Genre

Taufik Nur Hidayat

JAKARTA STATE POLYTECNIC

 Concept of Genre

 Knapp Model of Genre (1992)

 Concept of Genre

 Knapp Model of Genre (1992)

General Overview of Factual Genre and
Story Genre
 Factual Genre
Social -generalized +generelized Explain/resolve debate
function description description:
document
Stages
Unstructured description report Exposition discussion
Structure recount procedure explanation exploration

 Story Genre
Types of Stages
genre
Recount orientation Record of event
Anecdote orientation crisis reaction
Exemplum orientation incident interpretation
Narrative orientation complication evaluation resolution
 Martin (1992 in Santosa 2009)
 Concept of Genre
 Classification of genre: factual and story
 1) Factual genre classified into eight types:
description, recount, report, procedure,
explanation, exposition, discussion, and
exploration. (Martin, 1992)
 2) Story genre: recount, narrative, anecdote
 Those classification of factual genre is based on
two aspects: goals and stages
 General Overview of Factual Genre
 1. Description  describes unique living or non-living
things; the results of the description are not meant to
generalize the things
 Structure:
 1) General description (Identification) things to be
described
 2) Specific description of parts, functions, behaviors
(living), uses (non living)  part to be described
 Linguistic Features:
 1) present tense is dominantly used
 2) relational verb (to be, have, has, become, feel, smell,
appear, etc) to describe
parts/function/qualities/appearance
 3) action verb to describe uses/behavior (play, make, etc)
 General Overview of Factual Genre
 Relational verb is similar with linking verb which functioned
to connect between subject and attribute
 They are the winner of the debate competition
 You look so sad, He becomes an engineer in Denhag.
 General Overview of Factual Genre
 1) present tense is dominantly used
 The algebra is the most interesting subject.

 2) relational verb (to be, have, has, become, feel, smell,

appear, etc) to describe
parts/function/qualities/appearance
 3) action verb to describe uses/behavior (play, make, etc)

 We play futsal every week end.

 We make this project together to join the competition

GRAMMATICAL FEATURE OF DESCRIPTIVE TEXT

Other examples...
Canada is one of the best country in the world.
There are three reasons why Canada is able to get
this predicate.  identification
First, Canada has an excellent health care system.
All Canadians have access to medical services at a
reasonable price. Second, Canada has a high
standard of education. Students are taught by
well-trained teachers and are encouraged to
continue studying at university. Finally, Canada's
cities are clean and efficiently managed.
Canadian cities have many parks and lots of space
for people to live. As a result, Canada is a desirable
place to live.  description (specific description)
Analysis
 Thing to be described is Canada (identification)
 Parts of thing to be described are specific
characteristic and condition of the country
involving: 1) Canada has excellent health care
system; 2) Canada has high standard of
education; 3) Canada is clean and efficiently
managed
 General Overview of Factual Genre
 2. Report  describe the way things are, depicting a
generic description of things.
 Report related to classification into class or subclass.
 Report shows the generalization of something by
comparing certain class with other classes while
descriptive text is only describe something without making
generalization and without comparing with other class.
 Report has social function to make classification of
something.
 Structure:
 1) General classification (technical classification)
 2) Generic description (parts, function, behavior (living) or
uses (non-living) and their habitat
Continued...
 Linguistic Feature of Report:
 1) Simple present tense is dominantly used to
show that something still exist while simple past
tense is used to show that something is not exist
at the present, e.g: dinosaur, or ancient history.
 2) Using material verb/action verb

e.g: walk, run, make, play, write, etc

 3) Hierarchial relationship

 4) Temporal conjunction is dominantly used

Temporal conjunction: firstly, second, third, last, in

sum, etc.
 Example
KOMODO DRAGON
 Do you know what is the largest lizard? This lizard is called komodo. It lives
in the scrub and woodland of a few Indonesian islands.
 Komodo dragon is the world's heaviest lizard, weighing 150 pounds or
more. The largest Komodo ever measured was more than 10 feet (3 meters)
long and weighed 366 pounds (166 kg) but the average size of komodo in
the wild is about 8 feet (2.5 meters) long and 200 pounds (91 kg).
 Komodo has gray scaly skin, a pointed snout, powerful limbs and a
muscular tail. They use their keen sense of smell to locate decaying animal
remains from several miles away. They also hunt other lizards as well as
large mammals and are sometimes cannibalistic.
 The Komodo dragon's teeth are almost completely covered by its gums.
When it feeds, the gums bleed, creating an ideal culture for virulent bacteria.
The bacteria that live in the Komodo dragon's saliva causes septicemia, or
blood poisoning, in its victims. A dragon will bite its prey, then follow it until
the animal is too weak to carry on. This lizard species is threatened by
hunting, loss of prey species and habitat loss.
 (http://animal.discovery.com/reptiles/komodo-dragon)
 Passive & Active
Passive
1) The Komodo dragon's teeth are almost completely covered by its gums
2) This lizard species is threatened by hunting, loss of prey species and
habitat loss.

Active
The gums almost completely covers the Komodo dragon’s teeth.
Hunting, loss of prey species and habitat loss threats this lizard species.
 Other examples
KOMODO DRAGON
 Classified by: 1) its habitat; 2) its size; 3) its appearance; 4) its food; 4) its
way in eating: by using its blood to kill their enemy
 Report text is used to describe something to make classification and class
or sub class
 Report text is also used to differentiate something by comparing with the
other to generalize that certain thing has different characteristic with the
other things.
 Types of Conjunction
 Halliday and Hassan (1976) categorize the kinds of
conjunction as follows:
Conjunction Example
Additive And, or, also, in addition, furthermore, besides, similarly,
likewise, by contrast, for instance

Adversative/comp but, yet, however, instead, on the other hand,

arison nevertheless, at any rate, as a matter of fact;

Causal so, consequently, it follows, for, because, under

the circumstances, for this reason;

Temporal then, next, after that, on another occasion, in

conclusion, an hour later, finally, at last;

Continuative now, of course, well, anyway, surely, after all.

 General Overview of Factual Genre
 3. Recount  retell the past event to entertain the reader
 Report has social function to share the experience to the
the reader or hearer
 Structure:
 1) Orientation
 2) Chronological event
 3) Reorientation (optional)
 Grammatical Feature of Recount Text:
 1) Who does what in the past
 2) Past tense is dominantly used
 3) Material/action verb is dominantly used
 4) Temporal conjunction is dominantly used (when, then,
after)
 Continued...
 In retelling the detailed events in recount, the
stages must be structured, either using
sequenced events through times or using a
flashback technique to achieve the goal.
Example
 [[On Wednesday we went camping here at
school]]. We had chicken and chips at camp.
We sung songs around the camp fire and I
stayed the night.
 As well as providing an orientation, the above
recount sequences three events: 1) eating
dinner; 2) singing songs and 3) staying the
night.
 Other examples
Last Sunday, my friends and I decided to go to Orientation
Monas.
We went to Lenteng Agung station at 08.00. Sequence of Event
We caught the 9.30 train to Jakarta Kota E1: went to the Station
Station. When we got off at Juanda Station, we E2: arrived in Juanda Station
walked through the pedestrian bridge to get E3: walked through the JPO
Istiqlal Mosque to take a rest first. We walked E4: taking a rest in Istiqlal
to the museum and we saw an incidents when E5: walked to the Monas
we arrived in Monas. There was a child who E6: finding a child separated from
separated from his parents. He didn’t bring his parents
anything, including phone. Then we looked for E7: looking for security
the security in surrounding the area. After that, E8: announced by the officer
this incident was announced by officer of the E9: Gathering again
museum. Finally, the child could meet again E10: given souvenirs
with his parents after we waited for more than E11: Go home
two hours. Next, we were given some
souvenirs and money. Due to the day was
getting dark, we decided to go home. We
arrived home at 20.00
Little Analysis
 The story above is made based on real
experience by someone who has outing class
activity
 The main activity is going to Monas and there, a
writer tells some events that happen in
sequential
 The sequential events are drawn by using
temporal conjunction beginning from departing
until go home back.
Procedure
 Procedure is instructional
 Procedure is used to describe mechanism or
procedure in doing something structurally
 In retelling the procedures, it must be well-
ordered.
 The stages of the genre must be structured
through times. The participant must follow the
steps, unless the goal is not reached.
The Notion of Instruction
 Instruction: the act or action to provide
knowledge or information. Instruction specify the
actions necessary to achieve a particular result.
They express relations between actions. These
relations include method and purposes (The
British Council, 1979: 27)
 Instruction: an outline or manual of technical
procedure : DIRECTIONS (MERRIAM
WEBSTER DICTIONARY)
 Instruction: advice and information about
how to do or use something (Cambridge
Advance Dictionary)
Characteristic of Procedure
 A. Generic Structure
 Goal
 Steps
 B. Linguistic Feature
 1) Simple present tenses is dominantly used
 2) Action/material verb
 3) Imperative clause is dominant
 4) Mostly using passive voice (Be+V3)
 5) Participants: reader/hearer, doer is not
mentioned
 6) Using temporal conjunction
Temporal
 For example:
 1. My father is a farmer and my mother is a
teacher.
 2. I turn on the engine, pull the clutch, and go
away.
 Based on the example above, it can be known
that the conjunction in the first clause has
additive meaning and adding the description of
the quality or information. While the conjunction
in the second clause is temporal or sequential
meaning. .
First Aid to Heartstroke
Little Analysis
 In the example above, we know that the writer
provides at least 5 ways in using google meet
 Those ways can’t be done randomly, it means
that it must be orderly
 Temporal conjunctions are used not to build up
the ideas, but rather than to explain step by
step. While in exposition and discussion, it is
used for that.
Explanation
 Explanation explains how or why things work or
happen. It starts with general statement to
position readers, and is followed by a sequence
of explanation of processes
 Explains on something as a result of something
which had just occured previously and resulting
other ‘something’which will happen later
 Explanation relates with how things are as they
are or how things do as they do.
 Social function of explanation is used to explan
the process of something based on cause-effect
principle.
Explain VS Describe
 Ihwan explained how the machine worked.
Explain process oriented/procedural
Explain: to make something clear or easy to
understand by describing or giving information
about it
 Ihwan described the graphic in detail.
 Mr. Taslim described the painting in detail.

Describe  appearance oriented

Describe: to say or write what someone or
something is like
Characteristic of Explanation
 A. Generic Structure
 General Statement
 Sequence of Logical Reasons
 B. Linguistic Feature
 1) Simple present tenses is dominantly used,
sometimes can use simple past
 2) Action/material verb and relational (linking verb)
are dominant
 3) Mostly using passive voice to emphasize on main
theme which is spoken/written (in the beginning)
 5) Participants: general, not human
 6) Using temporal conjunction (first, then, next) and
causal (as, when, since, so, therefore)
 My mother sews the clothes and my brother
watches the television  describing quality
and/or adding quality of event
 I start the engine, pull the clutch, push the
pedal and go away. temporal conjunction
 The first thing that need to be emphasized is
using mask every we go out is a must to
reduce the Covid-19 transmission. Second,
avoid the crowded place. Then, wash your
hand every time you hold public place.
ordering the argument in reducing the
transmission of Covid-19 outbreak.
Characteristic of Explanation
 They are factual, and, therefore, do not contain
any argument. They tend not to describe
actions, but states, processes, qualities and
properties. (scientifically and socially)
 Temporal and causal conjunction are used to explain
cause-effect relationship.
 When and after are not used to denote timing but
rather than to denote and explain cause-effect
relationship
 Other conjunctions are cause, make, result in, lead
to.
Typical Structure of Explanation
 1) Introduction/General Statement
 What is it? Perhaps include a definition - taken
from a textbook, not a general dictionary.
 You may also include some indication of its
significance.
 2) Explanation
 Include a description of its history, properties,
functions, uses or how it works.
 This will be organized in some clear way: past to
present, top to bottom, left to right, outside to
inside, general to particular, etc.
Continued...
 3) Conclusion
 A summary or general statement,
 Include a comment on the significance or
importance of what you have explained; for
example, something about the future and its
broader relevance to society, economy, the
discipline, etc.
Continued...
 Explanations can begin in a number of
different ways. Typically, the introductory
section provides answers to one or more of
the following questions:
 Why is it popular or well known?
 Why is it important to study it?
 Common ways of indicating importance
and significance use the phrases:
 the -est
 the main …
 the most …
Example...
 The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami is perhaps
the best example of the devastating effect of
a strong tsunami. (good)...
 The Burj Khalifa in Dubai are currently the
world's tallest buildings. (tall)...
 Covid-19 is currently the widest outbreak
pandemic in the last a hundred year. (wide)...
Discussion
 Discussion, is used to present information and
arguments of a topical issue, and is followed by
recommendation based on the weight of
evidence. .