Rhina Genre Analysis

Genre Analysis

KEY CONCEPTS FOR

UNDERSTANDING

Discourse CommunitySwales (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).

Discourse Communityc. 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).

Genre is a term for grouping texts together, representing how writers typically use language to respond to recurring situations (Hyland, 2004).

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.

Genre is a social action and a speech event that has communicative goal shared by the members of a particular discourse community.

Genre: in literary studies, film, anthropology, study of folklore, music

In applied linguistics, three approaches to genre: The English for specific purposes

(ESP) approachThe New Rhetoric approachThe functional-systemic approach

(Halliday)

Can you think of some academic genres?

research article, conference proposal, business report, grant application, letter to the editor, reference letter, MA dissertation, MA dissertation proposal, lecture, seminar

Some examples are public and

occluded.

(Swales and Feaks 2000)

Public / Open Genres

- are accessible to everyone, often published, and are easily visible and audible

Occluded / Supporting Genres

- are ‘closed’, not public in nature, and often difficult to access examples of.

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

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.

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.

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).

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.

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).

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

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).

e. Genre VersalityAlthough 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.

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.

Genre Analysis: The CARS Model Swales (1990): Move and step analysis of introductions to

research articles: the CARS (creating a research space) modelMove 1: Establishing a territory

Step 1. Claiming centrality and/orStep 2. Making topic generalizations and/orStep 3. Reviewing items of previous research

Move 2: Establishing a niche Step 1a Counter-claiming orStep 1b Indicating a gap orStep 1c Question-raising orStep 1d Continuing a tradition

Move 3: Occupying the nicheStep 1a Outlining purposes orStep 1b Announcing present researchStep 2 Announcing principle findingsStep 3 Indicating Research article structure

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)

Genre Analysis: Recent Trends in Research

Intercultural influencesGenres 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 genresBazerman’s (1988) work on the evolution of

scientific report in physicsSalager-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

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.

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.

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

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.

"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

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.