Discourse Analysis, Genres in Language

1. Genre
Analysis
M.A , TEFL, Tehran, Iran
Presenter: Sara
Tehrani

2. Genre means “ kind “ or “ form” and it refers
to major types of literature: poetry, drama &
epic.
Genre refers to different communicative events
which are associated with particular setting and
which have recognized structures and
communicative functions.
Generally
In the field of Applied Linguistics

3. Genres are specific
communicative event.
Communicative
purposes is the
distinctive feature of
genres. / eg. lectures
Genre Register
Register is a type of lg.
associated with a particular
field of activity or
profession.
This lg. may be used for
various purposes. /eg.
Instruction manuals

4. Other
characteristic
features of
GENRE
Conventionalized
Lexicogrammatical
features
Staging
Genre as
a flexible
concept
Genre
relations
Intertextuality

5. Staging

6. Communities of practice

7. Some gens are quite formulaic (like
marriage vows). For example by the use of
parallel grammatical structure and the use
of material process verbs.
Conventional
lexigogrammatical
features

8. Recurrent
nature of
genres
Genre knowledge
develop through
repeated exposure
and practice. Knowledge
acquired through repeated exposure is
stored in the form of shemata.

9. Genre
as a
flexible
concept
A “flexible”, rather than a “static”
view is required :
Swales (2004)  metaphor
Palrtidge (2006)  prototype
Kress (2003)  tension

10. These notions can
be classified
under the umbrella
of genre relations
Genre set
Genre system
Genre chain
Disciplinary genre

11. Types of genre relations
Genre set
Genre system
Genre chain
Disciplinary
genre
A range of genres which a professional group
uses in the course of their daily routine.
(Devitt, 1991)
A full set of genres (spoken or written) which
are involved in a complete interaction.
(Bazerman, 1994)
A chronologically related sequences of
genres in a given interaction. (Raisanen, 2002)
All those genres associated with a profession
or discipline. (Bhatia, 2004)

12. How there are references
in one text to other texts.
Intertextuality has various forms:
 From Fairclough viewpoint (1992)
 From Devitt viewpoint (1991)

13. Various forms
of
intertextuality
Fairclough
(1992)
1) Manifest intertextuality
(quotation, citation, paraphrase)
2) Constitutive intertextuality
(generic features which do not
leave an obvious trace from the
source)

14. Various forms of intertextuality
Devitt (1991)
Referential Functional Generic
When one text
refers directly
to another one.
When a text
is part of a
larger system
of texts, dealing
with a particular issue.
When a text
draws on similar
texts created
in a similar
situation.

15. Intercultu
ral
nature of
genres
Genres are likely to be subject to
intercultural variation.
Various writers prefer to see the
differences among cultures in terms
of “ the differences or preferences in the pragmatic
and strategic choices that writers make in response to
external demands and cultural histories.
A number of differences were noted both at the level
of assessment by members of the two communities of
practice & at the level of rhetorical structure.

16. Approaches to Genre Pedagogy
The ESP School The Sydney School
The New Rhetoric School
(Rhetorical Genre Studies)

17. Started by:
Swales (1990)
Bhatia (1993)
Investigating
academic
genres
(primarily research
articles)
More interested
in business and legal
genre.
Communicative purposes are expressed in stages or
sequenced manner, a text being built up systematically
through a series of what are called moves and steps.

18. The best-known model of generic staging is Swales’s
CARS Model
Create a Research Space
Move 1.
Establishing a territory
Move 2.
Establishing a niche
Move 3.
Occupying the niche
Step 1 Step 1 Step 1
Step 2 or or
Step 3 or
Step 2
Claiming centrality
Making topic generalization
Reviewing items of
previous research
Counterclaiming
Indicating a gap
Question Raising
or
Counting a tradition
Outlining Purposes
Announcing present research
Announcing principal findings
Indicating research
article structure
Step 3

19. Another example of schematic structure: Bhatia (1993)
offers the following model of seven typical moves for
the genre of sales letters:
1- Establishing credentials. offering the product/ service
2- Introducing the offer. essential detailing of the offer
3- Offering incentives. Indicating value of the offer
4- referring to enclosed documents.
5- inviting further communication.
6- using pressure tactics.
7- ending politely.

20. Bhatia (2004) contrasts what he refers to as the relatively
simplicity as the “ideal world” with the greater complexity of
the “real world”.
The “real world” incorporates three main insights:
1- The genres occur in relation to other genres & shouldn’t be
considered in isolation,
2- The genres are dynamic & have propensity to develop.
3- There are disciplinary differences in genres .

21. 1- Placing the given genre-text in a situational context.
2- Surveying the existing literature.
3- Refining the situational / contextual analysis.
4- Selecting a corpus.
5- Selecting the institutional context.
6- Levels of linguistic analysis.
7- Consulting with specialist informants.
The seven stages Bhatia (1993) recommends
for Genre Analysis

22. Application of ESP genre theory has focused on tertiary-level
context, helping students to prepare for both undergraduate
and postgraduate study.
One of the most applications of the results of ESP genre has
been Swales CARS model & adaptations to various contexts.
Swales already suggested “consciousness raising” rather than
“over teaching”.
Application to Pedagogy

23. Through these six main resources and strategies,
writers move toward expert genre knowledge (Tardy,
2009)
1) Prior experience & repeated practice.
2) Textual interactions.
3)Oral interactions.
4) Mentoring & disciplinary participation.
5) Shifting roles within a genre network.
6) Resource availability.

24. This approach to genre was
developed among followers of the
SFL Halliday, under the leadership
of Martin (Martin defines genre as
a staged goal-oriented, purposeful
activity.
Sydney School, like ESP School, share the notion of
staging. In SFL, this notion was referred to as
schematic structure OR structural formula
Sydney school emphasizes communicative purpose & staging
as the distinctive features of the letter.

25. Distinction
between
genre
&
text type
Paltridge
(2002)
Genre: Can be recognized according to external
criteria and are named by their users.
Ex  Laboratory reports, research articles, lectures.
Text types OR Elemental Genres: Rhetorical
modes that follow systematic internal discourse
patterns.
Ex  problem – solution, exposition – argument.
Text types combine together to create what
are called “ macro-genres”

26. To show how schematic structure & form-function correlations
interact, Coffin (2006) did an interesting work: He shows how
the school genre of historical account typically develops
according to three stages:
Background
Account
sequence
Deduction
Here, the writer chronicles events as they unfolded in the past time.
Events play an agentive role in producing subsequent events. In
the grammar, this is realized as nominalizations in initial clause
(thematic) position.

27.  In contrast to ESP, with its pedagogic focus on tertiary- level
contexts, Sydney School genre theory has been developed within
the context of Australia, where it has been used as a tool for
developing a fully fledged pedagogy. (Martin & Rose, 2012)
 Sydney School linguistics have applied their genre model to
the teaching of reading.  The description of generic stages or
phases, is used to inform the preparation before reading; the
teacher is able to paraphrase the text which is about to read.
Application to Pedagogy

28. As RGS Scholars as A.M. Johns
(2002) say, this approach has a
much more social way of looking
at genre. RGS claims some negative
aspects towards linguistic approaches:
 Linguistic approaches don’t pay attention to this
fact that genres are all the time evolving.
 They fail to account the multiple purposes of genres.
 They neglect the potential for creativity within genres.
 They fail to take account of genres’ intertextual nature.
 They fail to take account of genres’ hybrid nature.
ESP School
& Sydney
School are
both
linguistic
approaches

29. Hyon (1996)  RGS focuses more on situational context,
social purposes & actions resulting from these purposes
rather than linguistic forms.
Miller (1984)  He claims that a definition of genre should
be focused on the action it is used to accomplish rather
than its substance or form.
For RGS, genre focuses on action & it must
be related to cognition. According to RGS,
genre is linked to procedural knowledge &
background knowledge.

30. RGS stresses:
Reflexivity
of genres

31. Similarities
of these
three
schools
They insist on the limitation of
traditional conceptions of genres
which focused only on recurring
textual feature.
They stressed the need to recognize
the social dimensions of genres.
They emphasized the addressee, the
context & the occasion.

32. RGS has primarily focused on genres in academic & professional
contexts. RGS is combined with a familiarisation on the part of
learners with the target context & related genres.
Some overt pedagogical issues : META-GENRE AWARENESS ( an
awareness which stresses the interaction between genre &
context)
Application to Pedagogy

33. Critiques;
Paltridge (2001) discussed the limitations of the genre approach
in general:
 The difficulty in assgining texts into specific genre categories.
 The difficulty for teachers who are working in communities
where the target lg. is not widespread use.
 The question of creativity.
 The difficulty of the teachers of finding suitable texts & lack of
familiarity with the particular features of the target genre.

34. 1) For Paltridge, genre-based teaching , develops the acquisition of
generic competence, that is the ability to respond to new genres.
2) For Paltridge, genre-based pedagogy provides access to genres
which have high cultural capital, that is genres which are highly valued
by society.
3) For Paltridge, genre-based pedagogy allows for the inclusion of the
best aspects of other syllabus types.
Application to Pedagogy : General Principles