Move analysis

One of the requirements of genre identification is to be able to specify a set of shared communicative purposes, along with similar patterns of structure, style, content, and intended audience (Swales, 1990, p. 58). One of the central purposes for testimonies as stated above is to articulate God’s work in the lives of believers, both in terms of conversion and further spiritual transformation. Testimonies aid in the reinforcement of spiritual convictions held by a community (Long, 2004, p. 117), and they serve as a means of indexing one’s membership within the community: one’s ability to communicate how God has worked and continues to work in one’s life marks that person’s status of belonging. Along with purpose, Swales argued that exemplars of a genre could vary in their prototypicality (p. 49), which means variation among the structure, style, or content is possible. Yet there are constraints on

allowable contributions or variation in terms of content, positioning, and form (p. 52). In the case of testimonies, the context in which testimonies are shared matters, as Drury1 ₍₂₀₁₅₎ discussed in her exploration of adolescents and testimonies. With reference to the interviews I conducted, I served as both a representative member of the community and the intended audience for the testimonies I analyzed for this study.

I chose to apply Swales’ (1990) rhetorical move analysis model to the collected testimonies in order to identify their shared patterns. Another study that examined testimonies used the same method of analysis to determine the structure of conversion narratives among Christian Malaysians. Dumanig, David, and Dealwis (2011) identified six moves in the testimony narratives from their data, which were collected in a formal worship service and other church settings from adolescents and older adults: 1) introduction; 2) life before conversion; 3) process of conversion; 4) challenges after conversion; 5) differences after conversion; 6) concluding statement.

Through repeated reading and segmenting of the thirty-one transcripts from the first interview (Arrival), I identified five moves that differed in some ways from the other study:

Move 1: Family background Move 2: Process of conversion Move 3: Reflection on prior ignorance Move 4: Personal appropriation

1 _{Drury created a quadrant to illustrate a distinction between the different types and settings} of testimonies. These included formal, informal, spontaneous, and ordered. The testimonies in my data set correspond to her categories of informal and ordered – informal because they occurred in my office and not during a worship service, as well as ordered because they follow a similar pattern of moves described in this chapter.

Move 5: Change in behavior or attitude

In Move 1, participants explained their family background in terms of going to church or growing up in a Christian family. Participants then conveyed the story of their initial conversion to Christianity in Move 2. Move 3 involved their reflection on their ignorance about their faith in their young conversion. In Move 4, participants relayed their experience in which they personally appropriated their faith. Move 5 appeared to be optional, in which participants discussed a change in their behavior or attitude that reflected their faith.

There are several key differences between the testimonies from the study done by Dumanig et al. (2011) and the ones I collected for my study. First, the Malaysian Christians were recent converts, that is, they converted as adults (either younger or older), whereas the participants in my study experienced conversion in their childhood. Second, the data in the Dumanig et al. study were formal testimonies because they occurred in a formal church setting. The testimonies in my data can be categorized as informal because they were shared outside of a formal church setting (Drury, 2015, p. 153). Third, the moves differ in content: while the testimonies in the study of Dumanig et al. included challenges and changes in the speakers’ lives after conversion, the testimonies in my data included a reflection on how the speakers did not truly understand their early conversion and later embraced their faith with fuller knowledge and acceptance.

The following testimony from Haley illustrates these moves in a concise rendering of her conversion to Christianity and subsequent change and spiritual growth. I have underlined the most salient clauses for each move and italicized the relevant Christianese lexis, which I will discuss below. Names of participants and locations have been changed to preserve anonymity.

Move 1 (Prior to the question that led to this testimony, Haley had explained that she had grown up in the church because her parents were missionaries. Repeating this within her actual testimony narrative would be redundant.)

Move 2 When I was little, my dad told me about Jesus, so I accepted Him into my heart.

Move 3 But it didn’t really mean anything

Move 4 until I was in fifth grade. That’s when I first became aware of having a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. And that is about the time we moved to Southeast Asia, and I started attending Christian Academy. It’s a school for missionary kids.

Move 5 And there was when I first realized that this relationship required me to actually do things. (laughing) There was one time I was invited to an after- school program for middle schoolers even though I was a fifth grader. And when I went there, they were sharing their testimonies, and I was moved by that. So I started reading my Bible on a daily basis from then on and praying more regularly, and that really started my relationship with God, and since then I’ve been growing in that.

The family background in Move 1 had been covered in the previous question, but Move 2 demonstrates her young conversion. In Move 3, she explained her ignorance about her conversion until she was older. She identified the point in her life when she personally appropriated her faith in Move 4 and further explained how she changed her behavior in Move 5.