GenreAnalysis

M.A , TEFL, Tehran, Iran

Presenter: Sara

Tehrani

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

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

Other characteristic

features of GENRE

Conventionalized Lexicogrammatical

features Staging

Genre as a flexible concept

Genre relations

Intertextuality

Staging

Communities of practice

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

Recurrent nature of

genres

Genre knowledge

develop through

repeated exposure

and practice. Knowledge

acquired through repeated exposure is

stored in the form of shemata.

Genre

as a

flexible

concept

A “flexible”, rather than a “static”

view is required :

Swales (2004) metaphor

Palrtidge (2006) prototype

Kress (2003) tension

These notions can

be classified

under the umbrella

of genre relations

Genre set

Genre system

Genre chain

Disciplinary genre

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)

How there are references

in one text to other texts.

Intertextuality has various forms:

From Fairclough viewpoint (1992)

From Devitt viewpoint (1991)

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)

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.

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.

Approaches to Genre Pedagogy

The ESP School The Sydney School

The New Rhetoric School

(Rhetorical Genre Studies)

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.

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 orStep 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 researcharticle structure

Step 3

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.

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 .

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

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

Application to Pedagogy

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.

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.

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”

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.

In contrast to ESP, with its pedagogic focus on tertiary- levelcontexts, Sydney School genre theory has been developed withinthe context of Australia, where it has been used as a tool fordeveloping a fully fledged pedagogy. (Martin & Rose, 2012)

Sydney School linguistics have applied their genre model tothe teaching of reading. The description of generic stages orphases, is used to inform the preparation before reading; theteacher is able to paraphrase the text which is about to read.

Application to Pedagogy

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

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.

RGS stresses:

Reflexivity

of genres

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.

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

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.

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