A key aspect of a discourse community is the shared goal of the group. Whether it is an explicit goal or more of a secret one, this shared goal is way brings the group together.
Mechanisms of intercommunication are also vital. Members of a discourse community can stay in communication in many different ways, not just a direct face to face conversation. For example, they could all write on a blog or a Facebook page. The purpose of this mechanisms of communication is for an exchange of information. A person would not be considered a member if he or she is part of the Facebook group but never really engages with other members.
Discourse communities rely on genres depending on the context. More than one genre can be used as communities grow and evolve. Along with genres, they also have specific lexis. This is the most interesting part of a discourse for me. Words, abbreviations, and acronyms are community-specific. A great example of this are the prescriptions Medics write, since only themselves and their colleagues working at pharmacies understand their abbreviations.
A final aspect Swales provides for a discourse community is keeping a balance of novices and experts within the members. This makes sense because you need experts to pass down information and you need novices to take it in.
Being a soccer player, I believe soccer players have our own discourse community. We obviously share a common goal; score as much as possible, and keep your opponent from scoring on your team. That is the main goal. Our main mechanism of intercommunication is through direct conversation. When we're playing, our coach talks to us about what he expects from us, and we as players are welcome to provide feedback on how we think we could reach our goals as a team.
We have our own set of words and phrases in the field. We say things such as "line"or "nutmeg" to refers to actions in the field. I've tried playing recreational games with friends who are not soccer players and the communication has been terrible. I've used these terms all my life and they've never heard of them.
Coaches are usually retired players, so the first thing they do with new players is teach them their terminology. This is where the balance of the discourse community is. the experts teach the novices.
