Discourse and genre

Dr. TajeddinBy: Sh. Tamizrad

Fall 2014

Content

• What is a genre?

• Relationship between genres

• Written genres across cultures

• Spoken genres across culture

• Steps in genre analysis

• The social and cultural context of genre

• Applications of genre analysis

What is a genre?

• Schmidt (2002):

A type of discourse that occurs in a particular

setting, that has distinctive recognizable patterns

and norms of organization and structure and that

has particular and distinctive communicative

functions.

Some examples of genre

• A letter to the editors

• News

• Reports

• Parliamentary speeches

• Summing up in a court of law

Use of the notion of genre

• Teaching ESP: based on Swales (1981, 1990)

• Teaching of writing: Sydney School (Hyon 1996)

• Schematic structure, generic structure

Genres are …

Ways in which people get things done

through their use of spoken and

written discourse.

Genre embedding ?

• Bhatia (1997) : Genre embedding is

when a genre is used for another

‘conventionally distinct’ genre.

Defining Genre

• Martin (1984): A staged, goal-oriented,

purposeful activity in which speakers engage

as members of our culture.

• Swales (2004): Definitions are often not true in

all possible worlds and all possible times and

can prevent us from seeing newly explored or

newly emerging genres for what they really are.

Defining Genre

• Swales (2004): Genres are dynamic and open

to change, but it is not a case of ‘free for all’ or

‘anything goes’.

• Devitt (2004): Conformity among genre users

‘is a fact of genre, for genres provide an

expected way of acting’.

• Constraint and choice are necessary and

positive component of genres.

Genre Category

Cook (1989):

• Author or speaker

• Intended audience

• Purpose of text

• The situation in which the

text occurs

• The physical form

• The title

• Pre-sequence to the text

• Content of the text

• The level of formality

• Particular uses of language

• The style or register

• Spoken or written

• Askehave and Swales (2000):

While discourse structure is clearly a

characterizing feature of some genres, it is not

always the case that every instance of a particular

genre will have exactly the same discourse

structures (nor indeed the same communicative

purpose).

• Swales (2002): Genres are seen

as ‘resources for meaning’ rather

than ‘systems of rules’.

Relationship Between Genres

• The way a use of one genre may assume, or depend

on the use of a number of other interrelated genres.

• Job interview

Relationship Between Genres

• Genre chain Vs. Genre network

• Genre repertoire

– Phone calls, an email, casual conversation, a letter, a fax

• Genre sequence and hierarchy

• Occluded or supporting genre Vs. Open genre

Job

advertiseme

nt

Position

description

Letter of

applicationResume

Job

interview

Offer of

appointment

Negotiation

of offer

Written genres across cultures

• Kaplan (1966): Different patterns in the academic

essay of student from different languages and

cultures.

• Connor (1996): Contrastive rhetoric

• Connor (2004): Intercultural rhetoric

Contrastive Rhetoric

• Leki (1997): Contrastive rhetoric can be seen,

not as the study of culture-specific thought

patterns, but as the study of ‘differences or

preferences in the pragmatic and strategic

choices that writers make in response to

external demands and cultural histories.

Contrastive Rhetoric

• Canagarajah (2002): Contrastive rhetoric

research needs ‘to develop more complex types

of explanation for textual differences’ if it is to

enjoy continued usefulness in teaching of

academic writing.

Spoken genres across culture

• Nakanishi (1998): Examination of going on a first

date in Japanese and U.S.

• 61 women and 67 men Japanese

Conclusion: While there maybe ways of performing

the same genre across cultures that are quite the

similar, there may be parts of the genre that are

significantly quite different.

Steps in genre analysis

1. Consider what is already known about the

particular genre. (knowledge of situational, cultural context as well

as conventions that associated with the genre).

2. Refine the analysis by defining the speaker or

writer of the text, the audience of the text and

their relationship, the goal and purpose.

3. Select collection of texts to examine.

The Discourse Structure of Genres

• The example of discourse analysis of theses and

dissertations

• Conclusion: There are at least four different types

of pattern that writers choose from, depending on

the focus and orientation of their thesis or

dissertation. Simple traditional, complex

traditional, topic-based and compilations of

research articles.

Applications of genre analysis

• Hammond and Macken-Horarick (1999): Genre-based teaching

can help students gain access to textx and discourses which

help them participate more successfully in L2 spoken and

written interactions.

• Luke (1993): Teaching ‘genre of power’ leads to uncritical

reproduction of the status quo and does not necessarily provide

the kind of access we hope for our learners.

• Chiristie (1993) and Martin (1993): Not teaching genres of

power is socially irresponsible.

Applications of genre analysis

• Hammond and Macken-Horarick (1999): Genre-based teaching

can help students gain access to textx and discourses which

help them participate more successfully in L2 spoken and

written interactions.

• Luke (1993): Teaching ‘genre of power’ leads to uncritical

reproduction of the status quo and does not necessarily provide

the kind of access we hope for our learners.

• Chiristie (1993) and Martin (1993): Not teaching genres of

power is socially irresponsible.