1887
Volume 20, Issue 4
  • ISSN 1384-6655
  • E-ISSN: 1569-9811
USD
Buy:$35.00 + Taxes

Abstract

This paper focuses on the identification of academic written genres from two corpora of reading material in Spanish that undergraduate and graduate university students are assigned in order to access specialized information across seven disciplines, namely Biotechnology, Chemistry, Economics, History, Linguistics, Literature and Physics. A group of 31 genres were identified across the discourses of the disciplines under study. Among the most frequent genres, “Textbook”, “Research Article”, and “Disciplinary Text”, were identified. Contrasting reading material, the importance of the “Research Article” is highly relevant, as it was the only genre that emerged in all seven disciplines. What I am proposing is that, regarding generic variation, there are clear-cut differences in the academic discourse of disciplines pertaining to Social Sciences and Humanities (SS&H) and Basic Sciences (BS), as it has been initially proposed (Parodi 2010a, 2014). However, the findings show that Economics academic discourse is closer to BS in terms of genre constitution.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/ijcl.20.4.03par
2015-12-30
2024-10-13
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Alcaraz, E. , Mateo, J. , & Yus, F
    (Eds.) (2007) Las Lenguas Profesionales y Académicas. Barcelona, Spain: Ariel.
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Balak, B
    (2006) McCloskey’s Rhetoric: Discourse Ethics and Economics. London, UK: Routledge.
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Bazerman, Ch
    (1994) The Informed Writer: Using Sources in the Disciplines. New York, NY: HMH.
    [Google Scholar]
  4. (2012, June). A genre based theory of literate action. Paper presented at the International Conference Rethinking Genre 20 Years Later , Ottawa, Canada.
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Bazerman, Ch. , Bonini, A. , & Figueiredo, D
    (Eds.) (2009) Genre in a Changing World. Los Angeles, CA: The Clearing House & Parlor Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Bazerman, Ch. , & Paradis, J
    (1991) Introduction. In Ch. Bazerman & J. Paradis , Textual Dynamics of the Professions (pp. 3–10). Madison, WI: The University of Wisconsin Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Bhatia, V
    (2002) Applied genre analysis: Analytical advances and pedagogical procedures. In A. Johns (Ed.), Genre in the Classroom (pp. 279–283). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
    [Google Scholar]
  8. (2004) Worlds of Written Discourse. A Genre-based View. Sydney, Australia: Continuum.
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Bathia, V
    (2012a, June). Critical genre analysis. Paper presented at the International Conference Rethinking Genre 20 Years Later , Ottawa, Canada.
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Bhatia, V
    (2012b) Critical reflexions on genre analisys. Ibérica, 24, 17–28.
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Biber, D
    (1988) Variation across Speech and Writing. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/CBO9780511621024
    https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511621024 [Google Scholar]
  12. (2005) Representativeness in corpus design. In G. Samson & D. McCarthy (Eds.), Corpus Linguistics: Reading in a Widening Discipline (pp. 174–197). London, UK: Continuum.
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Biber, D. , Connor, U. , & Upton, J
    (2007) Discourse on the Move. Using Corpus Analysis to Describe Discourse Structure. Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins. doi: 10.1075/scl.28
    https://doi.org/10.1075/scl.28 [Google Scholar]
  14. Bolívar, A. , & Parodi, G
    (2015) Academic and professional discourse. In M. Lacorte (Ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Hispanic Applied Linguistics (pp.459–476). New York, NY: Roudledge.
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Bondi, M
    (1996a) World of fact and world of hypothesis in Economics textbooks. In V. Negri Zamagni (Ed.), Annale 1994/1995 (pp. 341–354). Cesena, Italy: Società Editrice Il Ponte Vecchio.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. (1996b) Language variations across genres. Quantifiers and worlds of reference in (and around) economics textbooks. Asp (Anglais de Specialité), 2, 24–47.
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Boudon, E. , & Parodi, G
    (2014) Artefactos multisemióticos y discurso académico de la Economía: Construcción de conocimientos en el género Manual. Revista Signos. Estudios de Lingüística, 47(85), 164–195.
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Burdiles, G
    (2012) Descripción de la organización retórica del género Caso Clínico de la medicina a partir del Corpus CCM-2009 (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Valparaíso, Chile.
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Christie, F. , & Maton, K
    (Eds.) (2011) Disciplinarity: Functional Linguistics and Sociological Perspectives. London, UK: Continuum.
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Cooper, A. , & Bikowski, D
    (2007) Writing at the graduate level: What tasks do professors actually require?Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 6(3), 206–221. doi: 10.1016/j.jeap.2007.09.008
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2007.09.008 [Google Scholar]
  21. Egbert, J
    (2015) Publication type and discipline variation in published academic writing. Investigation statistical interaction in corpus data. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 20(1), 1–29. doi: 10.1075/ijcl.20.1.01egb
    https://doi.org/10.1075/ijcl.20.1.01egb [Google Scholar]
  22. Freedman, A. , & Medway, P
    (Eds.) (1994) Genre and the New Rhetoric. London, UK: Taylor & Francis.
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Ganobcsik-Williams, L
    (2004) A Report on the Teaching of Academic Writing in UK Higher Education. London, UK: Royal Literary Fund.
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Gardner, S. , & Nesi, H
    (2013) A classification of genre families in university writing. Applied Linguistics, 34(1), 25–52. doi: 10.1093/applin/ams024
    https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/ams024 [Google Scholar]
  25. Graves, R. , Hyland, T. , & Samuels, B
    (2010) Undergraduate writing assignments: An analysis of syllabi at one Canadian college. Written Communication, 27(3), 293–317. doi: 10.1177/0741088310371635
    https://doi.org/10.1177/0741088310371635 [Google Scholar]
  26. Goldschmidt, N. , & Szmrecsanyi, B
    (2007) What do economists talk about? A linguistic analysis of published writing in economic journals. American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 66(2), 335–378. doi: 10.1111/j.1536‑7150.2007.00514.x
    https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1536-7150.2007.00514.x [Google Scholar]
  27. Halliday, M. , & Matthiessen, C
    (2006) Construing Experience through Meaning: A Language-based Approach to Cognition. London, UK: Continuum.
    [Google Scholar]
  28. Handford, M
    (2010) What can a corpus tell us about specialist genres?In A. O’Keeffe & M. McCarthy (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Corpus Linguistics (pp. 255–269). London, UK: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9780203856949.ch19
    https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203856949.ch19 [Google Scholar]
  29. Hasan, R
    (1996) The nursery tale as a genre. In C. Cloran , D. Butt & G. Williams (Eds.), Ways of Saying. Ways of Meaning (pp. 156–187). London, UK: Cassell.
    [Google Scholar]
  30. Henderson, W. , Dudley-Evans, A. , & Backhouse, R
    (Eds.) (1993) Economics as Language. London, UK: Routledge.
    [Google Scholar]
  31. Hyland, K. , & Bondi, M
    (Eds.) (2006) Academic Discourse across Disciplines. Frankfurt, Germany: Peter Lang.
    [Google Scholar]
  32. Hyon, S
    (1996) Genre in three traditions: Implications for ESL. TESOL Quarterly, 30(4), 693–722. doi: 10.2307/3587930
    https://doi.org/10.2307/3587930 [Google Scholar]
  33. Ibáñez, R
    (2010) Disciplinary text genre as a means for accessing disciplinary knowledge: A study from genre analysis perspective. In G. Parodi (Ed.), Academic and Professional Discourse Genres in Spanish (pp.189–212). Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins. doi: 10.1075/scl.40.14iba
    https://doi.org/10.1075/scl.40.14iba [Google Scholar]
  34. Jarpa, M
    (2012) Macrogénero académico evaluativo: Descripción retórica-estructural en la comunidad de aprendizaje de Postgrado en Biotecnología (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Valparaíso, Chile.
    [Google Scholar]
  35. Johns, A
    (Ed.) (2002) Genre in the Classroom. Multiple Perspectives. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
    [Google Scholar]
  36. Klamer, A
    (1990) The textbook presentation of economics discourse. In W. Samuels (Ed.), Economics as Discourse (pp. 129–154). London, UK: Kluwer. doi: 10.1007/978‑94‑017‑1377‑1_5
    https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-1377-1_5 [Google Scholar]
  37. Maci, S. , & Sala, M
    (Eds.) (2012) Genre Variation in Academic Communication. Emerging Disciplinary Trends. Bergamo, Italy: CELSB Libreria Universitaria.
    [Google Scholar]
  38. Martin, J
    (1992) English Text. System and Structure. Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins. doi: 10.1075/z.59
    https://doi.org/10.1075/z.59 [Google Scholar]
  39. Martin, J. , & Rose, D
    (2008) Genre Relations. Mapping Culture. London, UK: Equinox.
    [Google Scholar]
  40. Martin, J. , & Veel, R
    (Eds.) (1998) Reading Science. Critical and Functional Perspective on Discourses of Science. London, UK: Routledge.
    [Google Scholar]
  41. Martínez, J.D
    (2012) Descripción y variación retórico-funcional del género Tesis Doctoral: Un análisis desde dos disciplinas y dos comunidades discursivas a partir del Corpus Te DiCE-2010 (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Valparaíso, Chile.
    [Google Scholar]
  42. Martínez, J.M
    (2009) El léxico del español de los negocios. Investigaciones Lingüísticas en el SigloXXI, 169–187.
    [Google Scholar]
  43. Matthiessen, C
    (1995) Lexicogrammatical Cartography: English Systems. Tokyo, Japan: International Language Sciences Publishers.
    [Google Scholar]
  44. McCloskey, D
    (1983) The rhetoric of Economics. Journal of Economic Literature, 31(2), 482–504.
    [Google Scholar]
  45. (1985) The Rhetoric of Economics. Madison, WS: University of Wisconsin Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  46. (1994) Knowledge and Persuasion in Economics. Cambridge, UK: CUP. doi: 10.1017/CBO9780511599347
    https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511599347 [Google Scholar]
  47. Miller, D. , & Biber, D
    (2015) Evaluating reliability in quantitative vocabulary studies. The influence of corpus design and composition. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 20(1), 30–53. doi: 10.1075/ijcl.20.1.02mil
    https://doi.org/10.1075/ijcl.20.1.02mil [Google Scholar]
  48. Mosini, V
    (2011) Reassessing the Paradigm of Economics: Bringing Positive Economics Back into the Normative Framework. London, UK: Routledge.
    [Google Scholar]
  49. Paltridge, B
    (2002) Genre, text type, and the English for Academic Purposes. In A. Johns (Ed.), Genre in the Classroom (pp. 73–90). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
    [Google Scholar]
  50. Parodi, G
    (2005) Lingüística de corpus y análisis multidimensional: Exploración de la variación en el Corpus PUCV-2003. In G. Parodi (Ed.), Discurso Especializado e Instituciones Formadoras (pp. 83–126). Valparaíso, Chile: EUV.
    [Google Scholar]
  51. (2007) Variation across register in Spanish: Exploring the El Grial PUCV Corpus. In G. Parodi (Ed.), Working with Spanish Corpora (pp. 11–53). London, UK: Continuum.
    [Google Scholar]
  52. (Ed.) (2010a) Academic and Professional Discourse Genres in Spanish. Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins. doi: 10.1075/scl.40
    https://doi.org/10.1075/scl.40 [Google Scholar]
  53. (2010b) University academic genres: A miscellaneous discourse. In G. Parodi (Ed.), Academic and Professional Discourse Genres in Spanish (pp. 83–100). Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins. doi: 10.1075/scl.40.09par
    https://doi.org/10.1075/scl.40.09par [Google Scholar]
  54. (2010c) Written discourse genres: Towards an integral conception from a sociocognitive perspective. In G. Parodi (Ed.), Academic and Professional Discourse Genres in Spanish (pp. 17–36). Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins. doi: 10.1075/scl.40.06par
    https://doi.org/10.1075/scl.40.06par [Google Scholar]
  55. (2010d) The Textbook genre and its rhetorical organisation across four scientific disciplines: Between abstraction and concreteness. In G. Parodi (Ed.), Academic and Professional Discourse Genres in Spanish (pp. 171–188). Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins. doi: 10.1075/scl.40.13par
    https://doi.org/10.1075/scl.40.13par [Google Scholar]
  56. (2011) The rhetorical organisation of the Textbook genre across disciplines: A “colony-in-loops”?Discourse Studies, 12(1), 195–222. doi: 10.1177/1461445609356500
    https://doi.org/10.1177/1461445609356500 [Google Scholar]
  57. (2012a) ¿Qué se lee en los estudios doctorales?: Estudio empírico basado en géneros a través del discurso académico de seis disciplinas. Revista de Linguistica Teórica y Aplicada, 50(2), 89–119. doi: 10.4067/S0718‑48832012000200005
    https://doi.org/10.4067/S0718-48832012000200005 [Google Scholar]
  58. (2012b) University genres and multisemiotic features: Accesing specialized knowledge through disciplinarity. Fórum Linguístico, 9(4), 259–282. doi: 10.5007/1984‑8412.2012v9n4p259
    https://doi.org/10.5007/1984-8412.2012v9n4p259 [Google Scholar]
  59. (2014) Genre organisation in specialised discourse: Disciplinary variation across university textbooks. Discourse Studies, 16(1), 65–87. doi: 10.1177/1461445613496355
    https://doi.org/10.1177/1461445613496355 [Google Scholar]
  60. Parodi, G. , Boudon, E. , & Julio, C
    (2014) La organización retórica del género Manual de Economía: Un discurso en tránsito disciplinar. Revista de Lingüística Teórica y Aplicada, 52(2), 133–163. doi: 10.4067/S0718‑48832014000200007
    https://doi.org/10.4067/S0718-48832014000200007 [Google Scholar]
  61. Parodi, G. , & Burdiles, G
    (2013, November). El pronombre ELLO como mecanismo encapsulador en el discurso académico de la Economía: función gramatical y referencia textual. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Sociedad Chilena de Lingüística (SOCHIL) , Concepción, Chile.
    [Google Scholar]
  62. (Eds.) (2015) Leer y Escribir en Contextos Académicos y Profesionales. Géneros, Corpus y Métodos. Santiago de Chile, Chile: Ariel.
    [Google Scholar]
  63. Parodi, G. , & Gramajo, A
    (2007) Technical-professional discourses: Specialized and dissemination text types. In G. Parodi (Ed.), Working with Spanish Corpora (pp. 145–172). London, UK: Continuum.
    [Google Scholar]
  64. Parodi, G. , Ibáñez, R. , & Venegas, R
    (2010) Discourse genres in PUCV-2006 Academic and Professional Corpus of Spanish: Criteria, definitions, and examples. In G. Parodi (Ed.), Academic and Professional Discourse Genres in Spanish (pp. 37–64). Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins. doi: 10.1075/scl.40.07par
    https://doi.org/10.1075/scl.40.07par [Google Scholar]
  65. Sinclair, J
    (2005) Corpus creation. In G. Sampson & D. McCarthy (Eds.), Corpus Linguistics: Readings in a Widening Discipline (pp. 78–84). London, UK: Continuum.
    [Google Scholar]
  66. Stagnaro, D
    (2011, November). ¿Qué analizan los economistas?: Exploración del proceso “analizar” en artículos de Desarrollo Económico del período 2000-2010 . Paper presented at XII Congreso Internacional de la Sociedad Argentina de Lingüística , Santa Fé, Argentina.
    [Google Scholar]
  67. (2012, July). Negociación interpersonal en las conclusiones del artículo de investigación de economía: Exploración de los recursos expresivos del compromiso frente a las propuestas . Paper presented at the XIII Congreso de la Sociedad Argentina de Lingüística , San Luis, Argentina.
    [Google Scholar]
  68. Swales, J
    (1990) Genre Analysis. English in Academic and Research Settings. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  69. (2004) Research Genres: Exploration and Applications. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/CBO9781139524827
    https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139524827 [Google Scholar]
  70. (2009) Worlds of genre-Metaphors of genre. In Ch. Bazerman , A. Bonini & D. Figueiredo (Eds.), Genre in a Changing World (pp. 3–16). Los Angeles, CA: The Clearing House & Parlor Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  71. (2012, June). Texts and commentaries: Toward a reception study of “Genre Tradition” (Hyon, 1996) . Paper presented at the International Conference Rethinking Genre 20 Years Later , Ottawa, Canada.
    [Google Scholar]
  72. Tognini-Bonelli, E
    (2001) Corpus Linguistics at Work. Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins. doi: 10.1075/scl.6
    https://doi.org/10.1075/scl.6 [Google Scholar]
  73. van Dijk, T
    (1977) Text and Context. London, UK: Longman
    [Google Scholar]
  74. Zhu, W
    (2004) Writing in business courses: An analysis of assignments types, their characteristics, and the required skills. English for Specific Purposes, 1(2), 11–135.
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1075/ijcl.20.4.03par
Loading
  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): academic discourse; discipline; discourse genre; university studies; written language
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error