.
Organization
As discourse groups are built on the desire to use communication in order to apprehend a given topic, their formation requires all their members to engage with a certain degree of organization. Understanding the particular topic of interest and then finding others who wish to discuss the same matter teaches an important kind of collective organization.
Discourse communities choose a communication method to discuss with one another and arrive at a consensus. They must also then choose a method of presentation for displaying their message to the outside world. These acts of a collective organization most often lead students to also improve their organization skills when it comes to a personal academic assignment, such as writing an essay.
Discourse expertise
While tight-knit groups such as those that form in academia can sometimes be derided for their use of jargon, discourse expertise is a valuable skill that students can garner from initiating discourse communities. Getting to grips with the particular terminology and debates that exist within a discourse can offer a real advantage when it comes to doing an academic reading and engaging in discussions with experts in a subject.
Communication
The whole basis of a discourse community is to employ conscious discourse as a way of achieving a set of goals, and so it goes without saying that within them, students stand to gain a lot in the area of communication skills. The kind of communication that exists within discourse communities depends on the set of shared goals that the group possesses and their particular discipline or field of interest.
This means that different academic discourse examples can offer the opportunity to develop entirely different sets of interpersonal skills. A group focused on politics may place a heavy emphasis on debating skills, whereas more scientific discussions may foreground logic and systems creation. Either way, learning how to make a point in a way that is clear to understand will help both in academia, dealing with another student or teacher, as well as everyday life beyond the campus!
Peer circles
Discourse communities are exactly what they’re called: communities. The fact that these circles connect people who share a common passion and goal makes a discourse community such a powerful tool for building social relationships and academic ones. Making these kinds of connections on campus can really help with the workload of education. These circles can be great places to find a possible tutor, peer reviewer, or potential collaborator. Learning from and working with others is crucial to strong academic performance, and discourse communities offer just that!
International Students
Clearly, discourse communities help children and older students improve their communicative skills and make up for their weaknesses by delegating certain tasks to other participants in the group. Engaging in discourse communities is especially important for international students as they often score lower grades on tests and writing assignments because of their language skills and cultural competence.
Discourse communities offer international students a chance to integrate into a totally different cultural environment. For those who are more introverted, this kind of activity won’t allow them to hide in their shell. Consequently, their academic performance will improve for a little bit even without much effort from their side.
As for the downsides
While organizing any kind of activity in schools, proper preparation and constant control are crucial to measure the effectiveness and efficiency of the given activities. The participants of any discourse community are subjected to changes and it is vital that the teacher monitors the performance of every student in the group. As it was mentioned before discourse communities help reveal strengths and weaknesses of the students, thus, to ensure their efficiency students should not focus on performing easier tasks only. Once the strength is defined and one of the tasks is successfully completed, the student should move on and increase the difficulty of assignments.
Apart from that, the psychological aspect of a discourse community forming and student bonding is the issue at question. It is necessary to take into consideration peculiarities of each student to ensure proper atmosphere and relationships inside the community. Discourse communities prioritize motivating students to study and facilitating assignments for them through support and communication. Thus, miscommunication or any other issues within such a close-knit group can lead to a serious step back for any successful student.
While any closed, tight-knit group can come with its downsides, these examples are just a handful of the ways in which initiating students into academic discourse communities can offer a whole host of valuable academic skills. Getting involved in one is an opportunity to make your voice heard and boost your academic performance!