Genre analysis: English in academic and research settings / John M. Swales
01 Jan 1991-Vol. 1991, Iss: 1991, pp 1-99
About: The article was published on 1991-01-01 and is currently open access. It has received 5640 citations till now.
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TL;DR: The authors examines a range of literature on argumentation in education published since 1990 and looks at four models of argumentation, from those deriving from logic at one end of the spectrum, to those taking a more rhetorical line at the other.
Abstract: This article examines a range of literature on argumentation in education published since 1990 and looks at four models of argumentation in depth. It begins by acknowledging that the field of argument studies and argumentation is now large and interdisciplinary. It then draws a distinction between argument (the overall phenomenon) and argumentation (the process of arguing), suggesting that it is the latter that is of most relevance to education. An informal review of literature follows, mapped on a spectrum from those deriving from logic at one end of the spectrum, to those taking a more rhetorical line at the other. The second half of the article concentrates on four main models of argumentation as applied to education: those by Toulmin; Mitchell and Riddle; Andrews; and Kaufer and Geisler. Each is seen to have a different function and to have different strengths and weaknesses as far as a model of argumentation for education is concerned. The article concludes that no new models are required at present, but that present models need to be tested through ethnographic studies of argumentation in education settings. There is also a need for more work on theories and models of visual argumentation. Finally, the power of argumentation for social and democratic operations is emphasized.
55 citations
TL;DR: This paper reported on the writing and teaching experiences of nine Western-trained Chinese TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) professionals in China and found that participants were all conscious of their biliterate/bicultural intellectual identity.
Abstract: Little is known about nonnative English language teachers who, after having been awarded an MA or PhD in the West, return to their home countries and write academic papers mainly in their first language. This study, based on interview data, reports on the writing and teaching experiences of nine Western-trained Chinese TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) professionals in China. The findings show that the participants were all conscious of their biliterate/bicultural intellectual identity. Although some had different views about what counted as logic and digression in academic discourse, most of the participants were persistent in promoting a direct and linear English approach in their own writing as well as in their teaching of both English and Chinese writing. The study highlights the complexity of bilingual/bicultural intellectual identity and the contribution of Chinese TESOL scholars either toward or against an Anglo-centric globalization of rhetorical development.
55 citations
07 Aug 2009
TL;DR: This paper argued that genres are not solely textual phenomena, that genres should be understood not as templates but as always partly prefabricated, partly improvised or repurposed, and that genres can be seen as constitutive of systems of genres.
Abstract: i n t ro d u c t i o n Over the past 20 years, so much has been written on genre, so many astute analyses have been undertaken, so many important theoretical observations have been made (see, e., that it is challenging now to say something new that needs to be said, especially in the context of a volume dedicated to genre studies. It has been widely agreed for some time now that genres are not solely textual phenomena, that genres should be understood not as templates but as always partly prefabricated, partly improvised or repurposed. Over the last 15 years, in different terms and with somewhat different emphases, but with increasing clarity, genre analysts have been moving from a focus on genres as isolated phenomena to a recognition of how specific types of texts are formed within, infused by, and constitutive of systems of genres. Theorists have also begun to highlight ways that genre theory has privileged public texts whose primary functions are informational, rhetorical or aesthetic. For example, Swales (1996, 2004) has identified the category of occluded genres, and Spinuzzi (2004) has highlighted the way many workplace genres are designed primarily to mediate activity (e.g., to work as aids to thinking and action rather than as means of inter-office or external communication). Attention to modes other than writing has also grown. Räisänen (1999), for example, has examined the chains of written and oral genres involved in presenting at academic conferences. Analyzing topological and typological dimensions, Lemke (1998) has argued that scientific texts are, and long have been, routinely multimedia genres, whose mix of modalities plays a crucial role in the construction of meaning. Situated genre analyses in specific sites (e. have also highlighted ways that literate activity involves
54 citations
TL;DR: The authors explored instances of such conformity in hard and soft science disciplines, as it is reflected in the use of recurrent word combinations in different rhetorical moves of research article abstracts, and found that members of different academic domains have different priorities for representing their research in academic abstracts.
54 citations
TL;DR: A qualitative analysis of academic discourse is valuable for understanding how the resources used for expressing authorial positioning act both as the reflection and as the perpetuation of a community's value system as mentioned in this paper.
54 citations