Ashanty Barrios 10/20/13 English 106 A.

Halliday Response to Sean Branick

Sean Branick uses football coaching as an example of a discourse community and how coaching is in fact a form of literacy. He goes into detail about the methods coaches use to improve the game and also fix a game by being flexible and changing the game plan on the spot. I found that in order to know the game, you must know the players and that is the key to success. I finally understood the concept of lexis which is a set of terms that is unique to the community (Branick, 2007). He speaks about football coaching as a form of literacy and uses ideas from various authors such as Mirabelli and Swales. He makes sure to include the six characteristics of a discourse community and connects it to the role a football coach would have in the overall game. A discourse community must have purpose; in this case it is winning the game. They must also be flexible to accommodate for unexpected changes within the game. For the most port, they also have their own unique language that helps them execute plays that the other team will not understand. This is the specialized lexis. I really like the example that he uses towards the end about not being too harsh or too easy going with the people you are working with. It is effective in the real world just like the several other strategies mentioned in the article.