THE GENRE AND THE GENRE EXPECTATIONS OF CRIT SESSIONS OF
ARCHITECTURE STUDENTS IN UTM
SITI NUR FARAHIN BINTI HAMDAN
UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA
DECLARATION OF THESIS / UNDERGRADUATE PROJECT REPORT AND COPYRIGHT
Author’s full name : SITI NUR FARAHIN BINTI HAMDAN
Date of Birth : 21 APRIL 1988
Title : THE GENRE AND THE GENRE EXPECTATIONS OF CRIT SESSIONS OF
ARCHITECTURE STUDENTS IN UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA
Academic Session : 2010 - 2011
I declare that this project report is classified as:
CONFIDENTIAL (Contains confidential information under the Official Secret Act
1972)*
RESTRICTED (Contains restricted information as specified by the
organization where research was done)*
OPEN ACCESS I agree that my project report to be published as online open
access (full text)
I acknowledged that Universiti Teknologi Malaysia reserves the right as follows:
1. The project report is the property of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
2. The Library of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia has the right to make copies for the
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3. The Library has the right to make copies of the project report for academic
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Certified by:
SIGNATURE SIGNATURE OF SUPERVISOR
880421-05-5252 ASSOC. PROF. DR. SALBIAH SELIMAN
(NEW IC NO/PASSPORT) NAME OF SUPERVISOR
Date: 13 May 2011 Date: 13 May 2011
PSZ 19:16 (Pind. 1/07)
NOTES: * If the thesis is CONFIDENTAL or RESTRICTED, please attach with the letter from
the organization with period and reasons for confidentiality or restriction.
UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA
“I hereby declare that I have read this project report and in my
opinion this project report is sufficient in terms of scope and quality for the
award of the degree of Bachelor of Science with Education (TESL)”
Signature : ………………………….........
Name of Supervisor : Assoc. Prof. Dr. Salbiah Seliman
Date : 13 May 2011
THE GENRE AND THE GENRE EXPECTATIONS OF CRIT SESSIONS OF
ARCHITECTURE STUDENTS IN UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA
SITI NUR FARAHIN BINTI HAMDAN
A project report submitted in partial fulfilment of the
requirements for the award of the degree of
Bachelor of Science with Education (TESL)
Faculty of Education
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
MAY 2011
ii
I declare that this project report entitled “THE GENRE AND THE GENRE
EXPECTATIONS OF CRIT SESSIONS OF ARCHITECTURE STUDENTS IN
UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA” is the result of my own research except as
cited in the references. The project report has not been accepted for any degree and is
not concurrently submitted in candidature of any other degree.
Signature : ....................................................
Name : Siti Nur Farahin Binti hamdan
Date : 13 May 2011
iii
Al-Mighty Allah S.W.T.
Parents,
Hamdan Rohani and Anidah Abas
iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First and foremost, First and foremost, all praises be to Allah S.W.T., the
Almighty, the Benevolent for His blessing and guidance in giving me the inspiration
to embark upon and in instilling me the strength to complete my final year project.
The process to complete the project was long and thorny and I would like to
express my deepest gratitude to my project supervisor, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Salbiah
Seliman who had taken me through the difficult times. I would like to thank her for
her invaluable guidance and advice to assist me to successfully complete the project.
I would also like to extend the credit to my parents, Hamdan Rohani and
Anidah Abas for their unconditional love and support for me to complete the project.
I would also like to express my appreciation to all 4-SPL students 2010/2011 for
their encouragement and valuable opinions for this project.
All your contribution and support in completing this research project are
appreciated. Thank you so much.
v
ABSTRACT
This study aims to establish the genre and the genre expectations of Crit
sessions amongst architecture students in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. The
objectives of this study are to determine whether Crit sessions are a genre, to identify
the architecture discourse community’s beliefs on the criteria that constitute a good
Crit session and to discover if the genre of Crit sessions meets the expectations of
that discourse community. Data were collected by recording three Crit sessions
during the first semester of 2010/2011. The panels and the students who participated
in the Crit sessions were interviewed to identify the discourse community’s beliefs
on the criteria of a good Crit session. To increase the validity of the data,
questionnaires were also distributed to the students. The recorded Crit and interview
sessions were transcribed and the mean of the data gained from the questionnaires
were calculated. From the analysis, it was found that the structure of Crit sessions did
have the features that qualify them as a genre. It was also found that there were
discrepancies in the architecture discourse community’s beliefs on the criteria of a
good Crit session. Furthermore, comparisons were made between the Genre of Crit
sessions and the beliefs of the discourse community to determine whether the Genre
of Crit sessions meets the expectations of the discourse community. It can be
generalised that the genre of the students’ Crit sessions did not meet the expectations
of the lecturers.
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ABSTRAK
Kajian ini bertujuan untuk menentukan genre dan genre jangkaan sesi Krit
pelajar arkitek di UTM. Objektif kajian ini adalah untuk menentukan samada sesi
Krit merupakan satu genre, untuk mengenal pasti persepsi komuniti “discourse”
Arkitek mengenai kriteria sesi Krit yang baik, dan untuk mengkaji sekiranya genre
sesi Krit yang dijalankan memenuhi jangkaan komuniti “discourse” tersebut.
Dapatan kajian dikumpul melalui rakaman tiga sesi Krit semasa sesi akademik
semester pertama 2010/2011. Para panel dan pelajar yang terlibat di dalam sesi Krit
tersebut ditemubual untuk mengenal pasti persepsi komuniti “discourse” Arkitek
mengenai kriteria-kriteria sesi Krit yang baik. Soal-selidik juga diedarkan kepada
pelajar-pelajar untuk meningkatkan kesahan dapatan kajian. Analisis dilakukan
berdasarkan nilai purata dapatan kajian daripada soal-selidik dan transkripsi sesi Krit
dan sesi temubual yang telah dirakam. Didapati bahawa struktur sesi Krit
mempunyai ciri-ciri yang melayakkannya untuk diklasifikasikan sebagai satu genre.
Selain itu, juga didapati bahawa terdapat perbezaan persepsi dalam kalangan
komuniti “discourse” Arkitek mengenai kriteria sesi Krit yang baik. Seterusnya,
perbandingan dilakukan antara genre sesi Krit dan persepsi komuniti “discourse”
Arkitek mengenai kriteria sesi Krit yang baik untuk menentukan samada genre sesi
krit tersebut memenuhi jangkaan komuniti “discourse” arkitek. Secara amnya, genre
sesi krit pelajar tidak memenuhi jangkaan pensyarah.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER TITLE PAGE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iv
ABSTRACT v
ABSTRAK vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS vii
LIST OF TABLES ix
LIST FO FIGURES x
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xi
LIST OF APPENDICES xii
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study 1
1.2 Statement of Problem 3
1.3 Purpose of the Study 4
1.4 Research Objectives 4
1.5 Research Questions 5
1.6 Significance of the Study 5
1.7 Scope of the Study 6
2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 What are Crit Sessions? 7
2.2 Definitions of Genre 9
2.2.1 Genre as Typified Rhetorical
Action 10
2.2.2 Genre as a Staged, Goal-oriented
Social Process 11
2.2.3 Genre as Conventionalised
Communicative Events 13
2.3 The Three Genre Orientations: Common
Ground 14
2.4 Possible Frameworks to Describe the
Genre of Crit Sessions 16
2.4.1 Move Analysis Approach 16
2.4.2 The Structure of EOPs by
Seliman (1995a) 18
2.5 The Discourse Community Members‟
Beliefs on What Constitute Good
OPs 20
2.6 Previous Studies on the Genre of
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Different Types of Oral Presentation 24
2.7 Conclusion 26
3 METHODOLOGY
3.1 Participants 27
3.2 Research Instruments 28
3.2.1 Transcribed Crit Sessions 28
3.2.2 Interview Responses 28
3.2.3 Questionnaires 28
3.3 Research procedures 29
3.3.1 Preliminary Study 29
3.3.2 Preparation of Intruments 29
3.3.3 Pilot Study 30
3.3.4 Data Collection 31
3.3.5 Data Analysis 31
4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS
4.1 The Genre of Crit Sessions 33
4.1.1 Emphasis on Conventions 34
4.1.2 Community Ownership 50
4.1.3 Genre Knowledge 51
4.1.4 Dynamism 52
4.1.5 Propensity for Innovation 52
4.2 The DC‟s Beliefs on the Criteria of a
“Good” or a “Bad” Crit Session 53
4.2.1 The Lecturers‟ Beliefs 54
4.2.2 The Students‟ Beliefs 61
4.3 The Genre Expectations of Crit Session 68
4.3.1 The Invariant Expectations of the DC 69
4.3.2 The Variant Expectations of the Lecturers 72
4.3.3 The Variant Expectations of the Students 76
5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 Conclusions 79
5.2 Recommendations 81
5.2.1 Recommendations Based on Findings 81
5.2.2 Recommendations for Future Research 83
REFERENCES 84
APPENDICES 88
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LIST OF TABLES
TABLE NO. TITLE PAGE
4.1 The Structure of Crit Sessions 35
4.2 Moves Utilised by All Presenters 37
4.3 The Main Moves Utilised in the Body of Crit Sessions 42
4.4 The Moves Utilised by Two of the Presenters 45
4.5 The Moves Used by One Presenter 47
4.6 The Common Beliefs Shared by All Panels 54
4.7 The Beliefs Shared by Two of the Panels 56
4.8 The Unconventional Beliefs of the Panels 59
4.9 The Common Beliefs Shared by The Students 61
4.10 The Beliefs Shared by Two of the Students 65
4.11 Criteria of a “Good” Crit Sessions: A Summary 68
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LIST OF FIGURES
FIGURE NO. TITLE PAGE
4.1 Examples of Introduction 38
4.2 Examples of Giving Hints or Suggestions 39
4.3 Examples of Saying „Thank You‟ 40
4.4 Examples of Initiation for Discussing with Panels 41
4.5 Examples of Explaining the Significance of the
Topic 46
4.6 Examples of Presenting the Precedent Study 46
4.7 Examples of Describing the Client 47
4.8 Examples of Describing the Architectural Approach
Used 48
4.9 Examples of Proposing a New Method to Improve
the Current Solution 49
4.10 The Panel‟s Perception on the Students‟ Progress 55
4.11 The Panel‟s Expectation on the Complexity
Level of the Design 58
4.12 The Variant and The Invariant of the DC‟s
Genre Expectations 69
4.13 Demonstration of Effort by the Students 70
4.14 Misspelling and Mispronunciation by the Students 71
4.15 The Students‟ Understanding and the
Complexity of the Design 74
4.16 Suggestions from the Panels 76
4.17 Constructive Criticism by the Panel 77
xi
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
CP - Conference Presentation
CARS - Create-a-research-space
DC - Discourse Community
EFL - English as a Foreign Language
ESP - English for Specific Purposes
EOP - Engineering Oral Presentation
EOPs - Engineering Oral Presentations
FAB - Fakulti Alam Bina
IMRD - Introduction, Method, Results and Discussion
OP - Oral Presentation
OPs - Oral Presentations
PSM - Projek Sarjana Muda
SWOT - Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunity and Threat
UTM - Universiti teknologi Malaysia
xii
LIST OF APPENDICES
APPENDIX TITLE PAGE
A Interview Questions A: Lecturers/evaluators 88
B Interview Questions B: Students 89
C Questionnaire: Students 90
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Undoubtedly, today‟s impact of globalization has caused the increasing
demands of local graduates to develop good communication skills. The ability to
communicate effectively is one of the important requirements for graduates to
become more competitive in the job market. As stated by Murnae and Levy (1996),
in line with the technological advancement, skills required in the workplace have
changed significantly for the past two decades. Although technical skills are
undeniably important, employers have increasingly acknowledged the necessity of
non-technical skills and soft-skills.
In order to succeed in a career, there is a need for graduates to communicate
what they know. Technical knowledge alone is not enough as employees need to
have good communication skills to interact with others to exchange information with
intended audience. It is important for them to acquire essential skills in
communication as to enable them to express their ideas. A survey done by Oliver
2
(1955) indicates that the factor considered most important by employers is the way in
which a job applicant speaks and handles himself. This factor is predominant over
other factors such as education, extracurricular activities, grades, etc.
As for students of higher learning institutions, they need to present their ideas
and works through OPs. The university requirements make OPs compulsory for them
to graduate. In fact, final year students are required to present their final year projects
orally before they can graduate. This is a good practice to prepare graduates not only
to master the content knowledge but also to be able to convey the knowledge and
information to the intended audience.
There are many different types of OPs such as medical OPs, engineering OPs
etc. In the department of architecture of UTM, OPs are widely called Crit. In Crit
sessions, the architecture students are required to present their ideas and design to
peers and faculty members. Normally, the students will come up with an issue and
provide solutions for the issue through their design. Meanwhile, the OPs mentioned
by Seliman (1996) share almost the same attributes as the presenter normally present
some background information of the problem and provide solutions for the problem.
Thus, the OPs in Seliman are actually similar to the Crits in the department of
architecture.
Seliman (1996) states that the genre of OPs (in the context of this research,
Crit) is important to both the listeners and presenters. The listeners especially the
novices need to be aware of the genre in order to understand the gist of the Crit;
whilst the presenters need to understand the genre as to knowing how to bridge the
gap between themselves and the audience. Awareness on the genre of Crit by both
parties can eliminate the potential misunderstanding and miscommunication. In
addition, Crit sessions are very important to architecture students as they provide
these students the opportunity to orally present their design and to mediate between
their design artefacts (model or drawing) and their audiences (Morton, 2009).
3
Besides, Crit sessions also act as a platform for the architecture students to equip
themselves with necessary skills before they pursue their profession as an architect.
Furthermore, the genre of Crit is also important to ESP practitioners or the
teachers responsible in preparing them for the Crit sessions. ESP practitioners and
the involved teachers need to understand the genre of Crit in order to be able to
prepare instructional materials which will meet the needs of architecture students. By
doing so, it will help them to perform better during their Crit sessions.
Based on the importance of Crit, the analysis of the genre of Crit is indeed
necessary in order to enhance the performance of architecture students during Crit
sessions. Besides, it will also help to develop the skills required by the students in
order to prepare them for their career in the workplace.
1.2 Statement of Problem
OP is a must for students at tertiary level. They need to deliver OPs to present
their assignments and final year project. Besides, it is crucial for graduates to equip
themselves with good OP skills as to enable them to express their ideas and opinions
to the intended audience. Furthermore, it is vital for graduates to have good OP skills
in order to succeed in their future career. Furthermore, OP is also crucial in research
activities as researchers need to present their findings during meetings, conferences
etc.
As the importance of OP arises, there is a need for architecture and other
students to understand the genre of OPs. Besides, it will assist them in acquiring the
4
necessary skills of OPs. Furthermore, as mentioned earlier, the awareness of the
genre by both presenters and listeners will enhance the understanding of the
information conveyed during presentations. In addition, the knowledge of genre of
OP helps in bridging the gap between university and workplace. For these reasons,
there is a need to establish the genre and the genre expectations of the OP (i.e. Crit)
delivered by architecture students.
1.3 Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this research was to look into the OPs delivered by
architecture students of UTM. The focus of this research was on the architecture
students‟ presentations, known as the Crit by the department of architecture in UTM.
At the same time, the researcher intended to identify the patterns of the Crit which
permit it to be characterized as a genre. Besides, the study sought to identify the
DC‟s (lecturers‟ and the students‟) beliefs on what constitute a “good” Crit. In
addition, this study intended to determine if the genre of Crit similar with the genre
expectations of the DC.
1.4 Research Objectives
The objectives of this study were:
1.4.1 To determine if Crit sessions were a genre
1.4.2 To identify the DC‟ beliefs concerning what constitute a “good” or a
“bad” Crit session
1.4.3 To determine if the genre of Crit sessions met the expectations of the
DC.
5
1.5 Research Questions
1.5.1 Are Crit sessions a genre?
1.5.2 What are the DC‟s beliefs concerning what constitute a “good” or a
“bad” Crit session?
1.5.3 Does the genre of Crit sessions meet the expectations of the DC?
1.6 Significance of the Study
The findings of the study would provide useful information regarding the
needs of the architecture students during the Crit sessions. Based on the findings,
ESP practitioners can create and prepare instructional materials which would help to
improve the skills needed by the architecture students during Crit sessions.
Besides, the findings from this study would also benefit the students as the
findings would reveal what are the expectations of the DC during Crit sessions. Thus,
they would know what to do to impress the audience as well as to improve their Crit
sessions.
Furthermore, this study was also hoped to be able to address the future needs
of architecture students in UTM concerning their career prospects. As future
architects, they need to present their designs to intended audiences or clients; thus,
the findings on what constitutes a “good” Crit would help them to equip themselves
with the necessary skills for them to perform well in Crit sessions. They can apply
these skills when they have graduated and use it to present their designs to the
6
clients. This would undoubtedly be beneficial to the students since it is crucial for
fresh graduates to perform well in academic as well as to equip themselves with soft
skills.
1.7 Scope of the Study
The scope of this study consists of the generic elements covered and the stage
of Crit sessions investigated. A genre analysis on OPs can reveal numerous elements
that can be classified as grammatical and non-grammatical elements. Examples of
non-grammatical elements are moves and sub-moves while grammatical elements
include tenses, choices of vocabulary, choices of structure etc. This research only
concentrated on the non-grammatical generic elements i.e. beliefs and expectations
of the DC members.
According to the informants, there are five stages of Crit session in the first
part of their final year project, also known as PSM I. The first stage is the proposal
stage in which the students are required to propose topic for their thesis. The second,
third and fourth stages of the Crit are the progress stages and the students are
expected to present the progress of their projects. The fifth stage is the final stage as
the students are required to prepare schematic design in preparation for their PSM ΙΙ.
In this study, the researcher analysed only the fourth stage of the Crit because
according to the informants, the students‟ projects are more stable in this stage.
Besides, architecture students are divided into several work-bases such as
Environment, Regional and Urban; but the researcher focused only on one specific
work-base which is New Spirit. In addition, only three Crit sessions were analysed as
the whole genre of Crit sessions is too wide to be established.
7
CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter describes what Crit sessions are and defines genre from three
different orientations – genre as typified rhetorical actions, genre as a social process,
and genre as conventionalised communicative events. Besides, it discusses the
common ground of the three genre orientations. Furthermore, it reviews the possible
framework that can be used to describe the genre of Crit sessions. It also discusses
the DC members‟ beliefs on what is considered as a “good” OP. In addition, the
genre of OPs from previous research is discussed in this chapter.
2.1 What are Crit Sessions?
The Crit, the review, or the jury are the terms used to refer to the architecture
students‟ presentations which are at the centre of architecture courses throughout the
world (Webster, 2005).
8
For architecture students, among the academic genres that they need to learn
to produce, the Crit is a significant moment in “students‟ enculturation to
disciplinary norms” (Melles, 2008). Adding to this dimension, Frederiksen (1990)
also points out that the architecture Crit or jury aims to “socialise students to
academic and professional practices” (p.22).
According to Morton (2009), Crit sessions normally are held at least once or
twice a year for the duration of an architecture degree. Nonetheless, the number of
Crit sessions to be held is different depending on the lecturers and the students.
Besides, Morton further adds that in a typical Crit session, the students present their
ideas, design artefacts, as well as create the visual which conveys the conceptual
design of built environment space to an audience that comprises of their instructors,
peers and also external panels who are usually practitioners in the field. Each
presentation is followed by a critique. Here, the instructors and evaluators engage in
a discussion with the students; the instructors and evaluators will criticise, comment
and provide necessary feedback to the students (Morton, 2009).
Furthermore, Morton (2009) implies that Crit sessions also act as a platform
which provides students an opportunity to “verbally communicate their designs and
to mediate between their design artefacts (drawings and models) and their audience”
as they will not be able to do so after they submit their work for final stand-alone
marking.
Apart from that, Dannels (2005) identifies four distinct types of oral Crit,
summarised as below:
i. Desk Crit. This type of Crit is also known as informal Crit which normally
occurs in one-on-one setting between a faculty member and one individual
student. The Crit is held outside the formal schedule and within the studio
9
time. This type of Crit normally functions as a platform for students to
brainstorm ideas as well as receive advices from lecturer.
ii. Pin-up. The name is derived from the verb „pin-up‟ as students are required
to pin-up and display their work on a large wall or board. After that, the
students will receive feedback from both faculty members and peers.
iii. Crit. This is when the Crit, the review or the jury take place; either at mid or
end of project.
iv. Open House. This is when a broad public is invited to view materials and
visual outcomes.
The preceding types of Crit are distinguished by setting, the prominence of visual
and spatial elements, and audience feedback.
2.2 Definitions of Genre
To determine the genre of Crit sessions, it is essential to define what genre is.
There is no concrete definition of genre as “genre remains as a fuzzy concept, a
somewhat loose term of art” (Swales, 1990). The process of defining a genre often
involves substantial disagreement among theorists as a genre is ultimately an abstract
conception rather than something that exists empirically in the world (Jane Feuer,
1992). Nevertheless, it is customary to identify three broad orientations of genre
(Hyon, 1996) – genre as a typified rhetorical action; genre as a staged, goal-oriented
social process; and genre as conventionalised communicative events (Hyland, 2002).
10
2.2.1 Genre as Typified Rhetorical Action
The term genre is derived from French word for „type‟ or „class‟ (Chandler,
1997). It has its genesis in rhetoric traditions and several researchers consider genre
as typical responses to recurring rhetorical situations. Coe and Freedman (1998)
regard genre as “a socially standard strategy, embodied in a typical form of discourse
which has evolved for responding to a recurring type of rhetorical situation”. In
addition, Bitzer (1968) seems to be saying this when he describes recurrent rhetorical
situations. He maintains that when comparable situations recur and at the same time
prompts comparable rhetorical responses, rhetorical forms of discourse (i.e. genres)
are established.
Furthermore, Miller (1984) refers genre as “a conventional category of
discourse based on typification of rhetorical action” which acquires meaning from
situation and social contexts. Here, he relates the notion of recurrence of rhetorical
situations with the typicality of responses and views genre as a form of social action.
Following Miller, Bazerman (1997) defines genres as:
… not just form. Genres are forms of life, ways of being. They are frames for
social action, locations within which meaning is constructed. Genres shape
the thoughts we form and the communities by which we interact. Genres are
the familiar places we go to create intelligible communicative action with
each other and the guideposts we use to explore the unfamiliar (p.19).
As the genres in this tradition mainly focus on the effect of contextual
elements towards the users of genres in which their ways of thinking are influenced,
to certain extent, the genres possibly are challenged and reshaped to cater the needs
of the users. Thus, the understanding of genres involves “not only describing the
lexico-grammatical forms and rhetorical patterns, but also investigating the social,
cultural and institutional contexts” (Carstens, 2009).
Following the same dimension, Berkenkotter and Huckin (1995) define genre as
“inherently dynamic rhetorical structures that can be manipulated according to the