Luận án tiến sĩ Ngôn ngữ học: Nghiên cứu cấu trúc và ngữ nghĩa các giáo trình địa chất như một thể loại trong tiếng Anh và tiếng Việt (Phần 1)

DO KIM PHUONG

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE STRUCTUREAND MEANING OF GEOLOGICAL TEXTBOOKS

AS A GENRE IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE

NGHIEN CUU CAU TRUC

VA NGU NGHIA CAC GIAO TRINH DIA CHAT

NHU MOT THE LOAI TRONG TIENG ANH VA TIENG VIET

LUẬN AN TIEN SĨ NGÀNH TIENG ANH

Hanoi, 2012

DO KIM PHUONG

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE STRUCTUREAND MEANING OF GEOLOGICAL TEXTBOOKS

AS A GENRE IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE

NGHIEN CUU CAU TRUC

VA NGU NGHIA CAC GIAO TRINH DIA CHAT

NHU MOT THE LOAI TRONG TIENG ANH VA TIENG VIET

Field: English LinguisticsCode: 62.22.15.01

DOCTORAL DISSERTATION OF ENGLISH

Supervisor: Prof Dr HOANG VAN VAN

Hanoi, 2012

TABLE OF CONTENTS

AcknowledỹemenfS - -oc cóc con 9n 9 nọ HH n9 96 vi

List of tables and figures - con S9 HH Si 11 1 869 56 viii

PART I: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study - CS SH HE KH sài 12 Aim and Scope of the sfUdy c nh ng hy 5E002 011 54 Design of the StUdy - ch KT HT ng nu nhàn 9

PART H: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUNDS

1.1 Genre and genre anaÌySIS -. .c c2 2n 2n se 11

1 1 1 The notion of ð€TTG - eee eee cence nent neat nents khe si, 111.1.2 Genre in folklore sfudles -. -c- c2 khe 12

1.1 3 Genre in linøISfICS Sen sreeeeseeserseeseeeeeee L3

1.1 4 Genre in Th€fOFIC c2 nee eee SE nh nh He nee set 15

1.2 Approaches to Ø€TT€ c2 eee enn HS HH nh nh nh nh nh 201.3 Genre and language sfudy ence nent eee e eens ene nh nh khe 27

1.4 Systemic- functional approach to language study - 31

1.4.1 The metafunCfIONS - SH SH cent nh ences 32

1.4.2 The Transitivity SVSf€I cQnnn eee SH nh kh key 35

1.4.3 The Mood system c2 2n SH ng TK nh nh kh nh nha 421.4.4 The Theme system cece cece cece nec ence eee eee eee eee etna nh kh nhện 46

1.5 SUTNATV c9 2 SH enone ene EEE EEE kh ng 52

CHAPTER 2: GENERIC STRUCTURE AND LINGUISTIC FEATURES OFENGLISH GEOLOGICAL TEXTBOOKS

2.1 Generic structure of English geological textbooks 53

II

2.1.1 The organization of English geological textbooks - 54

2.1.2 Generic features of English geological textbooks 56

2.1.2.1 Generic structure of the Introduction Parts 57

2.1.2.2 Generic structure of the Body Parts c.eec S2 582.1.2.2.1 Classifying or decompOSInE cc cà se 582.1.2.2.2 DescrIbIng - c2 2n E SH SE HE nh EEE en tệ 602.1.2.2.3 ExplanatiOn - cm kh kết 622.1.3 The organization of the Body Parts - <5 652 2 Linguistic features of English geological textbooks 68

2.2 1 Transitivity analysis of Introduction Parts and Body Parts 68

2.2.1.1 Transitivity analysis of the Introduction Parts 68

2.2.1.2 Transitivity analysis of the Body Parts 72

2.2 2 Mood analysis of Introduction Parts and Body Parts 80

2.2 2 1 Mood analysis of the Introduction Parts 80

2.2.2.2 Mood analysis of the Body Parts c- <2 832.2 3 Thematic analysis of Introduction Parts and Body Parts SÓ2 2 3.1 Thematic analysis of the Introduction Parfs - 86

2 2 3.2 Thematic analysis of the Body Parts - - 90

VI ENhi(ïrù:mmaaaaaaiiẳiẳäaaaaaa 441 96CHAPTER 3: GENERIC STRUCTURE AND LINGUISTIC FEATURES OFVIETNAMESE GEOLOGICAL TEXTBOOKS3.1 Generic structure of Vietnamese geological textbooks 98

3.1.1 The organization of Vietnamese geological textbooks 99

3.1.2 Generic features of Vietnamese geological textbooks 101

3.1.2.1 Generic structure of the Introduction Parts 1013.1.2.2 Generic structure of the Body Parts - SẰ 102

3.1.2.2.1 Classifying or decompOSInE cc ee ne ener se 102

3.1.2.2.2 DescrIbIng - ng ng HS HS TK ng een nh nhện 104

3.1.2.2.3 Explanation -ccn n HS SH HH nh kh rệt 105

IH

3.1.3 The organization of the Body Parts ẶòàẶ se se 107

3.2 Linguistic features of Vietnamese geological textbooks 109

3.2.1 Transitivity analysis of the Introduction Parts and the Body Parts 109

3.2.1.1 Transitivity analysis of the Introduction Parts 110

3.2.1.2 Transitivity analysis of the Body Parts - 112

3.2.2 Mood analysis of the Introduction Parts and the Body Parts 118

3.2.2.1 Mood analysis of the Introduction Parfs .- 118

3.2.2.2 Mood analysis of the Body Parts 00 c ccc cc cee ce eee cee ceeetteee anaes 1203.2.3 Thematic analysis of the Introduction Parts and the Body Parts 122

3.2.3.1 Thematic analysis of the Introduction Parts 122

3.2.3.2 Thematic analysis of the Body Parts -. 125

SPARS D001000.) ce 130CHAPTER 4: COMPARISON BETWEEN ENGLISH GEOLOGICALTEXTBOOKS AND VIETNAMESE GEOLOGICAL TEXTBBOOKS4 1 The overall generic structure of English and Vietnamese geological1K) 4 1 0010) NHHƯ 132

4.2 Comparison of the Introduction Parts - 133

4.2.1 Generic SfTUCẦUT nent ee ee SH nh nh nhiệt 133

4.3 Comparison of the Body Parts eee teeta Sen 1374.3.1 Gen€rIC SfTICfUT€ c2 e eee e cent nena teens ees nh nh nh ca 138

4.3.2 Linguistic features 0 c cece cece een e cence eens ee SH nh kh kh nha 140

4.4 Comparison of thematic structure of English and Vietnamese geological

Introduction Parts and Body ParfS c2 eee e eens eneeee sec 142

4.4 1 Comparison of thematic structure in English and Vietnamese clauses indifferent metafUnCfIOnS ene cence eee ee nh nhe 142

4.4.1.1 The boundary between Theme and Rheme in English and Vietnamese

4.4.1.2 Single theme 0 cece cece cence ence eee eee eee eee e nee nh KH ene ven 144

IV

4.4.1.2.1 Topical Theme eee een eee eee ented nh tent ned 1444.4.1.2.2 Interpersonal Theme - eee ene eee eeeaenseateees 146

4.4.1.2.3 Textual Theme 0.0 ce cece cc eee ce eee e cence ee neneeeeneeeeneneeeeae nace 149

4.4.1.3 Multiple theme ch hy 1524.4.2 Comparison of thematic structure -.- c <c<-: 1554.4.2.1 Comparison of thematic structure in terms of markedness 1554.4.2.2 Comparison of thematic structure in terms of realization 159

4.4.2.2.1 Subject Themes 0 c cece cee cc eee e ene e nent een eee nh sneer eens 1594.4.2.2.2 Complement Themes - c c c2 cà 1614.4.2.2.3 Adjunct Themes c eee eens ene ng nh nh enenens 162

4.5 Discussion of the similarities and differences between English and VietnameseFeZ<X0) Koya (er-) Ma Kad, €10100) ce 1644.5.1 Generic and linguistic SImIÏATIfI€S -c< << <<<<< <2 1644.5.1.1 Generic sImIÌaritI€S - ch ke, 1644.5.1.2 Linguistic SImIÏATIfI€S - c2 2S nà vi, 167

4.5.2 Generic and linguistic differences -. -‹ -c-cc +: 172

4.5.2.1 Generic đIÍÍ€r€TC€S c nee ne ea eeenenteneeeeaenaenaes 172

4.5.2.2 Linguistic differences cccccc cece eee e eee eee need ence een ene nh hưu 173

PART TIT: CONCLUSION net 177PERSONAL PUBLICA TIONS ch ih 182

REEFERENCES DO TH HT nh kg kg 183

FIGURES AND TABLES

CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUNDFigure 1.1 The relationship between text and context

Figure 1.2 Genre and register in relation to language

Figure 1.3 A simplified model of the English Process System, with major

Participant roles

Figure 1.4 Mood system

Figure 1.5 Theme in English

CHAPTER 2: GENERIC STRUCTURE AND LINGUISTICFEATURES OF ENGLISH GEOLOGICAL TEXTBOOKS

Table 2.1 Distribution of moves in the five English Introduction Parts

Table 2.2 Combination of four-move introduction structure and the

Table 2 7 The Mood analysis of the Introduction Parts (illustrated byclause)

Table 2 8 The Mood analysis of the Introduction Parts (illustrated by

Table 2.9 The Mood analysis of the Body Parts (illustrated by clause)

Table 2.10 The Mood analysis of the Body Parts (illustrated bypercentage)

Table 2.11 The Thematic analysis of the Introduction Parts (illustrated by

89

CHAPTER 3: GENERIC STRUCTURE AND LINGUISTIC

FEATURES OF VIETNAMESE GEOLOGICAL TEXTBOOKSTable 3.1 Distribution of moves in the English Introduction Parts

Table 3.2 Combination of four-move introduction structure and the

Table 3.9 The Mood analysis of the Body Parts (illustrated by clause)

Table 3.10 The Mood analysis of the Body Parts (illustrated by

125

Table 3.13 The Thematic analysis of the Body Parts (illustrated by clause)

Table 3.14 The Thematic analysis of the Body Parts (illustrated bypercentage)

CHAPTER 4: COMPARISON BETWEEN ENGLISH ANDVIETNAMESE GEOLOGICAL TEXTBOOKS

Table 4.1 Total number of clauses in English and Vietnamese Introduction

Table 4.6 Examples of Theme-Rheme structure in English and Vietnamese

Table 4.7 Most common Modal Adjuncts functioned as interpersonalThemes in English geological textbooks

Table 4.8 Most common Modal Adjuncts functioned as interpersonal

Themes in Vietnamese geological textbooks

Table 4.9 Most common Conjunctive Adjuncts functioned as textualThemes in English geological textbooks

Table 4.10 Most common Conjunctions functioned as textual Themes in

Vietnamese geological textbooks

Table 4.11 Combination of textual and interpersonal Themes in Englishgeological textbooks

Table 4.12 Combination of textual and interpersonal Themes inVietnamese geological textbooks

Table 4.13 Similarities and differences between types of Themes in

English and Vietnamese clauses as of different metafunctions

Table 4.14 Unmarked Themes in English and Vietnamese geological

138140143

Table 4.15 Marked Themes in English and Vietnamese geologicaltextbooks

Table 4.16 Fronted Predicators function as the unmarked Themes in

Vietnamese declarative clauses

Table 4.17 Realization of Subject Themes in English and Vietnamesegeological textbooks

Table 4.18 Realization of Complement Themes in English and Vietnamesegeological textbooks

Table 4.19 Types of Themes and their realizations in English andVietnamese geological declarative clauses

PART I: INTRODUCTION

1 RATIONALE OF THE STUDY

Geology is the science of the history of Earth’s evolution It is based, first, on

observations of the Earth itself and other planetary bodies, but the application of

such sciences as biology, chemistry, physics, and materials sciences is also requiredto understand the processes we observe Geology differs from these other sciencesin at least three ways.

First, geology is fundamentally a historically oriented science dealing withprocesses that for the most part occur on a time scale that is immense comparedwith human lives Thus, it is impossible to observe an entire process directly; wecan see only what is happening at a single geological instant in time Because of thisconstraint, the inference of geologic processes relies heavily upon the fundamentalassumption that spatial variation can be interpreted as temporal evolution In otherwords, we assume that the same process can be found in various stages ofadvancement in different places and that therefore we can piece togetherobservations made in different places to infer a temporal evolution of that process.

Second, geology deals with large-scale and complex systems for which controlled

experiments are difficult if not impossible to construct Thus, the observation and

description of natural features acquire proportionately more importance than theyhave in most other sciences.

Third, the fact that geologic evidence is fragmentary and incomplete makes any ofthe inferences drawn from the data non-unique and highly dependent upon our

intuition and experience Despite these differences, the methods employed by

geologists to investigate the Earth are philosophically much the same as those usedin other realms of science.

Concerning the discourse of geology, it remains a separate subject area, with a focuson natural geological phenomena and events For the most part its discourse is

indistinguishable from that used in science, the main difference being the absence of

experiments to illustrate the scientific world view constructed in introductorytextbooks Geology as explained to students is very explicit about its goals Thethree stages geologists have to deal with are: to observe, order and explain the

experiential world.

From the point of view of ESP teaching and learning, geological textbooks in

English and Vietnamese have never been exploited by any Vietnamese linguists sofar It is presumably clear that to be effective, such an adaptation must be firmlybased on understanding of the specific genre in the target language, in terms notonly of the surface linguistic features but also of the discourse conventions, and theunderlying scientific values, which must certainly be dependent on an empirical

Given the necessity with ESP teaching and learning, this study sets out toinvestigate the structure and meaning of geological textbooks as a genre in Englishand Vietnamese using the theories of systemic — functional grammar as theoretical

framework The theory of systemic functional linguistics was originally formulated

by M.A.K Halliday in the early 1960s From its very beginning, systemicfunctional linguistics has been marked by its recognition that all languages take

place in the context of a social situation, that the situation has an impact on the

nature and the meaning of the language used and that any account of language must

therefore include reference to that context of use.

With the increasing international interest in the functional nature of language and inthe linguistic analysis of texts much of work about the systemic functional model,both from practical and theoretical perspective has been done by systemicists such

as Berry (1975); Fawcett (1980); Halliday (1994); Martin (1985, 1992); Morley(1985); Ventura (1991); Downing and Locke (1992); Bloor, T & M Bloor (1995);

Matthiessen (1995); Egsing (1994); Butt, Fahey, Spinks, and Yallop (1996); Lock(1996); Thompson (1996); H.V.Van (1997, 2002) and many others.

The research I have undertaken is an attempt to investigate the structure and

meaning of geological textbooks in English and Vietnamese as a subgenre ofscientific textbooks The analyses into generic structure and linguistic features inboth two languages will be done Generic analysis considering as the first task of

the research tends to find out the typical generic features for a particular kind oftextbook-geological textbooks The second task of the research is to examinelinguistic analysis in terms of Transitivity, Mood, and Theme using systemicfunctional grammar as a theoretical framework A comparison from the systemicfunctional perspective would show the similarities as well as differences in generic

structure and linguistic features of geological textbooks in the two languages This

research, hopefully, would be a worthwhile effort to provide a more articulateinsight into ESP teaching and learning; and to serve as a framework forimplicational purposes, which can be both theoretical and practical.

In terms of theoretical values, this research would be the first step in the

investigation of the English and Vietnamese geological textbooks from a systemic

functional perspective Though the systemic functional linguistics model has woninternational interest and support from linguists for nearly forty years, theapplication of this linguistic approach in the study of Vietnamese can only be found

in the work of a small number of Vietnamese linguists such C X Hao (1991);

H.V.Van (1997, 2002) and D.Q Ban (2005).

As regards practical purposes, a focus on generic structure and linguistic features ofgeological textbooks in both English and Vietnamese can have startling andimmediate results in ESP teaching and learning Martin (1990) states “when thestudents’ texts are difficult to follow and it is hard to pinpoint exactly what they arereading or writing about, the problem often originates in the nature of the languageused in the texts or the linguistic features to be exact” Once language learners

understand how the ordering of language elements works in the language to orientthe audience and to signpost and organize meanings, they have gained a powerfultool for managing the meanings of texts which are just beyond their current level of

language proficiency In other words, an understanding of structure and meaning ofa text can increase the comprehensible input accessible to students, especially whenthey work with written language.

Genre has been studied in English by such linguists as Gregory and Carroll (1978);Jamieson and Campell (1978); Halliday (1978); Miller (1984); Martin (1985);Couture (1986); Preston (1989); Swales (1990); Bhatia (1993) and many others.However, their studies have been concerned with issues of genre in English or in

comparison with languages other than Vietnamese In Vietnam, many researches on

genre have been carried out These researchers have carried their studies ondifferent kinds of genre namely: Research paper as a genre in English and

Vietnamese: A systemic functional comparison by Duong Van Loc (2001); ApplyingGenre-based Approach in Teaching the Writing of the English Discussion Genre toVietnamese EFL Students at Tertiary level by Dang Thi Kim Anh (2002); Researchinto Genre Analysis at Linguistic Level: The Case of English Fairly Tales by Tran

Thi Ngoc Lien (2003); The Generic structure and Linguistic features of Economics

Discourse in English and Vietnamese by Nguyen Thuy Phuong Lan (2003); Aninvestigation into the generic structure of English and Vietnamese News Reportageand its text-forming devices by Pham Thi Thanh Thuy (2004); English and

Vietnamese TESOL Journal Article Abstracts: A genre-based analysis by NguyenThi Bich Ngoc (2011).

2 AIM AND SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The aim of the dissertation is to explore the generic structure and linguistic featuresof geological textbooks in English and Vietnamese To achieve the proposed aim,

we will commit ourselves to addressing the following research question.

e What are the generic structure and linguistic features of English and

Vietnamese geological textbooks as seen from systemic functional

As stated above this dissertation focuses on the investigation into generic structureand linguistic features of geological textbooks in English and Vietnamese Thetheoretical framework on which the study is based is that of the systemic functional

linguistics (hereafter abbreviated to “SFL”), a model of language as developed by

M.A.K Halliday, and other systemicists Generic structure is examined based onthe theories as observed by Bhatia (1993) and Martin (1990) In terms of linguisticanalysis, the research restricts itself to the analysis of the Transitivity, Mood, andTheme of the texts chosen for the study Therefore, the analysis of the texts in terms

of the issues such as cohesion, reference, substitution, ellipsis, lexical cohesion, etc.are out of the scope of this research.

3 METHODOLOGY

The main methods employed in this study are descriptive, analytic, and contrastive.

It is descriptive because in comparing the generic structure and linguistic features ofgeological textbooks in English and Vietnamese, we need to establish a commontheoretical framework; and in order to understand and use this frameworkeffectively we have to describe it in detail by either re-examining the existingconcepts or, in case of need developing the new ones In our study, we will re-

examine the notion of genre, genre analysis as developed by Bhatia (1993),

Halliday and Martin (1993) As our study is concerned mainly with the generic andlinguistic analyses of the five Introduction Parts and Body Parts, it will present theanalyses of these parts in terms of Transitivity, Mood, and Theme Finally,contrastive method is applied to find out what are the similarities and differencesbetween English and Vietnamese Introduction Parts and Body Parts.

We use the contrastive method because we want to establish the similarities anddifferences between English and Vietnamese geological textbooks; and in order topoint out the similarities as well as the differences between English and Vietnamesegeological textbooks in terms of generic structure and linguistic features, we have toanalyze the data This involves the analytic method.

Our study, to some extent, also uses qualitative method This method is employed to

offer logical and meaningful explanation of the presence and absence of certain

generic and linguistic features in the two languages under study and especially theirmeanings relative to the social context, in this case the discourse community isrepresented by the textbook writers in the two academic cultures.

We use the theory of systemic-functional grammar as developed by Halliday andother systemic linguists as the theoretical framework for the following reasons:

Gi) In the SFL model, Firth (1957), Halliday (1994) and Matthiessen (1995)

stated that language is conceptualized as poly-systemic — a system of systems andthe whole grammatical system is seen as “hanging together” This means that “1t is

difficult to break in at any point without presupposing a great deal of what is still to

come” (Halliday, 1994).

(ii) SFG is thought to ensure high validity in the analysis (Hasan, 1989, cited

in Paltridge, 1994) The main focus of the SF theory is the social and cultural role oflanguage and systemic functional linguists attempt to explain the metafunctions, the

interrelationships between culture, society, and language use.

As for any cross-lingual comparative research, the researcher needs to start his /hercomparison from a certain starting point That is to say she/he needs to rely on alanguage as a base then compare the other language from certain parameters

established In this case, the two languages involved are English and Vietnamese.To compare the generic structure and linguistic features of the five IntroductionParts and Body Parts, we take the English language as the base language andVietnamese as the comparative language.

The corpus selected for the study is five English and Vietnamese Introduction Parts

and five English and Vietnamese Body Parts The English and Vietnamese

geological textbooks chosen for the study have to be based on the three following

(i) representative: geological textbooks in English and Vietnamese arevarious consisting of different subjects and are written by different authors To meetthe requirement of the representative, we chose textbooks of the main subjects ingeology including physical geology, tectonics, and Earth science in English andVietnamese In a chosen textbook, we chose the contents having the representativein both English and Vietnamese (the Introduction Parts, the Body Parts) and the

samples are of the same contents in both English and Vietnamese.

(ii) authentic: English and Vietnamese geological textbooks are written by

well-known authors, geologists They are newly-published They have been used as

main textbooks in Vietnam, the USA, Canada, many English-speaking countries.The samples are authentic and original.

(iii) adequate/comprehensive: the size of the samples for the study isconsidered appropriate to obtain the accurate results They are neither too big nortwo small The total number of clauses in the five English and VietnameseIntroduction Parts is 124 clauses and 198 clauses respectively The total number of

clauses in the five English and Vietnamese Body Parts is 657 clauses and 449clauses respectively The detailed analyses of the Introduction Parts and Body Partsin terms of clauses, Transitivity, Mood, Theme, and the text analyses are

represented in Appendix 1 and Appendix 2.

The reason for the choice is that the generic structure and linguistic features ofgeological textbooks in English and Vietnamese have not been studied especially insystemic functional linguistics After establishing the locus of genre, Transitivity,Mood, and Theme in English and Vietnamese geological textbooks in thetheoretical framework for this study — that of SFL — we set up the parameters of thegeneric structure and linguistic features of the five English geological IntroductionParts and Body Parts then use them to compare with those of Vietnamese A

hypothesis we need to make before the comparison is that, like the Englishgeological Introduction Parts and Body Parts, the Vietnamese geologicalIntroduction Parts and Body Parts have the similar generic structure and linguisticfeatures.

The illustrating material in the dissertation is text-based, with examples taken from

natural written textbooks Ideally, the analyses have been taken through the whole

authentic texts So, in order to exemplify, we often search for short extracts orpassages from complete texts which contain a number of examples.

We have decided to base the grammatical comparison on a particular corpusbecause the grammatical phenomena explored in this study are restricted to aparticular genre and a particular text type As the majority of examples are

authentic, they sometimes contain elements which are irrelevant to the point underdiscussion and sometimes are elliptical; i.e certain elements have to be restrictedwith the help of co-text/context.

In some instances, in order to avoid overload of information not neededimmediately, what we have done is (i) to “tidy up” the original example by

removing the irrelevant elements such as false starts, stutters and so on or by

reducing a highly complex nominal group to a proper name, and (ii) to expand theelements of an elliptical example, so as to remove ellipsis It is hoped that these“editing” steps, taken minimally, in no way invalidate the suitability of theexamples, especially where Transitivity, Mood, and Theme analyses of geological

Introduction Parts and Body Parts are concerned.

4 DESIGN OF THE STUDY

Apart from the Introduction and Conclusion, the study is organized into four

The Introduction outlines the rationale of the study has been conducted; the aimand scope of the study; the methodology, and the design of the study.

Chapter 1 attempts to establish the theoretical framework for the study It concerns

itself with the notion of genre and how it is conceptualized from different linguisticapproaches The review of genre from different linguistic approaches leads to theexploration of generic structure of geological textbooks in English in SFL The key

concepts in systemic functional linguistics are examined to provide a clear picture

of the linguistic model and also point out where the systems of Transitivity, Mood,and Theme are located in the linguistic space The aim is to show the notion ofgenre and generic structure as well as linguistic features of geological textbooks inEnglish and Vietnamese.

Chapter 2 is concerned with the investigation into the generic structure and

linguistic features of the five English geological Introduction Parts and Body Parts.

The generic analysis deals with the nature of the two main functions of textbooksexploited in English geological textbooks The linguistic analysis is carried out interms of Transitivity, Mood, and Theme This Chapter shows the inter-relationshipbetween the generic structure and the linguistic features of the English geological

Chapter 3 looks at the generic structure and linguistic features of the fiveVietnamese geological Introduction Parts and Body Parts The generic analysisdeals with the nature of the two main functions of textbooks to exploit the genericstructure of Vietnamese geological textbooks The linguistic analysis is carried outalso in terms of Transitivity, Mood, and Theme This Chapter provides the inter-

relationship between the generic structure and the linguistic features of the

Vietnamese geological textbooks.

Chapter 4 presents the similarities and differences in generic structure and

linguistic features between English and Vietnamese geological textbooks In thischapter, the main focus will be on the investigation into linguistic features of thetexts chosen to provide parameters for the comparison.

The Conclusion provides a synopsis of the study with some of its achievements and

makes some suggestions for further research.

10

PART IT: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

This Chapter is to review the theoretical bases relevant to the present study: genreanalysis and the framework of systemic-functional grammar As a way of start, wewill take a look at the notions of genre, and genre analysis made as they are

understood by scholars such as Jamieson and Campbell (1978), Miller (1994),

Martin (1985, 1990, 1993, 2001), Preston (1986), Swales (1990), Bhatia (1993),Halliday (1993) and many others Then we will discuss the most relevant conceptsof the systemic-functional grammar, which provide the theoretical framework forour analyses in the Chapters that follow.

1.1 Genre and genre analysis

1 1 1 The notion of genre

The notion of genre has its origin in literary studies It has been understood

differently by different scholars Swales (1990) for example, believes that the term“genre” has been maladroidly used and genre remains a fuzzy concept, a somewhatloose term of art He explains that the term became worse especially in the US as

genre has in recent years become associated with a disreputably formulaic way ofconstructing particular texts - a kind of writing or speaking by numbers Thisassociation, as he defines, characterizes genre as a mere mechanism, and hence isinimical to the enlightened and enlightening concept that language is ultimately amatter of choice He then considered the issue whether genre as a structuring devicefor language teaching is doomed to encourage the unthinking application offormulas, or whether such an outcome is rather and over-simplification broughtacross by pedagogical convenience An initial issue for him is to examine whatscholars have actually said about genres in a number of fields such as folklore,literary studies, linguistics and rhetoric.

11

1.1.2 Genre in folklore studies

The concept of genre has maintained a central position in folklore studiesever since the pioneering work in the early nineteenth century on German myths,legends and folktales by the Brothers Grimm Folklorists of various groupsconsidered genre differently One considered genre as a classificatory category, itmeans a story may be classified as a myth, legend or tale; another major group sees

genre as forms, one established tradition taking these forms as permanent Thus,legends and proverbs have not changed their character over recorded history.However, he found out, the functionalists in folklore would rather stress socio-

cultural value For Malinowski (1960), for example, folklore genres contribute tothe maintenance and survival of social groups because they serve social andspiritual needs Thus, for them major narrative genres such as myth, legend and taleare not so labeled according to the form of the narrative itself but according to the

form of the narrative received by the community Swales’s observation in this brief

survey is that not all folklorists accept the permanence of form concept Some aremore interested in the evolution of the genres themselves as a necessary response toa changing world The lessons Swales got from the folklorists for a genre-basedapproach to academic English are of three main points.

First, the classifying of genre is seen as having some limited use, but as an archivalof typological convenience rather than as a discovery procedure Second, a

community, whether social or discoursal, will often view genres as a means to an

end Third, a community’s perceptions of how a text is generically interpreted is of

considerable importance to the analyst.

In the concern with the use of genre in literary studies, Swales indicates thatfolklorists may have special historicist reasons for holding onto the permanence of

form In contrast, literary criticizes and theorists may have special reasons for emphasizing stability, since their scholarly activity is typically designed to show

de-how the chosen author breaks the mould of convention and so establishes

12

significance and originality He also emphasizes that actual literary practice in thetwentieth century would seem, on the surface, to have thrown away convention - in

form, in content and in authorial role - as to render obsolete the term genre itself He

then presented different arguments and observations on genre by scholars likeTodorov, Hepburn, Fowler, Hawkes, Schauber and Spoisky These scholars eitherargue the necessity of genre, genre generation, genre conventions in literary worksor stress the value of genre As Fowler discusses the importance of genre anddenotes that genre provides a communication system, for the use of writers inwriting, and readers and critics in reading and interpreting.

From their points of view, Swales remarks neither Todorov nor Fowler accept thatgenres are simply assemblies of more-or-less similar textual objects but, instead, are

coded and keyed events set within social communicative processes He also

evaluated recognizing those codes and keys can be a powerful facilitator of bothcomprehension and composition.

1.1.3 Genre in linguistics

Swales found out that linguistics as a group has been more partial in the attentionthey have given to the term genre This may be partly due to traditional tendenciesto deal with aspects of language below the level of texts and partly due to areluctance to employ a ‘term of art” so closely associated with literary studies.

For the ethnographer Hymes ‘genres often coincide with speech events but must be

treated as analytically independent of them’, he also gave some reason for

separating genre and speech event analytically However, Swales felt a little

unsatisfactory about Hymes’s reason for separating genre and speech event

analytically He pointed out that invoking the properties of a sermon for humorouseffect is clearly not the same thing as delivering a sermon, if only because they have

very different communicative purposes If, on the other hand, some of the sermons

properties are invoked for serious effects, then this may strengthen the rhetorical

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effectiveness of another genre such as a political speech It is still not a sermon,

however “sermon1zing” it may be.

Swales agreed with Preston (1989) that it is not that speech event and genres need tobe kept apart, but rather than situations and genres need to be In concerning withthe use of genre in linguistics by another group of linguists, Swales remarks that theconcept of genre has also in recent years been discussed by the systemic or“Hallidayan” linguists However, the relationship between genre and the longerestablished concept of register is not always clear Register, or functional languagevariation, as Gregory and Carroll (1978) defined, is ‘a contextual category

correlating grouping of linguistic features with recurrent situational features’ This

category has typically been analyzed in terms of three variables labeled field, mode

and tenor The discussion of the use of genre remains controversial among systemiclinguists.

Halliday (1978) proposed his comment on these terms: field, mode and tenor actcollectively as determinants of the text through their specification of the register, atthe same time they are systematically associated with the linguistic system throughthe functional components of the semantics’ He pointed out that field is associatedwith the management of the ideas, tenor with the management of personal relations,

and mode with the management of discourse itself The categories provide a

conceptual framework for analysis, they are not themselves kinds of language use.On the other hand, Martin (1985) makes the following three-way distinction: genresare realized through registers, and registers in turn are realized through language.

However, Couture (1986) provides unusual classification of the use of register and

genre within systemic linguistics He notes that registers impose constraints at the

linguistic levels of vocabulary and syntax, whereas genre constraints operate at thelevel of discourse structure For Couture the two concepts need to be kept apart;genre (research report, explanation, business report) are complete structured texts,while register (language of scientific reporting, language of newspaper reporting,bureaucratic language) represent more generalizable stylistic choices Genres have

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‘complementary’ registers, and communicative success with texts may require “an

appropriate relationship to system of genre and register’.

Aside from scholars such as Martin, Couture, linguistics as a whole hastended to find genre indigestible The difficulty seems to derive from the factthat register is a well-established and central concept in linguistics, while genre is arecent appendage found to be necessary as a result of important studies of text

structure In conclusion, Swales remarks that despite these equivocations, linguisticcontributions to the evolving study genre lie in the emphasis given to the three mainpoints:

(a) Genres as types of goal-directed communication events;(b) Genres as having schematic structures;

(c) Genres as disassociated from registers or styles.

1.1.4 Genre in rhetoric

Ever since Aristotle, rhetorical inquiry and criticism have been interested inclassifying discourse One common approach has been to proceed deductively, in atop-down manner, and construct a closed system of categories Kinneavy-one

prominent modem example-classifies discourse into four main types: expressive,

persuasive, literary and referential A discourse will be classified into a particulartype according to which component in the communication process receives theprimary focus Swales argued that though such classifications have impressiveintellectual credentials and considerable organizing power, the propensity for early

categorization can lead to a failure to understand particular discourses in their own

Two other linguists of this group, Jamieson and Campbell (1978), argue that ‘agenre is a group unified by a constellation of forms that recurs in

each of its members’ As Jamieson observes, antecedent genres operate as powerful

constraining models Her generic analysis aims to illuminate rather than classify.

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This analysis offers a way of studying discoursal development over time that isdetachable from an analysis of an individual event or / and individual author; it alsosuggests a potential method of establishing the genre-membership or otherwise of a

particular text.

Miller (1984) shares with Campbell and Jamieson’s view and denotes that theanalysis of actual genres can clarify certain social and historical aspects of rhetoric

that might otherwise be missed She also emphasized ‘genres are unstable entities:

‘the number of genres in any society is indeterminate and depends upon thecomplexity and diversity of society’ Swales summed up Miller’s discussion inthree main points: firstly, she has principled reasons for extending the scope of

genre analysis to types of discourse usually disregarded by rhetorical scholars;secondly, she argues that ‘a rhetorically sound definition of genre must be centerednot on the substance or form of discourse but on the action it is used to accomplish’and thirdly, she gives serious attention to how genres fit into the wider scale ofhuman affairs.

Swales (1990) concludes the study of genre by rhetoricians as follows: genreanalysts among the rhetoricians make a substantial contribution to an evolvingconcept of genre suitable for the applied purposes of genre study They provide avaluable historical concept for the study of genre movements and they finallydestroy the myth that genre analysis necessarily has something to do withconstructing a classification of genres The foregoing brief survey of how genres areperceived in four different disciplines, as Swales denotes, indicates something of a

common stance Its components can be summarized as follows:

- adistrust of classification and of ficile or premature prescriptivism;- asense that genres are important for inter-grating past and present;

- arecognition that genres are situated within discourse communities, whereinthe beliefs and naming practices of members have relevance;

- anemphasis on communicative purpose and social action;

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- an interest in generic structure and an understanding of the double generativecapacity of genre - to establish rhetorical goals and to further their

reception including its historical and cultural associations Secondly, the principal

criteria feature that turns a collection of communicative events into a genre is someshared set of communicative purposes.

Swales’s point of view accords with that of Miller (1984) or Martin (1985) that isplacing the primary determinant of genre-membership on shared purpose rather than

on similarities of form or some other criterion Their decision is based on the

assumption that genres are communicative vehicles for the achievement of goals,except for some exceptional cases They also admitted that in some casesidentifying purpose may be relatively easy, but in others it may not be so easy, and

that it is not uncommon to find genres that have sets of communicative purposes.

For instance, while news broadcasts are doubtlessly designed to keep their audience

up to date with events of the world, they may also have purposes of mouldingpublic opinion, organizing public behavior, or presenting the controllers andpaymasters of the broadcasting organization in favorable light When purposiveelements come into conflict with each other, the effectiveness of the genre as socio-rhetorical action becomes questionable Thirdly, exemplars or instances of genres

vary in their proto-typicality.

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Except for communicative purpose that genre-membership is based on, Swales alsofound out two additional features or two possible ways required to establish suchmembership that are the definitional approach and the family resemblanceapproach, of which the former is much the better established and indeed, underpinsthe creation and worth of dictionaries, glossaries and specialized technologies Thedefinitional view has had some success in certain areas, like kinship terms numbers,physical and chemical elements However, this view has experienced great

difficulty in drawing up lists or defining characteristics of such everyday categories

as fruits, vegetables and furniture.

The family resemblance approach has not been without critic Wittgensttein’s

discussion of family resemblance and subsequent comment have given rise to a

“prototype” or cluster theory designed to account for the genre analysts to recognize

instances of categories The prototype approach to categories is particularlyassociated with the work of many scholars like Rosch, Mervis, Amstrong, Gleitman,

Clark, etc They argued that the most typical category members are prototypes; a

category has its own internal structure, which will assign features or properties acertain probability for being included in category members Fourthly, the rationalebehind a genre establishes constraints on allowable contributions in terms of their

content, positioning and form.

He observed that there is a close relationship among the discourse community, setof purposes of genres, the established members, the parent discourse community,the rationale and the conventions He pointed out that the surface features and localdecision are highly contributory to the performance outcome Fifthly, a discourse

community’s nomenclature for genres is an important source of insight.

Swales denotes that knowledge of the conventions of a genre is likely to be muchgreater in those who routinely or professionally operate within that genre Inconsequence, active discourse community members tend to have the greatest genre -specific expertise as these active members give genre names to classes ofcommunicative events that they recognize when providing recurring rhetorical action.

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Another linguist, Bhatia was involved in genre analysis in an attempt to develop a

course on genre analysis In his book “Analyzing genre - language use inprofessional settings” he presented his opinion, his comments on genre analysis

compared with those of other linguists such as Swales, Martin, etc In his book

“Analyzing genre” (1993) with theoretical preliminaries of genre analysis, Bhatia

stated to introduce a thick description of language in use, it is necessary to combinesocio-cultural and psycho linguistic aspects of text-construction and interpretation

with linguistic insights, in order to answer the question: why are specific

discourse-genres written and used by the specialist communities the way they are? Theconcept of genre, which has been so prevalent in literature, sociology and rhetoricfor a long time, has started assuming importance in linguistics only recently Genreanalysis as an insightful and thick description of academic and professional textshas become a powerful and useful tool to arrive at significant form-functioncorrelations which can be utilized for a number of applied linguistic purposes.

Having taken an elaboration of four major aspects in Swale’s genre definition,

Bhatia came to the following conclusion:

‘each genre is an instance of a successful achievement of a specific communicative

purpose using conventionalized knowledge of linguistic and discoursal resources.

Since each genre, in certain important respects, structures the narrow world ofexperience or reality in a particular way, the implication is that the sameexperience or reality will require a different way of structuring’.

(Bhatia, 1993: 13)

From the point of view of applied genre analysis, his primary concern is of twofold: first, to characterize typical or conventional textual features of any genre -specific text in an attempt to identify pedagogically utilizable form-functioncorrelations; second, to explain such a characterization in the context of the socio-culture as well as the cognitive constraints operating in the relevant area ofspecialization, whether professional or academic Discourse analysis, of whichapplied genre analysis is a recent but very significant development, is a multi-

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disciplinary activity to which a number of researchers from a variety of disciplinesin the last quarter of a century.

1.2 Approaches to genre

Genre is a term which, as Preston says, one approaches with some trepidation(Preston, 1986) The word is highly attractive but extremely slippery Genre is quiteeasily used to refer to a distinctive category of discourse of any type, spoken orwritten, with or without literary aspirations Over the past twenty years, the term hasbeen developed as a means for examining non-literary texts.

The term ‘genre’ has been used for many years to refer to different styles of literary

discourse such as sonnets, tragedies, and romances It highlights the fact that

different types of discourse can be identified by their overall shape or genericstructure Recently, the term has been adapted by functional linguists to refer todifferent types of communicative events (Martin, 1984; Swales, 1990) They arguethat language exists to fulfill certain functions and that these functions willdetermine the overall shape or generic structure of the discourse Different types ofcommunicative events result in different types of discourse, and each of these will

have its own distinctive characteristics.

There are two main approaches to genre - the Swalesian and the functional They differ somewhat in their theoretical formulations but they do not

Systemic-appear to be in fundamental conflict.

Systemic - functional linguists use the term genre to describe the impact of thecontext of culture on language; by exploring the staged, step-by-step structurescultures institutionalized as ways of achieving goals (Eggins, 1994: 9) The concept

of genre can be seen as an enhancement of Halliday’s theory of the relationship

between form, function, and context That is, the relationship of language and itscultural context can be examined by analyzing how texts are shaped in order to

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achieve the goals of a particular culture SFL theorists view genres as descriptionsof staging and linguistic patterning typically drawn on to achieve particular socialgoals, rather than as rule-governed structures The theory also takes into accountthat genres can vary from culture to culture The strategy they are using is tointerpret both register and genre as semiotic systems in their own right Both dependon words and structures to make meanings.

It is claimed that text creates and is created by its context (Halliday, 1994) and also

“the combination of context of culture- meaning the environment of the text and

context of situation-meaning the cultural background of the text results in the

differences and similarities between one piece of language and another” (Butt ef al.

2003: 3).

The context of situation of the text, according to Systemic-functional linguistics

(SFL), consists of three aspects, namely Field — the nature of the social action thatis taking place; Tenor — the nature of the participants, their status and roles; Mode— what part the language is playing, what the participants are expecting the languageto do for them in that situation These three factors, according to Derewianka

(1990), together determine the register of the text.

The context of culture, according to Callaghan and Rothery (1988: 33), is referredto as relating to the purpose that the text is designed to achieve in a particular

culture However, as different cultures achieve their purposes through language in

different ways (Derewainka, 1990: 18), this results in differences in the way texts

are structured to achieve their purposes in different cultures When we consider the

structure of a text to help it achieve its purpose, we are looking at its genre, which

roughly refers to “particular text-types” (Derewainka, 1990: 18) For example, the

schematic structure of a shopping transaction in an American context may differ

from that in a Vietnamese context In brief, the culture in which the text is used to

determine the genre of the text.

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The interdependence between text and context is well summed up by Christie:

“when people create a text, the choices they make with respect to register are said to

involve the context of situation, whereas the choices made with respect to theoverall genre are said to involve the context of culture This relation is illustrated inthe following diagram.

Who is involved?(Tenor)

The subject The channel

three elements in the definition in detail: “genres are defined as social processes

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because members of a given culture have learned to use them in an interactivesocial setting They are goal-oriented because they have evolved (and continue toevolve) to allow people in the culture to achieve their goals; to get things done.They are staged and have a distinctive beginning, middle and end structure which is

the means for people achieving their goals”.

Genre, in very simple terms, can be seen as ‘register plus purpose’ (Eggins, 1994:

36) Eggins illustrates this relationship diagrammatically in Figure 1.2.

The diagram captures the following claims: that genre is one of the two levels ofcontext we are recognizing; that genre is more abstract, more general than register;that genres are realized through language; and that this process of realizing genresin language is mediated through the realization of register.

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The SFL approach to genre highlights the marco-structure of text by showing how itfollows various functional sequences and unfolds in a series of obligatory oroptional stages This staged and goal-oriented organization may depend on thecontext of culture in which it operates and it will often evolve over time The

structure which shapes and organizes a text is typically referred to as “Schematic

structure” Individual texts are classified as members of a particular genre whentheir structure instantiates a particular configuration of stages.

In addition to these large units of discourse, SFL can help to reveal associationbetween a particular genre and particular semantic features of an ideational,

interpersonal and / or textual kind Analysis of the register variables of field, tenor,and mode show how particular fields are built up through highly favored options in

transitivity and other experiential systems; how relationships between participants

are mediated through mood selection and modality; and how the textual featuresreflect the extent to which interactants accompany action, constitute action, or

comment on the events being discussed Martin (2001: 160) states:

genre makes meaning by shaping register by conditioning the way in which field,

mode, and tenor are currently mapped onto one another in a given culture This

mapping tends to unfold in phrases, and gives rise to the distinctive goal-orientedStaging structure of genres Genres have been described as culturally evolved goal-directed social processes which are enabling and facilitative of some socio-cultural

The other major school of thought with regard to genre is the Swalesian The

leading figure in this school is John Swales (1990), whose most influential book

concentrates on academic genres His role is a significant one in shaping the ESP

genre theory His definition centers on the notion of a discourse community whose

members agree upon the acceptable features of specific genres This notion isexemplified in detail by reference to article introductions According to Swales,

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 parent discourse community, and thereby constitute the rationale

for the genre This rationale shapes the schematic structure of the discourse and

influences and constrains choice of content and style Communicative purpose is

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both a privileged criterion and one that operates to keep the scope of a genre ashere conceived narrowly focused on comparable rhetorical action In addition topurpose, exemplars of a genre exhibit various patterns of similarities in terms of

structure, style, content and intended audience If all high prototypical expectationsare realized the exemplar will be viewed as prototypical by the pattern discoursecommunity The genre names inherited and produced by discourse communitiesand imported by other constitute valuable ethnographic communication, but

typically need further validation.

(Swales, 1985:58)

Bhatia (1993) takes Swales’s ideas and shows their application to genres belongingto other discourse communities, most notably those associated with the legalprofession The most recent study of genre by Bhatia (1993: 13) based on the workby Swales (1990) will be taken into consideration He defines genre as follows:

It is a recognizable communicative event characterized by a set of communicative

purposes identified and understood by the members of the professional or academiccommunity in which it regularly occurs Most often it is structured andconventionalized with constraints on allowable contributions in terms of theirintent, positioning, form and functional value These constraints, however, areoften exploited by the expert members of the discourse community to achieveprivate intentions within the framework of socially recognized purposes.

(Bhatia, 1993: 13)

Both Swales and Bhatia make communicative purpose the central criterion for genreidentification It is this communicative purpose that shapes the genre and gives itinternal structure For instance, as Bhatia argues, although the two kinds of

documents — job applications and promotion letters are typically considered twodifferent kinds of texts, with little in common, they are of the same genre becausethey are used to serve the same communicative purpose — to promote a particularproduct or service; both are persuasive and exploit the same form Bhatia provides

sample letters and careful discussions of the language use in the moves.

There are two interrelated aspects of genre theory, i.e the constraints on genericconstruction, a pre-knowledge of which gives power to insiders in specificdiscourse communities, and the exploitation of this power by experienced and

expert members of such disciplinary cultures to achieve their ‘private intentions’

within ‘socially recognized communicative purposes’ Bhatia (2001: 66) maintains

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that although being products of conventional knowledge embedded in disciplinary

cultures, generic forms are dynamic constructs The majority of genres are subject

to free creative reformation Typical realizations of these institutionalized forms aretherefore ‘often characterized by their generic integrity, on the one hand, theirpropensity for innovation, on the other’ He observes that these two aspects of genremay appear to be somewhat contradictory to each other In fact, it will not beinaccurate to suggest that one is, in a way, an essential prerequisite to the other.

Generic integrity is the product of the conventional features of a specific genericconstruct Although these conventions are embedded in the rhetorical context, theyoften constrain the use of linguistic resources and are frequently invoked to arrive ata reasonable interpretation of the genre or even determine the choice of genre to suit

a particular context Within generic boundaries, experienced users of genre often

manage to exercise considerable freedom to manipulate generic conventions to

respond to novel situations, to mix what Bhatia (1993) calls ‘private intentions’ with

socially recognized communicative purposes, and even to produce new forms of

discourse As Dubrow (1982: 29) points out, ‘a concern for generic traditions, far

from precluding originality, often helps to produce it.’

Having studied different points of view of linguists of different traditions we now

come to establish the definition of genre as follows:

Genres are staged, goal-oriented and purposeful A genre can be defined as acultural specific text-type which results from using language (spoken or written)to help accomplish something Associated with genre are:

Greece when Aristotle used it to distinguish different kinds of writings in hisRhetoric (Benoit, 2000), and other notions of genre representing variousperspectives such as those of Bazerman (1998), Miller (1984); Swales (1990),Bhatia (1993), Dubrow (1982), etc The debate over genre theories and genrepedagogy is an intense and multi-voiced one.

1.3 Genre and language study

Genre theory provides many useful educational applications; it has not beendeveloped exclusively as an educational tool Genre theory has been of great valueto both theorists and applied linguists They believe that explicit teaching of genericstructures and their associated grammatical features can help learners of all types(particularly non-native speakers of English) to master the functions and theconventionalized and standardized aspects of genre construction, which willcertainly facilitate effective communication in a range of disciplines andprofessions An awareness of genre is clearly relevant for designing curriculum in a

way responsive to students’ needs Most language teachers are familiar with the

notion that we use language differently depending on our communicative purposes.On the basis of needs analysis, the course can be oriented towards achieving control

of the relevant genres.

The main goals of SFL genre pedagogy, according to Hyon (1996), are to help

students succeed and to empower them Callaghan (1991: 72) contends that the goal

of systemic functional grammar and genre-based teaching for primary and

secondary schools is to help students ‘participate effectively in the schoolcurriculum and the broader community’ Kress (1988) also maintains that genres“give their users access to certain realms of social action and interaction, and certain

realms of social influence and power” In order to achieve the main goals, the SFLgenre-based pedagogy holds the following four main principles:

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First, language development is seen as involving three interrelated elements:

learning language, learning through language and learning about language (Christie,

1987: 29; Christie, Maritn & Rothery, 1989; Halliday, 1992) This also implies thatlearning language is a social activity and the outcome of the collaboration betweenthe teacher and the student, and between the student and others in the group.

One aspect of the first principle, namely learning about language, leads to thesecond principle, which argues that learning occurs more effectively if the teachingis explicit Explicit teaching here assumes several aspects, including being explicitabout the way language works to mean (Kalantzis & Cope, 1984; Freez & Joyce,

1998; Rothery, 1986), and teaching explicitly the various kinds of text types thatstudents need (Martin, 1992; Wyatt- Smith, 1997) Derewianka (1990) argues that if

the children have explicit knowledge about language resource that is available, they

can make informed choices when developing texts of their own This also means“teaching grammar again”, functional grammar, and not the formal traditionalvariety (Kalantzis & Cope, 1984).

Another major principle of the SFL genre pedagogy is that the process of learning

language is a series of “scaffolded developmental steps” which address different

aspects of language (Freez & Joyce, 1998: 26) This point is also emphasized inMartin (1999) and Rothery (1996) as critical and fundamental in the pedagogy.

They mention “guidance through interaction” and “shared experience” between

teachers and students, or adult caretakers and children This principle, according to

Martin, gave rise to a number of teaching models.

The fourth important principle involves views about learning writing The Sydney

genre tradition argues that successful participation in any context of situationrequires the ability to recognize and use the relevant discourse patterns or generic

structure (Christie, 1985: 34) Hence, the genre theory promotes learning to writedifferent genres and new ways of using grammar to create genres (Christie, 1990;

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Martin, 1985) It is emphasized strongly in Christie et al (1986, 1989) that learning

to write involves learning to write a large range of genres.

It is thought that genre theory has been of great value to applied linguists who areconcerned with applied discourse analysis and are interested in making use of thefindings of linguistic analysis for a wide range of applied linguistic purposes,especially for planning and designing of ESP programs Genre is a valuable concept

for English language teachers Martin (2001: 162) states:

It is perhaps a truism to say that you can’t write if you don’t first know language.

But it is equally true to say that you can’t write ifyou don’t control the appropriateregister and genres Unfortunately, control of these systems is something thateducators have too often taken for granted.

Painter (2001: 172) shares the same point of view that of Martin’s She remarks:

Students will need to gain a clear understanding of the nature and stages of thesocial process under attention and how it is like or unlike comparable socialprocesses in their own culture This will provide the learner with insights into theEnglish-speaking culture and opportunities to reflect on or contest its assumptionsas well as to gain confidence and experience in using the language patterns thatare particularly fore-grounded in the genre In this way students will gain choicesabout the extent to which they wish to operate in the ways of the new culture, andteachers will have a basis for designing clear outcomes for the language course orany part of it.

In ESP, researchers have focused on the implications of genre theory and analysisof English for academic purposes (EAP) and English for professionalcommunication (EPC) classroom (Hyon, 1996), particularly in the fields of secondand foreign language learning and teaching Concerning the instructionalframework, ESP researchers have presented genres as useful discourse models for

ESP writing instructions Genre-based approaches to teaching writing have been

increasingly adopted Genre analysis emphasizes the crucial importance ofrhetorical text structure and is beginning to influence how writing is taught byproviding models of different communicative activities It is essential for the learner

to be familiar with specific generic conventions associated with particular

professional settings, which are ‘accessible and very teachable’ (Er, 2001: 229).

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Swales (1990) emphasizes there is considerable variation amongst the papers in thescale of research, in the level of analysis (from the straight counting of surfacelinguistic features to the search for underlying structure), and in the methodologicaland linguistic approaches devised or drawn upon Useful part characterizations ofthis variety are provided by Widdowson (1979) and Jarvis (1983) In fact, some ofthis research attempts to describe scientific writing in general: research articles,textbooks, specialized reports, etc.

In “Writing science” Martin (Halliday and Martin, 1993) pointed out that the major

genre in science textbooks is what is technically called a report He alsoemphasized the textbooks themselves are in fact large reports, broken down byheadings and subheadings into sections Their main function of these reports is to

organize information about things, typically by classifying, or decomposing things,defining, describing, and listing their properties Shea’s research (Shea, 1998)confirms that reports and explanations are the most recognizable genres in sciencetextbooks.

Concerning technical writing in science textbooks Martin explains technical writingis the most strongly associated in the culture with the various fields of science Inbroad terms science is concerned with: how the world is organized; and how it cameto be that way Science textbooks deal with both these concerns The two mostrelevant genres will be referred to as report (how the world is organized) and

explanation (why it is organized that way) The main difference is that reports focus

on things while explanations focus on processes Science textbooks shift from

report to explanation as appropriate when building up chapters Christie (cited in

Christie et al 1990, 1992) stated that reports and explanations are the principalfactual genres that have been explored in the discussion of scientific textbooks.Importantly, scientific textbooks were amongst the materials analyzed byresearchers such as Martin (1990: 100, 104); Shea (1988); Christie et al 1990).

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