3. Discourse Community
Swales (1990) gives the following definitions:
a. A discourse community has a broadly
agreed set of common public goals.
b. It has mechanisms for intercommunication
among its members (e.g., meetings,
correspondence, newsletter, mailing list).
4. Discourse Community
c. It uses participatory mechanisms
primarily to provide information and
feedback (in accordance with the
common goal).
d. A discourse community has developed
and continues to develop discoursal
expectations (pp. 25-26).
5. Genreis a term for
grouping texts together,
representing how
writers typically use
language to respond to
recurring situations
(Hyland, 2004).
6. A genre comprises a set of
communicative events, the
members of which share some
set of communicative
purposes (Swales, 1990).
Exemplars of a genre exhibit
various patterns of similarity
in terms of structure, style,
content and intended
audience.
7. Genreis a social
action and a speech
event that has
communicative goal
shared by the members
of a particular discourse
community.
8. Genre: in literary studies, film,
anthropology, study of folklore,
music
In applied linguistics, three
approaches to genre:
The English for specific purposes
(ESP) approach
The New Rhetoric approach
The functional-systemic approach
(Halliday)
10. research article, conference
proposal, business report,
grant application, letter to
the editor, reference letter,
MA dissertation, MA
dissertation proposal,
lecture, seminar
15. Genre sets: abstract and
introduction in the research
paper
Genres and subgenres:
-Review > book review, film
review, CD review
-Promotional writing > sales
letter, tourist brochure
16. Professional Genres are
characterized by the following
(Bhatia, 1999):
a. Genre Integrity
This refers to generic character that makes it
acceptable to the members of a particular
discourse community. It means that a
particular community understands the
implicit and explicit objectives of a genre.
17. This genre also follows the acceptable
rhetorical structure popular in that
discipline.
Example:
An adjustment letter in a discourse community like
the Baggage Claims in an airport must adhere to
the policies and format in that department. It
must also be written following baisc principles of
business communication. If it does not follow
these principles, its genre integrity is at
stake as well as the integrity of the
department that produced it.
18. b. Discursive Processes and Genre
Bhatia (1999) points out that
professional genres are often the
"products of a set of established
procedures that form an
important part of the disciplinary
culture within a profession"
(p.23).
19. Example:
In the field of information
technology, a project proposal is
a collaborative work that follows
a cyclical process as groups
collaborate with clients, with
other members of the company,
and with other members of the
design group.
20. c. Generic Purposes and Intentions
"Although many of the genres employed in
well-established professional contexts serve
recognizable and somewhat standardized set
of communicative purposes, they rarely, if
ever, serve a single purpose. If nothing else,
they almost always combine a more
immediate single purpose with the most
standerdized ones of maintenance and
continuance of goodwill and a mutually
beneficial professional relationship" (Bhatia,
1999, p. 25).
21. Example:
- the use of newsletters by
universities to inform the
community about the
developments in their
institution and to market fund
raising programs to the
alumni
22. d. Genre Participants
"Practicing genre is almost like playing
a game with its rules and conventions.
Established genre participants, both
writers and readers, are like skillful
players, who succeed by their
manipulation and exploitation of,
rather than a strict compliance with,
the rules of the game" (Bhatia, 1999,
p.24).
23. e. Genre Versality
Although genres like business letters
follow conventional formats, different
institutions and companies have their
own norms for structuring their
comminications. This is the reason
why new employees need to acquaint
themselves with the corporate culture
in their workplace.
24. Genre Analysis is a process
of looking at several
samples of a particular
genre to analyze their
similarities and differences
in terms of their purposes,
macrostructure and
language choice.
25. Genre Analysis: The CARS Model
Swales (1990): Move and step analysis of introductions to
research articles: the CARS (creating a research space) model
Move 1: Establishing a territory
Step 1. Claiming centrality and/or
Step 2. Making topic generalizations and/or
Step 3. Reviewing items of previous research
Move 2: Establishing a niche
Step 1a Counter-claiming or
Step 1b Indicating a gap or
Step 1c Question-raising or
Step 1d Continuing a tradition
Move 3: Occupying the niche
Step 1a Outlining purposes or
Step 1b Announcing present research
Step 2 Announcing principle findings
Step 3 Indicating Research article structure
26. Genre Analysis: Recent Trends in
Research
Move and step analysis of other genres
Sales promotion letters (Bhatia, 1993),
PhD thesis (Bunton, 2005)
Cross-cultural comparisons of genres
German and American lectures (Schleef, 2009)
English and Spanish book reviews (Moreno &
Suárez, 2008)
27. Genre Analysis: Recent Trends in
Research
Intercultural influences
Genres written by writers from different L1
backgrounds writing in English (Precht’s (1998)
study of recommendation letters written by
British, American, German and Eastern
European lecturers)
Diachronic (historical) studies of genres
Bazerman’s (1988) work on the evolution of
scientific report in physics
Salager-Meyer et al’s (2007): book reviews in
French and English medical journals, a
comparison between the last decades of the 19th
and the 20th centuries
28. The following steps are useful:
a. Collect samples of the same genre.
Although there is no specific
required, 30 are usually the
minimum for statistical purpose. On
the other hand, if you are doing the
analysis to become familiar with the
conventions, get enough samples
until you are able to see patterns of
organization.
29. b. Look for available in-house style
guides or documentation manual.
c. If you are doing the genre analysis
for a graduate paper, it is best to
look for related research. This is also
a good idea if you are conducting
needs analysis to design an EOP
(English for Occupational Purpose)
course.
30. d. Next, ask about their purposes,
intended readers, and writing
processes
e. Look for macro patterns. These
refer to the major sections of a
document. If you notice deviations
to the pattern, find out their
reasons.
f. Next, analyze how each section is
organized
31. g. Finally, pay attention to the
language features. For example, you
check the use of voice, tense, and
idioms. Many companies want to
have a distinct "voice ", and only
those who belong to those
companies understand how that
"voice" is projected.
32. "Genre analysis adds to our
understanding of how language is
used within an important discourse
community, and is a model of
applied linguistics in its best sense –
it draws on linguistic and
sociolinguistic theory to classify the
nature of language use and
language learning in an educational
setting". – Long and Richards
33. References
Bhatia, V. (1993). Analysing genre. Language use in professional
settings. London: Longman. Section on Sales promotion letters (pp. 45-
59).
Bunton, D. (2005). The structure of PhD conclusion chapters. Journal
of English for Specific Purposes, 4: 207-224.
Hartford, B., & Bardovi-Harlig, K. (1992). Closing the Conversation:
Evidence from the Academic Advising Session. Discourse Processes, 15, 93-
116.
Hoey, M. (1983). On the surface of discourse. London: Allen and
Unwin.
Hoey, M. (1994). Signalling in discourse: a functional analysis of a
common discourse pattern in written and spoken English (pp. 26-45).
In: M. Coulthard (Ed.). Advances in written text analysis. New York:
Routledge.
Hyland, K. (2004). Genre and second language writing. Ann Arbor, MI:
University of Michigan Press.
Swales, J. (1990). Genre Analysis: English in academic and research
settings. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.
