Charles, try:
Anne Beaufort (1997) Operationalizing the Concept of Discourse Community:
Case Study of One Institutional Site of Composing. Research in the
Teaching of English, 31(4)
Abstract:Scholars have employed a number of theoretical frames for
interpreting the social dynamic in acts of composing text: constructivist
relations between writers and readers, genres as situated action, systems
of genres, intertextuality, and discourse communities. The latter has been
disputed on philosophical grounds and has not been operationalized in
concrete terms through empirical research. This study takes a systematic
approach to defining and operationalizing the notion of discourse
community, drawing on data from a portion of an ethnography of writing in a
workplace setting. Textual dynamics and acts of composing could be seen in
their fully contextualized manifestations when examined at the level of
community practices. For example, a single genre varied in form and
function depending on the specific discourse communities in which it was
used, and writing events took on layered meanings--some practical and some
symbolic-- as they were viewed in relation to other communicative
activities. Discourse community norms and values also established
hierarchies of texts and different writing-related roles for members. The
data suggest the validity of discourse community as a theoretical construct
and point to the importance of anthropological approaches for studying
sites of writing. In addition to theoretical implications, there are
educational implications as well. If writing were fully contextualized for
students and the overarching framework of discourse community were made
explicit, writers would be aided in the necessary boundary crossings from
one community of writing practice to another.