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.
Citations
More filters
01 Jan 2000
TL;DR: In the field of second-language acquisition (SLA), the issue of whether a theory of SLA must account only for the psycholinguistic processes involved in acquiring an interlanguage (IL), or whether social and sociolinguistic factors influence those psycho-linguistic processes to such an extent that they too must be included in such a theory.
Abstract: One of the most intractable issues in the field of second-language acquisition (SLA) research has been the attempt to identify the role of social context in influencing (or not) the process of acquisition of a second language. The central question has been whether a theory of SLA must account only for the psycholinguistic processes involved in acquiring an interlanguage (IL), or, alternatively, whether social and sociolinguistic factors influence those psycho-linguistic processes to such an extent that they too must be included in such a theory. It seems very clear that SLA is a psycholinguistic process. But to what extent are those psycholinguistic processes affected by social context? In 1985, Selinker and Douglas proposed a construct of ‘discourse domains’ to show how social and psycholinguistic processes might be included in a theory of inter-language; Young (1999) reviews that proposal and a recent attempt to test it, concluding that the results are still uncertain. After 15 years, this is still a lively issue in the field of SLA. Indeed, it is becoming a source of increasing conflict both within the field of SLA and within such areas of applied linguistics as second/foreign language teaching and second/foreign language teacher training. In this article, I will briefly summarize the problem, and review and summarize the current evidence being brought to bear upon this issue in the SLA research literature.
66 citations
Abstract: Reading and writing at university is infused by the cultural context of a particular discipline or field so that academic literacies are located, described, interpreted and studied in disciplinary contexts. This study explores the roles and functions textbooks have in the disciplinary culture of Economics in the academy, where there are many introductory‐level textbooks that are designed to formalize and standardize disciplinary induction. It uncovers how students learn to read and write in Introductory Economics, particularly when the textbook is positioned as an authoritative, canonical text, and interprets the ambiguities, unresolved tensions and anxieties concerning plagiarism that often accompany reading and writing from the textbook. Further, it scrutinizes teaching and learning from the learner's perspective to reveal the complexity of the linguistic and disciplinary demands in the form of unfamiliar discourses, genres and literacy practices a student must accommodate to be recognized as a particip...
66 citations
TL;DR: This paper analyzed the language ideologies enacted in referees' and editors' comments on articles submitted for publication in English-medium "international" journals and explored evaluation practices for knowledge production, evaluation and circulation.
Abstract: Drawing on 95 text histories from a longitudinal project on writing for publication in 4 national contexts, this article analyses the language ideologies enacted in referees’ and editors’ comments on articles submitted for publication in English-medium ‘international’ journals. It considers how orientations to ‘English’, ‘language’ and ‘language work’ are enacted in practices of reviewer uptake and the consequences of such practices for knowledge production, evaluation and circulation. In exploring evaluation practices, the article problematizes three foundational categories in applied linguistics: (1) The treating of English as a single stable semiotic resource over which the ‘native’ speaker is attributed a privileged evaluative position; (2) The overriding transparency approach to language and communication; (3) The focus on production as distinct from uptake.
65 citations
TL;DR: A prototype‐theoretical perspective on the classification of discourse can reveal that such genres as the novel, the poem, and the play, as well as such superordinate classes of discourse as literature, advertising, and academic writing, are all distinct classes of discussion but at different levels of abstraction.
Abstract: There is a direct relation between genres of discourse and the definition of literature. A prototype‐theoretical perspective on the classification of discourse can reveal that such genres as the novel, the poem, and the play, as well as such superordinate classes of discourse as literature, advertising, and academic writing, are all distinct classes of discourse but at different levels of abstraction. More important, superordinate, basic level, and subordinate classes of discourse have different numbers of typical values for the range of possible discourse attributes. The question of the definition of literature is, hence, Telated to the literary genres from which literature is abstracted, although the study of literary genres and literature is also connected to the study of nonliterary genres and other discourse classes. Such an approach can also explain what goes wrong in some recent proposals on the definition of literary discourse.
65 citations
TL;DR: For non-native English writers, advanced academic literacy encompasses knowledge of the rhetorical, linguistic, social and cultural features of academic discourse as well as knowledge of English as used by their academic disciplines as mentioned in this paper.
65 citations