Worlds of Written Discourse: A Genre-Based View

Description

Genre theory in the past few years has contributed immensely to our understanding of the way discourse is used in academic, professional and institutional contexts. However, its development has been constrained by the nature and design of its applications, which have invariably focused on language teaching and learning, or communication training and consultation. This has led to the use of simplified and idealised genres. In contrast to this, the real world of discourse is complex, dynamic and unpredictable. This tension between the real world of written discourse and its representation in applied genre-based literature is the main theme of this book. The book addresses this theme from the perspectives of four rather different worlds: the world of reality, the world of private intentions, the world of analysis and the world of applications. Using examples from a range of situations including advertising, business, academia, economics, law, book introductions, reports, media and fundraising, Bhatia uses discourse analysis to move genre theory away from educational contexts and into the real world. Introduction * Overview: Perspectives on Discourse * The World of Reality * The World of Private Intentions * The World of Analysis * The World of Applications * References

Vijay Bhatia is a professor in the Department of English at City University of Hong Kong.

"The book is a brilliant contribution to the study of genre analysis. It establishes a comprehensive methodology for further research in the field. Bhatia proves once again his expertise in elaborating a multidimensional approach for analysis of the intricacies of academic, professional and institutional discourse and offers new perspectives and insights of how the real world of written discourse is represented by the generic structuring of texts." -Linguist List, 16.299, 1/31/05 "...lucidly written and well-structured. The book is a brilliant contribution to the study of genre analysis. Bhatia proves once again his expertise in elaborating a multidimensional approach for analysis of the intricacies of academic, professional, and institutional discourse." --The Linguist List, January 2005 -- The Linguist List "In this volume, Bhatia discusses multiples aspects of written discourse as produced in the real world by focusing not just on academic genres but on genres from professional and institutional contexts, as well. His consideration of disciplinary variation in genres, relationships across genres, appropriation of generic resources as seen in hybrid genres, and the nature of generic integrity has led to an extension of genre theory not 'constrained' by the nature and design of its applications' (p. xiv) that is discussed here... Bhatia's volume does not just discuss a theory of genre that accounts for the universe of real-life communication behavior, but it also attempts to discuss the competence that 'we all need in order to expertly operate within well-defined professional as well as general socio-cultural contexts' (p. 144), which he terms discursive competence and which includes textual, generic, and social competence... A significant contribution is made to genre theory and analysis by this volume. The abundant use of textual examples from a variety of contexts, such as business and law, make the arguments of the author easy to follow. The liberal use of diagrams also increases the readability of this volume. An understanding of the complexity of the real world of written discourse provided by Bhatia's volume is a necessary step in our understanding of the complexities of the acquisition of professional expertise in discourse production and consumption." -- Studies in Second Language Acquisition