This document discusses genre analysis and how to analyze different types of texts. It defines genre as examples of written or spoken discourse used within a discourse community for specific purposes. Genre analysis relates text features to the discourse community. The document outlines six levels of understanding a text, including words, formatting, style, structure, purpose. It recommends analyzing authentic texts to determine the intended audience and text features and purposes. The document provides a framework for developing a genre analysis by examining basic information, linguistic competence, socio-linguistic competence, and discourse competence. The purpose of genre analysis is to help develop relevant learning goals for learners needing to understand that genre of text.

1. Genre Analysis
TABINDA BILAL | ESP COURSE

2. Contents
1. Genre and Genre Analysis
2. Understanding ESP text
3. Analysing Genre
4. Building Genre Analysis

3. Genre
• examples of written or spoken discourse
• used by members of a discourse community
• for specific purpose/ sets of purpose

4. Genre Analysis
Relates features of spoken and written texts to features of
the discourse community

5. Six Levels of Understanding of an
ESP TEXT
 Wors - meaning of the text
 Non-verbal features - formatting, tables, illustrations,
gestures
 Style - use of pronouns, tenses, sentence length
 Over-all discourse structure
 Purpose

6. Why to have Genre Anslysis?
 Classifies text into text-type or genre
 e.g. Pamphlet, video, etc.
 Helps select useful points to focus on, in text
 linguistic competence, sociolinguistic competence, etc.
 Helps learners enter their target discourse community

7. How to Analyze Genre
(SKIMMING)
Appearance: look at the text; how does it look like?
• heading or sub-heading?
• bullets?
• white space?
• special use of fonts?
- why text is formatted like this?

8. How to Analyse Genre
(SCANNING)
Paragraphs:
• how many ? kind of information?
• how many sentences per paragraph?
• information organization (discourse structure/formal
schemata)?
• any personal pronouns?
• verbs forms and tenses, contractions?
• purpose of text?
• would a spoken version be different? how?
- why the text is formatted like this?

9. Building Genre Analysis
 Examine authentic text from the target discourse
community
 Determine intended audience
 Analyze their features and purposes

10. Developing Genre Analysis
 Basic Information
 Linguistic Competence
 Socio-linguistic Competence
 Discourse Competence

11. Developing Genre Analysis
 Basic Information
a) What is the genre of the text? (Genre is not the
topic of the text)
b) For what ESP target learners would this text be
appropriate? Why?
 Linguistic Competence
 Socio-linguistic Competence
 Discourse Competence

12. Developing Genre Analysis
 Basic Information
 Linguistic Competence
a) What vocabulary seems to be specifically important
in this text?
b) What grammatical features from the text reflects its
genre?
 Socio-linguistic Competence
 Discourse Competence

13. Developing Genre Analysis
 Basic Information
 Linguistic Competence
 Socio-linguistic Competence
a) Who is the genre specifically intended to
communicate with? Why do you think so?
b) Would you consider this genre formal/informal?
Why?
 Discourse Competence

14. Developing Genre Analysis
 Basic Information
 Linguistic Competence
 Socio-linguistic Competence
 Discourse Competence
a) How is this general appearance of the text reflective
of its genre?
b) What are the moves (Dudley-Evans and St. John,
1998) within the text?

15. Purpose of Genre Analysis is to help
formulate relevant course goals fir
specific target learners, who will need
to understand text within this genre.