THEORY AND METHODS OF GENRE ANALYS: IMPORTANT CONCEPTS AND TERMS 5 October 2016

Which genres are the following extracts from? Once upon a time there was a king and…. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. A 40-year-old Caucasian woman presented… Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Toss the potatoes with 3 tablespoons of olive oil… Dear Sir or Madam, excuse me for approaching you in the following matter… My smmr hols wr CWOT. B4, we used 2go2 NY 2C my bro, his GF & thr 3 :~ kids FTF. ILNY, it’s a gr8 plc. BBL. XOXO

Try to come up with a definition or an explanation of the concept. WHAT IS GENRE? Try to come up with a definition or an explanation of the concept.

WHAT IS GENRE? ETYMOLOGY: genus: “kind, class, category” – classificatory tool (traditional concept) generare: “to create” – tool that helps us understand and act in social situations (modern reformulation)

WHAT IS GENRE? Ad 1: Traditional concept especially used in literary works of art textual regularities – analysis of style social context disregarded

WHAT IS GENRE? Ad 2: Modern reformulation a research framework for analyzing also non- literary discourse used in pedagogy: professional writing emphasis on social context

WHAT IS GENRE? Traditional Modern Literary discourse Literary and non-literary discourse Product Product and process Normalizing and static concept Fluid and dynamic concept Separation of: form and content product and process individual and society Integration of: -form and content -product and process -individual and society Form into which content is put Event/process/action with social purposes Classificatory tool Socio-rhetorical tool

GENRE ANALYSIS English for Specific Purposes (ESP), EAP (Swales, Bhatia) focus on textual characteristics structural move analysis, discourse community, word frequencies research papers, science news target audience – ESL/EFL students teaching organizational and stylistic conventions (guides and templates for academic writing)

Swales (1990: 58) “A genre comprises a class of communicative events, the members of which share some set of communicative purposes. These purposes are recognized by the expert members of the discourse community, and thereby constitute the rationale for the genre. The rationale shapes the schematic structure of the discourse and influences and constrains choice of content and style… (E)xemplars of a genre exhibit various patterns of similarity in terms of structure, style, content and intended audience.”

Word cloud (the most frequent words used in science news)

Structure of science news Move one: Presenting Background Information Move two: Highlighting Overall Research Outcome Move three: Reviewing Related Research Move four: Presenting New Research Move five: Indicating Consistent Observations Move six: Describing Data Collection Procedure Move seven: Describing Experimental Procedure Move eight: Explaining Research Outcome Move nine: Stating Research Conclusions

GENRE ANALYSIS Systemic-Functional Linguistics – Sydney School (M. A. K. Halliday) register analysis school genres (such as essays) – empowering students with linguistic resources for social success target audience: primary/secondary students, immigrants explicit teaching of genre: three phases (modeling, joint negotiation of text, and independent construction of text)

Muntigl and Gruber (2005: 3 – 5) Genres are goal oriented. Genres unfold in terms of stages and phases. The set of genres, taken together, realize a cultural potential or all possible contexts of culture. Genres consist of families that contain fuzzy borders. Genres often pattern together to form what are termed macro-genres. Genres may be realized by various semiotic modes such as spoken/written language, gesture, image, body position and others.

GENRE ANALYSIS New Rhetoric – North American Genre Studies ethnographic methods of analysis target audience: L1 speakers (under/graduates) raising awareness of social contexts that shape genres genre knowledge is not taught but acquired tacitly through enculturation genres in scientific communities, tax accounting firms, banks

Berkenkotter and Huckin (1995: 4) Activity: Explain how you understand these characteristics of genre. Dynamism. Situatedness. Form and content. Duality of structure. Community ownership.

Berkenkotter and Huckin (1995: 4) Dynamism. Genres change over time in response to their users’ sociocognitive needs. Situatedness. Our knowledge of genres is derived from participation in the communicative activities of daily and professional life. Form and content. Genre knowledge embraces both form and content. Duality of structure. As we use genre we constitute social structures (in professional, institutional and organizational structures) and simultaneously reproduce these structures. Community ownership. Genre signals a community’s norms, epistemology, ideology, and social ontology.