The findings of genre analysis

[Md. Mostafa Rashel]

The findings of genre analysis

We will conclude this chapter by picking up the various strands of discussion of genre
analysis that have already occurred in earlier chapters and by giving a full account of this
developing area of research. Genre analysis in ESP began with Swales' pioneering work
(Swales, 1981 and 1990) on the introduction to an academic article. Swales notes that
there is a regular pattern of 'moves' and 'steps' that appear in a certain order in the
majority of introductions investigated. A 'move' is a unit that relates both to the writer's
purpose and to the content that s/he wishes to communicate. A 'step' is a lower level text
unit than the move that provides a detailed perspective on the options open to the writer
in setting out the moves in the introduction.
Swales' model (Swales, 1990: 141) for the article introduction is shown below:
----------------------------------------------------------
Move I Establishing a Territory
Step I      Claiming centrality
                          and/or
Step 2     Making topic generalisations
                            and/or
Step 3     Reviewing items of previous research

Move 2    Establishing a Niche
Step 1A   Counter-claiming
                     or
Step 1B   Indicating a gap
                     or
Step IC   Question-raising
                      or
Step ID   Continuing a tradition

Move 3    Occupying the Niche
Step IA    Outlining purposes
                             or
Step I B   Announcing present research
Step 2     Announcing principal findings
Step 3     Indicating research article structure
-------------------------------------------------------------------
This model and its earlier version (Swales, 1981) have had a major influence on research
and the teaching of writing in EAP. The advantage is that the moves and steps seem to
reflect a reality in text and in the way in which writers approach the task of writing up
their research. From a pedagogic point of view it is possible to convert the analysis very
readily into teaching material that provides a way into both the organisation of writing
and the relevant language forms (see, for example, Weissberg and Buker, 1990; Swales
and Feak, 1994).

(Developments in English for Specific Purposes: A multi-disciplinary approach. Dudley-
Evans, T. & Maggie Jo St. John. Cambridge University Press, 1998, pp. 89-93.)

Enduring.........

[Md. Mostafa Rashel]

Swales' work led to parallel research into other sections of the research article such the Results, Discussion of Results and Abstract. Dudley-Evans (1994) then suggested an
extension of the model to account for the greater length and complexity of MSc
dissertations. Hopkins and Dudley-Evans (1988) adopted a similar approach to the
discussion sections of both articles and dissertations. The fullest description of these
moves comes in Dudley-Evans (1994). The list of moves in discussion sections is shown
below:

Move I Information Move
Move 2 Statement of Result
Move 3 Finding
Move 4 (Un)expected Outcome
Move 5 Reference to Previous Research
Move 6 Explanation
Move 7 Claim
Move 8 Limitation
Move 9 Recommendation

The moves are essentially options open to the writer who will build his or her argument
through the careful choice and ordering of these moves into cycles.

Research into the nature of the academic essay has been rather less fruitful. The
academic essay is much less predictable than the genres discussed above and there
appears to be relatively little consensus about what exactly constitutes a good essay, even
within specific disciplines (O'Brien, 1992). A more tangible question is what stance a
student should adopt. Should the student adopt a critical or uncritical stance to established
theory? Should the student just report on this theory or develop his or her own position
with regard to that theory? The answer to these questions depends on the level of the
students, the discipline, the actual question and the lecturer for whom the essay is being
written. Much can undoubtedly be done to help students write a clear and well-structured
introduction or conclusion; to express guarded and appropriately hedged opinions; to
refer to previous research. The broader question of the aims of writing an essay in a
given discipline also need to be addressed.

(Developments in English for Specific Purposes: A multi-disciplinary approach. Dudley-
Evans, T. & Maggie Jo St. John. Cambridge University Press, 1998, pp. 89-93.)

Enduring.............

[Md. Mostafa Rashel]

In the area of EOP, Bhatia (1993) has shown that the techniques of genre analysis
developed originally for the study of academic text can be applied to business letters and
legal documents. He looks at two types of business letters which he calls promotional
genres - the sales promotion letter and the job application letter - and finds that they use
a virtually identical pattern of moves:

            Sales Promotion Letter       Job Application Letter
Move I Establishing credentials         Establishing credentials
Move 2 Introducing the offer             Introducing the candidature
Move 3 Offering incentives                Offering incentives
Move 4 Enclosing documents             Enclosing documents
Move 5 Soliciting response                Using pressure tactics
Move 6 Using pressure tactics           Soliciting response
Move 7 Ending politely                       Ending politely

(Developments in English for Specific Purposes: A multi-disciplinary approach. Dudley-
Evans, T. & Maggie Jo St. John. Cambridge University Press, 1998, pp. 89-93.)

Enduring.............

[Md. Mostafa Rashel]

He also looks at the structure of legal cases, the 'abridged version of court judgements'
(Bhatia, 1993: II8) and finds that they exhibit a typical four-move pattern with the following moves:

Move 1 Identifying the case
Move 2 Establishing the facts of the case
Move 3 Arguing the case
         3.1 stating the history of the case
         3.2 presenting arguments
         3.3 deriving ratio decidendi (the principle of law that the judge wishes to set
               down for application to future cases of a similar description)
Move 4 Pronouncing judgement

(Developments in English for Specific Purposes: A multi-disciplinary approach. Dudley-
Evans, T. & Maggie Jo St. John. Cambridge University Press, 1998, pp. 89-93.)

Enduring.............

[Md. Mostafa Rashel]

Thus far the research in genre analysis that we have reported has been very much textbased.
It undoubtedly offers the ESP teacher a way into these texts, both for preparing
reading and writing materials, but there is a danger of becoming 'stuck' in the text, by
which we mean being interested only in the surface features rather than the context and
other outside influences on the text. One of the main advantages of genre analysis is its
ability to relate textual findings to features of the discourse community within which the
genre is produced. Swales (1990: 24-7) lists the following six defining characteristics of a
discourse community:

1. A discourse community has a broadly agreed set of common public goals.
2. A discourse community has mechanisms of intercommunication among its members.
3. A discourse community uses its participatory mechanisms primarily to provide
    information and feedback.
4. A discourse community utilises and hence possesses one or more genres in the
    communicative furtherance of its aims.
5. In addition to owning genres, a discourse community has acquired some specific lexis.
6. A discourse community has a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of
    relevant content and discoursal expertise.


The concept of a discourse community is extremely useful, but it can be difficult in
practice to produce real and concrete examples of actual discourse communities. An
individual may be a member of many discourse communities, and the actual communities
may be so large and amorphous that it may be easier to consider the concept of discourse
community as a 'virtual' concept (Miller, 1994) that relates to the ways in which a writer
or speaker producing a genre will be affected by expectations of that genre. At the
individual level, writers or speakers construct their messages by imagining the needs of
an imaginary reader or set of readers. They will, during the process of writing or
speaking, constantly ask themselves the question 'what do I need to explain to make the
message clear?' At the same time they will also ask themselves the question 'what does
the discourse community expect me to do in terms of layout, organisation and structuring
of the argument, or to include in terms of content?' Clearly, these two questions or
processes overlap, but we think that it is useful to separate - albeit a little artificially - the
role of writers or speakers as individuals and as 'social actors' in a community.



(Developments in English for Specific Purposes: A multi-disciplinary approach. Dudley-
Evans, T. & Maggie Jo St. John. Cambridge University Press, 1998, pp. 89-93.)

Enduring.............

[Md. Mostafa Rashel]

Consideration of these issues leads to the conclusion that genre analysis needs to take
very seriously the academic and professional contexts in which genres exist and the
sociological research into those contexts. Berkenkotter and Huckin (1995: 2-3) argue that
genre studies have tended to 'reify' genres and see them as 'linguistic abstractions'. They
argue for an approach based on 'case research with insiders' investigating the ways inwhich writers use the genre knowledge that they acquire 'strategically' to participate in a
discipline's or a profession's activities. Charles' (1994 and 1996) findings highlight how
the nature of the business relationship is reflected in the interaction of the event
{negotiation}.

The more detailed sociological consideration of the context in which texts are written is
important for ESP, especially in the professional and business contexts (Bazerman and
Paradis, 1991). There is evidence that 'local' discourse communities either develop or
adapt genres to meet the needs and expectations of the readership, and that there is a
dynamic tension between the existence of models for a genre and the changes in the
professional or business context that necessitate adaptation of the model (Berkenkotter
and Huckin, 1995). Smart (1992, 1993) shows how the ESP teacher can play a role in
helping writers understand this tension and adapt their writing, as well as in the on-going
discussion of the suitability of the current models. The ESP teacher can be both a teacher
of genre and a genre doctor.

What does this mean for teaching learners to use specific genres? We need to teach
moves, but in a flexible manner (Dudley-Evans, 1995). In EAP, we need to introduce the
idea that different departments expect students to adopt different stances. On British
Masters courses in business, finance and banking, students are often expected in their
essays to adopt the stance of the financial or business adviser making recommendations
to an imagined client. In more 'mainstream' academic departments such as plant biology
the stance expected is that of the critical reader evaluating the previous literature in the
field of study and cautiously presenting claims arising from experimental results. In EOP,
writers also need to be familiar with appropriate politeness strategies in making requests,
complaints and in generally conducting business activities through letters, faxes and email
messages.

Our examples have come from written genres as most of the published research in
genre analysis has been on written text. There is, however, growing interest in spoken
genres, and the techniques that we have described are just as applicable to the analysis of
spoken as of written text.

(Developments in English for Specific Purposes: A multi-disciplinary approach. Dudley-
Evans, T. & Maggie Jo St. John. Cambridge University Press, 1998, pp. 89-93.)