However, in their specific groups, I could see discourse communities. According to Swales, “A discourse community has a broadly agreed set of common public goals” (Swales, 1990, p. 471). The scientists shared the common goal of wanting to observe and make scientific discoveries. The security guards’ goals were to assist those who need any help finding certain exhibits. The employees, volunteers and interns goal is to make sure those visiting the museum get all the help they can and obtain the knowledge from the exhibits. I asked Allen the question, “Are there related goals between the individuals who work at the museum? If so, what are those goals?” Allen replied with, “Our shared mission as educators at the Museum is to encourage the public to value our natural resources in a way that changes their everyday behavior as it affects the environment. If people don’t know about and appreciate resources, how can they care about them” (S. Allen, personal communication, November 17, 2015). These education goals that Allen and the other employees have are not the same goals as the visitors. The visitors’ goals are to have an enjoyable time and learn more about the Natural Sciences. Many of the families I observed had young children who were having a great time. One little boy was crying as his father carried him out of the museum. I came to the conclusion that he did not want to leave the museum because he was having fun. One little girl that I observed said “wow” when she came into the museum. All of the exhibits caused this child to be astonished when she entered the museum. Since each individual group has different goals, I can say that as a whole they do not make up a discourse community at the museum.

 

Another reason the people at the museum do not make up a discourse community is because it is a random mix of individuals made up of different ages, careers, and ethnicities who do not use the same language or terminology. For example, a 5-year-old child would not use the same terminology as a 30-year-old paleontologist. Many of the ethnicities and ages I observed may create language barriers and age gaps. Due to the lack of common language and terminology, I am given another reason to believe that the museum is not a discourse community.

 

Another reason this is not a discourse community is because there are no set of ranks within the group as a whole. According to Swales, “A discourse community has a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant content and discoursal expertise” (Swales, 1990, p. 473). While each group would have ranks, the groups all together do not have a level of members. For instance, the parents of children would have more authority than their children, but that has no affect on the ranks of the employees, volunteers and interns. The scientists who have been there longer would have more authority than new scientists at the museum, but that does not affect the ranks of the security guards. Even though there are power levels within each group, this does not affect the museum community as a whole. If I had observed only one specific group in the museum, then I would have been able to see a discourse community, but because all of these groups were put together I can say that they are not a discourse community.