Discourse Communities and Communities of Practice

in the introduction both Swales and Gee give their viewpoints on what a discourse community is. Swales is a lot more lenient on what it means to be a part of a discourse community. he says that someone can be involved with a discourse community but not necessarily be a member of that community. Gee is pretty much the opposite. he says that someone cannot float between groups. and if they do they are mushfakes.

Johns talks about how people are born into some discourse communities and they have the ability to chose others that they would like to be a part of. she also says that discourse communities shouldnt really be called that but instead be called communities of practice.