DEFINITION OF GENRE

According to John Flowerdew (2013), genre means “kind” or “form”

and was used by the Greek philosopher in his Poetics to refer to major
types of literature: poetry, drama, and the epic.
Martin (1993) defines “genre” as a category that describes the relation
of the social purpose of text to language structure.

In the field of Applied Linguistics

Genre refers to different communicative events which are associated

with particular setting, and which have recognized structures, and
communicative functions.
 Characteristics of Genre
According to John Flowerdew (2013), there are seven characteristics
of genre:

1. STAGING
2. COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE
3. RECURRENT NATURE OF GENRE
4. GENRE AS A FLEXIBLE CONCEPT
5. GENRE RELATIONS
6. INTERTEXTUALITY
7. INTERCULTURAL NATURE OF GENRE
 STAGING
Genre are staged. By staged, we
mean that a genre has a specific
sequential structure. genres are
staged because they accomplish
tasks that require multiple steps;
they are goal-oriented because their
users are motivated. It is usually can
be found in a drama.

Imron, W.H., 2012. Staging A Streetcar Named Desire, Understanding Its Elements. Prosodi: Vol. 1, (1).
 COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE
Genre belong to particular communities of users. It is a group of
people who "share a concern or a passion for something they do
and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly.
Communities of practice are not new phenomena: this type of
learning has existed for as long as people have been learning
and sharing their experiences through storytelling.
 RECURRENT NATURE OF GENRES
Genre knowledge develops through repeated exposure and practice.
Knowledge acquired through repeated exposure is stored in the form of
schemata. It is why the recurrent is meant that it happens again and
again. Genres take their shape in recurrent situations because the
communications that occur in recurrent situations tend to be
remarkably similar.
 GENRE AS A FLEXIBLE CONCEPT
A “flexible”, rather than a “static” view is required:

Swales (2004)  metaphor

Palrtidge (2006)  prototype
Kress (2003)  tension
 GENRE RELATIONS
These notions can be classified under the umbrella of genre relations.
1. Genre Set
2. Genre System
3. Genre Chain
4. Disciplinary Genre
 TYPES OF GENRE RELATION
Genre Set A range of genres which a professional group uses
in the course of their daily routine. (Devitt, 1991)

Genre System A full set of genres (spoken or written) which are

involved in a complete interaction. (Bazerman, 1994)

Genre Chain A chronologically related sequences of genres in a

given interaction. (Raisanen, 2002)

Disciplinary All those genres associated with a profession or

Genre discipline. (Bhatia, 2004)
 INTERTEXTUALITY

It means how there are references

in one text to other texts.
Intertextuality has various forms:

1. From Fairclough viewpoint

(1992)
2. From Devitt viewpoint (1991)
 From Fairclough viewpoint (1992)
1. Manifest intertextuality (quotation, citation, paraphrase)
2. Constitutive intertextuality (generic features which do not leave an
obvious trace from the source)
 From Devitt viewpoint (1991)
1. Referential (when one text refers directly to another one)
2. Functional (when a text is part of a larger system of texts, dealing
with a particular issue)
3. Generic (when a text draws on similar texts created in a similar
situation)
 INTERCULTURAL NATURE OF
GENRES
Various writers prefer to see the differences among cultures in terms of
“the differences or preferences in the pragmatic and strategic choices
that writers make in response to external demands and cultural
histories. A number of differences were noted both at the level of
assessment by members of the two communities of practice and at the
level of rhetorical structure.
 Textual Focus

Characteristics of Linguistic
Interpretation Genre Characteristics

Distribution of
Linguistic
Characteristic
(Susan Conrad, 2009)
Literary genre is a category meant to describe the writing style, technique, tone,
length, and content of certain literary forms. (Thornbury, 2005)

Fiction

Nonfiction
Poetry
Literary
Genre

Drama Folklore
 CONCLUSION
• Genre refers to different communicative events which are associated with
particular setting, and which have recognized structures, and communicative
functions.
• According to John Flowerdew (2013), there are seven characteristics of genre:
Staging, Communities Of Practice, Recurrent Nature Of Genre, Genre As A Flexible
Concept, Genre Relations, Intertextuality, and Intercultural Nature Of Genre.
• According to Susan (2009), there are four characteristics of genres: Textual Focus,
Linguistic Characteristics, Distribution of Linguistic Characteristic, and
Interpretation.
• According to Thornbury (2005), there are five kinds of literary genre: fiction, non-
fiction, folklore, drama, and poetry.
 REFERENCES
• Thornbury, S. 2005. Introducing Discourse Analysis Beyond The Sentence. Oxford:
Macmillan Publishers Limited Companies.
• Routman, R. 2005. Writing Essensials. New York: Portsouth NH.
• Biber, D., & Susan, Conrad. 2009. Register, Genre, and Style. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
• Flowerdew, J. 2013. Discourse in English Language Education. New York:
Routledge.
• Imron, W.H., 2012. Staging A Streetcar Named Desire, Understanding Its
Elements. Prosodi: Vol. 1, (1).
• Van Zoonen, L. 2017. Intertextuality. The International Encyclopedia of Media
Effects: Wiley-Blackwell. DOI: 10.1002/9781118783764 .