How does the work people do shape the way they use language?
Language and occupation: occupational register and jargon, professional discourse communities, the language of the workplace and how occupation shapes identity and power.
A focused answer to the AQA A-Level English Language diversity topic, covering occupational register and jargon, discourse communities, workplace power and identity, with reference to Drew and Heritage, Koester and Swales.
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What this topic is asking
AQA wants you to explain how the workplace shapes language: the specialist register and jargon of occupations, how professionals form discourse communities, and how occupational language signals identity, expertise and power. In a data response you analyse a transcript or workplace text to show how these forces operate, rather than reciting definitions in the abstract.
Register, jargon and discourse communities
Jargon enables efficient, precise communication among insiders: a single medical abbreviation can carry information that would take a sentence to spell out, and that compression matters under time pressure. But the same feature excludes outsiders, which is why jargon can feel like a barrier in doctor-patient or lawyer-client interaction. New members are socialised into a discourse community by learning its language, so acquiring the jargon and the genres is simultaneously how you do the job and how you signal that you belong. The more fluent your command of the community's lexis, the more clearly your competence and identity are marked.
Power and identity at work
Occupational language carries power, and this is the analytical pay-off in the exam. The expert who controls the specialist terms and the institutional procedure holds influence: in a courtroom, a consultation or a job interview, one role typically asks the questions, controls who speaks and when, and can require an answer, while the other is obliged to respond. Drew and Heritage's concept of institutional talk gives you the vocabulary for this asymmetry. At the same time, workplaces are not only about tasks: Koester shows that small talk, humour and politeness build solidarity and a shared identity, so occupational language constructs both hierarchy and belonging. Strong answers read a transcript for both at once, showing how an expert's controlled lexis and turn management create power while phatic exchanges manage the relationship.
Try this
- Take a workplace transcript and label one feature that includes insiders and one that excludes outsiders.
- Identify who controls turn-taking and topic, and name the Drew and Heritage concept that describes it.
- Find one example of phatic or relational talk and explain what it does for the working relationship.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of AQA exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
AQA 201820 marksAnalyse how language is used to construct expertise and power in the workplace data provided. Refer to relevant concepts and research in your answer.Show worked answer →
A Paper 2 diversity data response rewarding AO1, AO2 and AO3. Work from the data, not from memorised theory.
Identify occupational register and jargon, and explain its dual function: precision and efficiency for insiders, exclusion of outsiders. Apply Swales's discourse community (shared goals, lexis and genres) to show the participants are insiders. Then analyse power using Drew and Heritage on institutional talk: who controls turn-taking, who sets topics, who asks and who answers, and any asymmetry of obligation (an expert can require a response). Bring in Koester on how phatic talk and politeness manage the relationship alongside the task.
Conclude that expertise and power are constructed through controlled specialist lexis and asymmetrical interaction. Markers reward quoted evidence, the Swales and Drew and Heritage references, and analysis of how features create power rather than just labelling them.
AQA 202120 marksExplain how jargon and register mark membership of an occupational discourse community. Refer to relevant concepts and examples in your answer.Show worked answer →
A Paper 2 essay testing AO1 and AO2. Treat membership as something language signals and enforces.
Define occupational register and jargon, and Swales's discourse community (shared goals, a specialised lexis, recognised genres and a threshold of expertise). Explain how new members are socialised by acquiring the community's language, so fluency in the jargon is itself a marker of belonging and rising status. Show the inclusion and exclusion effects together: jargon binds insiders and gates outsiders.
Use examples (medical handover abbreviations, legal Latin, teaching acronyms) to ground the point. Markers reward the Swales framework, the inclusion/exclusion pairing, accurate use of register and jargon, and concrete examples.
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Sources & how we know this
- AQA A-level English Language (7702) specification — AQA (2015)