Understanding Genre Theories and Practices

Critical Discourse Analysis (ENG 524)

• Zelling Harris first introduced Discourse Analysis (DA) in 1952.

• DA examines language beyond the sentence level, relationships between language and non-linguistic behavior, and patterns of language within texts.

• DA includes social and cultural contexts for texts.

• Aspects of DA include discourse as the social construction of reality, identity, performance, and intertextuality.

• Key assumptions of DA: language is ambiguous, always 'in the world', and inseparable from social identity.

• Language is always combined with tone of voice, facial expressions, gestures, fonts, layout, and graphics used.

• Meaning is the most important aspect of a text.

• The concept of genre in DA expands beyond simply examining the conventional structures of texts to considering what these structures reveal about the people who use them (and why).

• A genre is a recognizable communicative event characterized by a set of communicative purposes.

• Genres are communicative events with cohesive devices, structured in a conventional way, and including elements like summaries (at beginning) and details (later).

• Critical Discourse Studies (CDS) originated from Critical Linguistics (CL).

• CL emphasizes ideology and power relations in language use.

• CDS is practiced in a range of fields beyond language studies.

• CDA views discourse as socially determined.

• CDA is a type of discourse analytical research that primarily studies the abuse of social power, domination, and inequality enacted in text and talk.

• CDA assumes that language use is always social, and discourse reflects and constructs the social world.

• Scholars like Norman Fairclough, Ruth Wodak, and Teun van Dijk are key figures in CDA.

• Discourse-Historical Approach (DHA) is a prominent critical approach to discourse.

• DHA emphasizes the strong historical research interest of discourse analysis.

• Key figures in DHA developed it between 1987-1993 in Vienna.

• Four main features of the DHA: interdisciplinarity, historical alignment, teamwork, applying empirical findings.

• The DHA is particularly concerned with the historical dimensions of discourse concerning identity politics.

• CDA as a Method of Research examines texts to determine ways in which discourse consolidates power and colonizes people.

• CDA aims to identify hidden values and perspectives in texts and the role of discourse in social and cultural issues.

• CDA analyzes both verbal and nonverbal activities in texts.

• CDA involves a three-dimensional analysis of texts, including linguistic aspects, interdiscursive processes, and social and cultural reality.

• The Socio-Cultural Approach is a three-dimensional framework for analyzing text and discourse, encompassing text, discourse practice, and sociocultural practice.

• The Socio-Cognitive Approach examines social cognition and its relation between a text and society.

• CCDA (Cultural Critical Discourse Analysis) aims at exposing the ways cultural codes are embedded in discourse, arguing that discourse helps sustain social/political inequalities.

• CDA focuses on cultural aspects of texts.

• CCDA includes concepts like 'cultural memory', 'cultural narratives', 'cultural representation,' and 'cultural discourse analysis'.

• Cultural Codes and Discursive Strategies use methods from cultural studies, such as decoding codes, to expose symbolic annihilation of social objects.

• Critical Narrative Analysis (CNA) is a tool for re-articulating the status quo to a desired version within which identities acquire new positions.

• Collective Narrative is a narrative that forms a part of a group's identity, often driven by political interests.

• ‘War-Normalizing' and `Peace-Estrangement' strategies are examined through textual analysis.

• Strategies of normalization, abstraction & distancing are crucial to CDA.

• Discourse features such as euphemization, naturalization, and justification are included in Strategies of Normalization.

• Strategies of Abstraction (in the Israeli Peace-Estrangement discourse) are prominent.

• Distancing discourse (literal, conceptual, metaphorical) is another approach.

• Discourse is a form of social practice.

• Studies in CDA often delve into complexities and multifarious theoretical backgrounds.

• Discourse is about social problems and is historical.

This quiz explores key concepts in genre theory as discussed by scholars like Miller, Bhatia, and Devitt. It covers the definitions, typification, and teaching implications of genres in social and cultural contexts. Test your understanding of genre's role and its challenges in education.