Discourse Analysis: Genre

Assalamualaikum and greetings dear readers,

It is hard to brush off the importance of studying the concept of genre as we dig into Discourse Analysis. LinguaLinks defines genre or text genre as a type of written or spoken discourse. In which case, the type of a particular text depends of the intent of the communicator. So whenever a writer constructs a text, you may want to describe it as a text with a certain genre either narrative, procedural, expository, hortatory or descriptive.

Now, we would like to share with you some texts with with different genres.

Narrative text.

A narrative text by default contains an account of events. This genre is usually synonymous to that of stories found in novels. The following example is an extract taken from Bronte's Jane Eyre.

Procedural text.

One of the best examples of a procedural text is a recipe. Apart from a list of ingredients as a guideline for the readers, it is mandatory for a recipe to contain a list of methods as to how these ingredients would be put together as one. The following is an example taken from this source:

Expository text.

An expository text is a text that explains about something. This is rather common in the academic world for an expository text is very much related to the research and academic articles published in journals and books. You may also find expository texts in newspapers and other periodicals in which writers present ideas regarding certain issues and topics. The image below illustrates an example of expository text taken from this page.

Hortatory text.

A hortatory text seeks to persuade readers into believing the messages of information put forth in the text. This particular genre of text often overlaps with expository text because in order for a writer to persuade his or her readers, the need for providing sufficient information is necessary. Hortatory text usually comes with the help of visual aids like images, graphics or illustrations as in the following example. This site provides better understanding of this particular text genre. This example is a hortatory text that explores the harms of smoking. 

Descriptive text.

A descriptive text may as well be a narrative text especially in a story that narrates a situation or a scene with detailed descriptions. However, just to provide you with a clear example of a descriptive text, the following image should help. The key points in constructing a a good descriptive text is the right word choice paired with the right visual aids. The challenge in constructing a descriptive text lies in the fact that a simple word may bring about a different nuance to the whole text.  This example shows how important the choice of words is in depicting the real sceneries of the tourist attractions. A writer cannot provide a lengthy essay in a travel hence he or she must make full use of the space to attract tourists' interest instantly. 

In a nutshell, the knowledge of genre differences is vital in order to construct an effective text for the readers. As much as how the information intended by the author should be put as a necessary element, the knowledge of the readers must also put into serious consideration. Note also that an effective text does not exist with the help of words alone for the importance of visual images must not be put aside.

In the next post, Wisdom Waraqah will share with you an example of a text that we had constructed as part of the assessments in the course Discourse Analysis. Till then, salam.