Lecture Communication skill: Chapter 6 - Tracey Bretag, Joanna Crossman, Sarbari Bordia

Chapter 6
Writing genres
‘How we are expected to write
affects what we can write about.’

Copyright 2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia

1
6-1


Learning objectives
On completion of this chapter students will
know how to:
• identify key features of academic and
business texts
• recognise the difference between formal
and informal register
• use language appropriate to business
settings, taking into account issues of
power.

Copyright 2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia

2
6-2


What does ‘genre’ mean?

• ‘Genre’ means style, kind or type.
• Usually, ‘genre’ refers to a type of art or
literature.
• It can also refer to ways of speaking, types
of movies or plays, or any written document.
• In this context, ‘genre’ refers to the various
types of texts that students need to learn
and master.

Copyright 2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia

3
6-3


Academic genres
• The most common genre (type of text for
assessment) at Australian universities is the
essay.
• In business there are other genres which are
just as important:
– reports
– business letters
– email communication.

Copyright 2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia

4

6-4


Context and genre
• Factors that impact on genre:
–
–
–
–

context
situation
audience
purpose of the text.

• Consider each factor in relation to the essay
genre.
• Now think about the business context. How
is it different to the academic context?

Copyright 2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia

5
6-5


Business context
• Business reports written in workplace:
– audience = supervisor or ‘superior’

– usually someone with power
– much at stake for the organisation

• All documents have ‘regular, predictable
patterns of organisation’ (Swales & Feak
1994, p. 10).

Copyright 2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia

6
6-6


Activity 1
• See Activity 1 on pp 133–140 of your
textbook.
• Work in pairs.
• Divide your page into five columns with the
headings ‘personal email’, ‘business email’,
‘business letter’, ‘essay’ and ‘report’.
• Examine each text and identify the different
features. List the features of each text, using
the suggestions in the annotations and at
the bottom of the activity.
Copyright 2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia

7
6-7

Applying knowledge of
genres
• In your business studies you will need to
write in different genres, depending on the
course, assessment and preference of your
lecturers.
• Sometimes the genres will be ‘mixed’.
• Always be very clear about which genre is
expected before submitting work for
assessment.

Copyright 2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia

8
6-8


‘The vocabulary shift’
• Need to move from informal to formal writing
(academic and business contexts)
• Choice between verb + preposition or a
single verb (single verb is more formal).
• Example:
– The manager looked at the way tension builds
up during performance review meetings.
(less formal style)
– The manager investigated the way tension

develops during performance review meetings.
(more formal style)
Copyright 2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia

9
6-9


Activities 2 and 3
• Complete activities 2 and 3 on pp. 141–142
of your textbook.

Copyright 2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia

10
6-10


More advice on formality
• Avoid contractions (e.g. won’t = will not).
• Use the more appropriate formal negative
forms.
Example
– Do not write: The analysis didn’t yield any new results.
– Write: The analysis yielded no new results.

• Avoid run-on expressions such as ‘and so
forth’ and ‘etc’.

• Avoid using the first person ‘I’ and do not
address the reader as ‘you’. Focus on the
information rather than the writer or reader.
Copyright 2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia

11
6-11


More advice on formality
(cont.)

• Avoid asking rhetorical questions such as
‘What can be done?’
– Use statements instead, such as ‘X needs to be
considered’.

• Do not place adverbs at the beginning or
end of the sentence.
Examples
– Do not write: Then the solution can be
discarded.
– Write: The solution can then be discarded.
– Do not write: The profits have increased slowly.
– Write: The profits have slowly increased.
Copyright 2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia

12

6-12


Summary
• Different genres (texts) have distinct
requirements in terms of structure,
development, formality and acknowledgment
of sources.
• By learning and using the particular features
of texts, writers can produce easy-to-read
documents.
• The context, particularly the power relations
between the writer and receiver, affect the
formality of the document.
Copyright 2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia

13
6-13