Genre analysis

Genre analysis is the key area of expertise that EAP teachers have, and subject specialists do not (they have genre knowledge but not analytically). The chapter looks at the characteristics of genres as established outside applied linguistics in relation to how EAP researchers have viewed the concept. Then it looks at a variety of ways in which genres in EAP genres can be classified: subdomain (educational, research, institutional); degree of occlusion; degree of dependence on other genres; and degree of genrification. Genres have relations with other genres of a variety of types: diachronic when old genres give birth to new; intrapersonal, when an individual knows several genres and they influence one another; paradigmatic where genres in different domains have similar functions; syntagmatic, where genres presuppose others in long chains; and hierarchy where within a field some genres have higher status than others. Finally, the chapter examines the methods that can be used to analyze genres.