INSTRUCTIONAL GENRE

(School Genres)

Dr. Rudi Hartono, S.S., M.Pd.

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND ARTS
SEMARANG STATE UNIVERSITY
What is meant by the term
‘genre’?
 Genre is a style, especially in the
arts, that involves a particular set of
characteristics. (CALD, 2008)
 Genres are goal-oriented social
processes that have evolved over
time in our culture to enable us to
achieve our purposes.
(Derewianka, 2012)
Genre-Based Writing

 Genres of Writing
 Functions of Text
 Schematic
Structures of Text
 Linguistic Features
of Text
Genres of Writing
 Spoofs  Explanations
 Anecdotes  News Items
 Recounts  Analytical
 Narratives Expositions
 Reports  Hortatory

 Descriptive
Expositions
 Discussions
 Procedures
 Reviews
Functions of Texts
Texts Functions
Spoofs To retell a humorous twist
To retell events for the purpose of
Recounts informing or entertaining
To classify and describe the
Reports phenomena of our world.
Analytical To persuade the reader or listener
Expositions that something is in the case
To inform readers, listeners or
viewers about events of the day
News Items which are considered newsworthy
or important
Functions of Texts
Texts Functions
To share with others an account of an
Anecdotes unusual or amusing incident
To amuse, entertain and to deal with
actual experience in different ways, I.e. to
Narratives gain and hold the reader’s interest in a
story.
To describe how something is
Procedures accomplished through a sequence of
actions or steps
To describe a particular person, place or
Descriptions thing
To persuade the reader or listener that
Hortatory something should or should not be the
Expositions case
Functions of Texts
Texts Functions
To explain the processes involved
in the formation or workings of
Explanations natural or socio-cultural
phenomena
To present (at least) two points of
Discussions view about an issue
To critique an art work or event for
Reviews a public audience
To explain the processes involved
in the formation (evolution) of a
Commentary socio-cultural phenomenon, as
though a natural phenomenon
Schematic Structures of
Recounts
Orientation
Event 1
Event 2
Event 3
Re-orientation
Linguistic Features of a
Recount Text
 Focus on specific participant
 Use of material processes
 Circumstances of time and place
 Use of past tense
 Focus on temporal sequences
Schematic Structures of
Reports
 General Classification: tells what
the phenomenon under discussion
is.
 Description: tells what the
phenomenon under discussion is
like in terms of parts (and their
functions), qualities, habits or
behaviors, if living; uses, if non-
natural
Linguistic Features of a
Report Text
 Focus on Generic
Participants
 Use Relational
Processes
 Use of simple present
tense
 No temporal
sequence
Schematic Structures of
Narratives
 Orientation
 Evaluation
 Complication
 Resolution
 Re-orientation
Linguistic Features of a
Narrative Text
 Focus on specific and usually
individualized participants
 Use of material processes
 Use of relational processes
 Use of temporal conjunction
 Use of past tense
Schematic Structures of
Procedures

1) Goal
2) Materials
3) Step 1
4) Step 2
5) Step 3
6) Step 4
7) Step 5
Linguistic Features of an
Procedure Text
 Focus on generalized human
agents
 Use of simple present tense, often
imperative
 Use mainly of temporal
conjunction (or numbering to
indicate sequence
 Use mainly of material processes
Schematic Structures of
Descriptions
 Identification:
Identifies
phenomenon to be
described
 Description:
describes parts,
qualities,
characteristics
Linguistic Features of a
Description Text
 Focus on specific
participants
 Use of attributive and
identifying processes
 Frequent use of epithets and
classifiers in nominal groups
 Use of simple present tense
Schematic Structures of
News Item
 Newsworthy
Event(s): recounts
the event in
summary form
 Background Events:
elaborate what
happened, to whom,
in what
circumstances
 Sources: comments
by participants in,
witnesses to and
authorities expert on
the event.
Linguistic Features of a
News Item

 Short, telegraphic information about

story captured in headline
 Use of Material processes to retell
the event
 Use of projecting verbal processes in
sources stage
 Focus on circumstances
Schematic Structures of
Anecdote
1) Abstract: signals the retelling
of an usual incident
2) Orientation: sets the scene
3) Crisis: provides details of the
unusual incident
4) Reaction: reaction to crisis
5) Coda: Optional—reflection on
or evaluation of the incident
Linguistic Features of an
Anecdote
 Use of exclamations, rhetorical
questions and intensifiers (really,
very, quite, etc.) to point up the
significance of the events
 Use of materials processes to tell
what happened
 Use temporal conjunctions
Schematic Structures of
Analytical Exposition
 Thesis
Position: introduces topic
and indicates writer’s
position
Preview: outlines the main
 Arguments
Point: restates main
argument outlined in
preview
Elaboration: develops and
supports each
point/argument
 Reiteration: restates
writer’s position
Linguistic Features of a
Analytical Exposition
 Focus on generic human and non-
human participants
 Use of simple present tense
 Use of relational processes
 Use of internal conjunction to stage
argument
 Reasoning through causal
conjunction or nominalization
Schematic Structures of
Hortatory Exposition
 Thesis:
announcement of
issue of concern
 Arguments: reasons
for concern, leading
to recommendation
 Recommendation:
statement of what
ought or ought not to
happen
Linguistic Features of a
Hortatory Exposition
 Focus on generic human and non- human
participants
 Use of simple present tense
 Use of mental processes: to state what writer
thinks or feels about issue e.g. realize, feel,
appreciate.
 Use of material processes: to state what
happens e.g. drive, travel, spend, etc.
 Use of relational processes: to state what is
or should be e.g. doesn’t seem, is, are, etc.
Schematic Structures of
Explanation
 A general
statement to
position the
reader
 A sequenced
explanation of
why or how
something occurs
Linguistic Features of a
Explanation Text
 Focus on generic, non-human participants
 Use mainly of material and relational
processes
 Use mainly of temporal and causal
circumstances and conjunctions
 Use of simple present tense
 Some use of passive voice to get theme right
Schematic Structures of
Discussion
 Issue:
- Statement
- Preview
 Arguments for and
against or statements
of differing points of
view:
- Point
- Elaboration
 Conclusion or
recommendations
Linguistic Features of a
Discussion
 Focus on generic human and generic non-
human participants
 Use of mental processes: to state what
writer thinks or feels about issue e.g.
realize, feel, appreciate, etc.
 Use of material processes: to state what
happens e.g. has produced, have
developed, to feed, etc.
 Use of relational processes: to state what
is or should be e.g. is, could have, cause,
are.
Schematic Structures of
Reviews
1) Orientation
2) Interpretative
recount
3) Evaluation
4) Evaluative
summation
Linguistic Features of an
Review Text
 Focus on particular participants (on
movies, TV shows, plays, operas,
recordings, exhibitions, concerts and
ballets
 Direct expression of opinions through
use of attitudinal lexis
 Use of elaborating and extending
clause and group complexes to
package information
 Use metaphorical language
Academic Genres
 Academic genres or university genres
are types of academic writing products
introduced to university students to
learn and to practice for their academic
purposes, such as different types of
texts: textbooks, reference books,
scholarly and popular articles and
essays, as well as conference papers,
official reports and theses.
Some academic genres
 Textbook. The aim of a textbook is
to communicate established
knowledge.
 Scholarly article. The purpose of a
scholarly article is to present new
knowledge or to provide new
perspectives on an academic or
scientific problem or object.
--- continued
 Thesis. A thesis is a major piece of
scholarly work.
 Popular (non-scholarly) work. Popular
texts, in the form of either books or articles,
aim to communicate established knowledge
to the “general reader”.
 Encyclopedia article. The purpose of an
encyclopedia article is to present
established knowledge neutrally, concisely
and clearly.
What genres do:
 texts in different genres do:
communicate, explain, present, argue,
inform, describe, narrate etc.
 four “modes of discourse”: Exposition,
Description, Narration, Argumentation (
EDNA); explain, describe, narrate,
argue (debate, discuss)
Other terms of text types
 In some cases, the term genre
coincides with the term text type.
However, the former could be seen as a
kind of umbrella term for a
communicative event, for which one or
several more specific text types can be
employed as the preferred vehicle of
communication.
 ---continued
 Research Articles (RAs)
 Textbooks
 Abstracts
 Reviews (review articles and book reviews)
 Undergraduate text types
 PhD Theses
 Popular science writing
 Posters
 Grant proposals
 The essay format
Research Articles (RAs)
Swales (1990) introduces the
genre called research article or
research paper. The research
article is a written text reporting
on an investigation made by a
researcher.
Textbooks
 "Textbooks [...] disseminate
discipline-based knowledge and, at
the same time, display a somewhat
unequal writer-reader relationship,
with the writer as the specialist and
the reader as the non-initiated
apprentice in the discipline, or the
writer as the transmitter and the
reader as the recipient of established
knowledge." (Bhatia, 2004: 33)
Abstracts
 Many research publications require
an abstract, which is a brief synopsis
of the text outlining its major points.
As Samuel Johnson (1755) defined
the term, an abstract is "a smaller
quantity containing the virtue or
power of a greater" (quoted in Oxford
English Dictionary).
Reviews (book reviews)
A book review is a research genre
where scholars evaluate other
scholars' published work. As such,
it is an editorially commissioned,
public evaluation, which is
commonly published in journals in
most disciplines (Hyland 2009).
Reviews (review articles)
 The review article can be seen as a
special case of the research article.
Its purpose can vary and its format is
generally less rigid than the proper
research article. Furthermore, it is
not uncommon to find alternative
genre names used, such as review,
review essay, report article, survey
article and state-of-the-art survey.
Undergraduate text types
 specifictext types for different
kinds of assignments commonly
employed in a university setting,
such as
1. Research Articles (RA)
2. The essay format
3. Reviews
PhD Thesis/PhD dissertation
 It has a special function in the academic
community. This written piece of text,
typically amounting to 150-300 pages
(Swales 2004, p. 102), functions as a kind
of scholarly qualifying piece of work,
through which the author is admitted into
the society of academics seen as sharing
some sort of common ground in terms of
expert knowledge, skills, critical thinking,
rigor, and scientific values.
Popular science writing
 As an academic, there will be times when
you need to explain your subject matter to
a non-specialist audience. If you are
working in industry, you may have to keep
the company board and the investors
informed about your research results.
Working in the public sector means that
you are likely to communicate to the
general public. And, as a scientist, you are
sometimes expected to write about your
research in the lay press.
Posters
 One kind of academic writing
that involves far more visual
consideration than traditional
articles is the poster display.
Along with the orally delivered
conference paper, the poster
display is a common way of
presenting research results at
conferences.
Grant proposals
 Grant proposals, i.e. texts written by researchers requesting
funding for research projects, can be seen as a genre of its own.
 The prototypical parts of a grant proposal (Swales, 1990: 186):
 1. Front Matter
a) Title or cover page
b) Abstract
c) Table of contents
 2. Introduction
 3. Background (typically a literature survey)
 4. Description of proposed research (including methods,
approaches, and evaluation instruments)
 5. Back Matter
a) Description of relevant institutional resources
b) References
c) Personnel
d) Budget
The essay format
 The term 'essay' is used in a wide sense and can
refer to anything from a brief paper to a long degree
essay.
 The structure of an essay usually consists of three
elements: Introduction – Body – Conclusion.
 In the Introduction, the reader is introduced to the
topic that will be discussed and to the argument
that will be presented.
 After the Introduction comes the main part of the
text, the Body, where the discussion is carried out
and the results are presented. In the last part of the
essay, the Conclusion, the argument will be
summed up and conclusions will be drawn from
what has been discussed.