Ethnography has, as its central principle, belief that the context in which a behaviour occurs has a significant impact on that behaviour. This study is based on a four-week ethnographic study of a discourse community - the first and second year students of Kolej Universiti Islam Malaysia. The study sought to understand and comprehend the need and usage of the English language by the discourse community. Non-participant observations, specialist informants, interviews, questionnaire and reviewing relevant documents were the tools employed for data gathering purposes. The findings indicate that the English language usage is dependent on the convention laid down by the university as well as by the discourse community. And finally, the study concludes with a discussion on the implications the findings have on producing and designing authentic teaching-learning material for the discourse community.