The following discussion investigates two approaches of teaching genre analysis, the textual and the contextual analysis, as advanced by Pang (2002).
2.6.1 The Textual Analysis
language-specific. The following grammatical structures are identified: theme, reference, lexical cohesion, and conjunction. The textual analysis is considered to be a traditional approach as it focuses on language features and textual organization. According to Pang, this means that the textual approach recognises and employs the lexico-grammatical features and discourse structures with the intention of outlining the major grammatical points and errors in student texts. Pang suggests that the textual analysis focuses on the text, rather than the context, and the social action that result from an awareness of the context. He maintains that this approach is based on the belief that a genre is produced as a result of rhetorical functions such as description, exposition, narration, and argumentation. All these functions are mode and text-oriented rather than being communicatively intent or instead of being field and tenor-based. As opposed to the textual analysis, Pang (2002) also introduces the contextual analysis.
2.6.2 Contextual Analysis
Pang (2002) defines the concept ‘context’ as referring to all non-linguistic and non-textual elements that contribute to the situation in which reading and writing are accomplished. This term is defined by Pang to function well in a genre-analysis that is situated or to be based on genre knowledge. Pang suggests that the genre knowledge has to be grounded in both the activities and the situation in which the text is produced. The knowledge activity referred to above includes the knowledge of the tools, methods, and interpretative framework used in a subject or workplace. The knowledge of situation refers to familiarity with the rhetorical and conceptual context. Pang proposes that the contextual analysis is directly opposed to the textual analysis. The distinction between the two is that the contextual analysis begins with the analysis of the topic outside the text itself. This implies that the analysis of the topic enables the students to identify the communicative intent or the speakers’ motive and other factors. Pang defines this way of analysis basing from the definition by Johns (1997) that the context is the sphere of human activities, and it allows both writers and readers to identify texts by name and their purpose and the reader and writer roles.
Pang refers to two researchers that present the use of the above two approaches of analysis in different perspectives. Holborow’s (1991) approach invokes the relevant and appropriate order of teaching that enables the learners to write in an appropriate register. Three elements have been incorporated in his program:
other different but related situations.
• The second element is predicting language from the situation.
• The third element is rewriting a text for a slightly different situation demanding a change in register.
Holborow’s proposed approach, according to Pang (2002), is explicitly based on the textual approach. This implies that the students have to infer the context from the text, as opposed to the contextual approach, that predicts textual features from the context. The context encourages students to write a new text based on different situation variables, instead of rewriting a text from a slightly different situation that requires a change in register.
The second author referred to by Pang (2002) is Ventola (1994), who supports the contextual analysis that emphasize the speakers’ intent. Pang claims that Ventola argues that a genre is a product of an interaction in a context. A genre is also established by the move structures that reinforce the intent of the writer. These move structures are the basic structural constituents of genre. Pang further defines genre as a dynamic event with interactants continuously engaged in negotiation of meaning through the use of register variables and moves. This approach does not ignore cultural differences; a film review is an example of a contextual genre. The reason for the choice of a film review is that it encompasses several modes of discourse, that is, it involves several text types such as:
• Narrative (that are found in the summary of the plot)
• Description (that is found in the orientation stage of the narrative)
• Factual Exposition (that is found in the background of the production and in the discussion of the director and actors.)
• Persuasion (that is found in the evaluation and coda of a narrative) • Evaluation
Accompanying these text types is a general method of analyses, which is proposed to allow learners to write in an authentic manner. The proposed method has three stages or activities that provide a guideline for the learners and they are as follows:
Activity 1: Learners have to write the chosen text without instruction.
Activity 3: An example of a genre is given to the learners. They have to retell the chosen genre and at the same time jotting down the main points. They have to discuss whether they like or not the genre, the characters, the meaning, the plot, the social and the cultural background of the narrative and discuss about the type of genre it belongs to.
In conclusion, all the above activities can be applied to other genre types of writing although there will be some variations. Pang’s two approaches, that is the textual and the contextual, can be integrated in order to draw valuable knowledge from both theories for the teaching of genre in the classroom.
2.7 TEXTS AND CONTEXTUAL LAYERS: ACADEMIC WRITING IN CONTENT