scholarly journals On Genre as Social Action, Uptake, and Modest Grand Theory

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
pp. 161-171
Author(s):  
Sune Auken
Keyword(s):  
Social Action ◽  
Central Place ◽  
Genre Studies ◽  
Grand Theory ◽  
Rhetorical Genre Studies ◽  
Special Place ◽  
Rhetorical Genre

Carolyn Miller’s (1984) “Genre as Social Action,” the primary topic—or target—of Anne Freadman’s brilliant and thought-provoking article, holds a special place in genre research. If I pick up an unknown piece of research on genre, the first thing I do is look for Miller’s article in the bibliography. If it is not there, the text in my hand will probably be of little of value to my work for lack of orientation. Moreover, as Freadman (2012) notes, convention in genre research suggests that when you mention the article, it is in good form to add a positive qualifier. It will often be framed as having “formative influence” (MacNeil, 2012), as a “landmark essay” (Feinberg, 2015), or as “seminal” (Andersen, 2008; Devitt, 2009a; Motta-Roth & Herbele, 2015; Møller, 2018; Paré, 2014; Tachino, 2012), “groundbreaking” (Bawarshi, 2000; Smart, 2003; Winsor, 2000), or “oft-cited” (Devitt, 2009b). More than just paying lip service to the greats in the field, adding this qualifier demonstrates that the author knows her way around Rhetorical Genre Studies and is mindful of Miller’s central place within it. This status as a classic text is in itself an example of the bidirectionality of uptake that holds a central place in Freadman’s work. “Genre as Social Action” could not be canonical when it was first published. A canon had to form, and the article’s central place within it had to be recognized by later researchers, before Miller’s text could be taken as oft-cited, seminal, or groundbreaking.

Toward a Rhetoric of Serious Game Genres

2010 ◽  
pp. 50-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lee Sherlock
Keyword(s):  
Social Action ◽  
Serious Games ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Rhetorical Theory ◽  
Serious Game ◽  
Genre Studies ◽  
Rhetorical Genre ◽  
Gaming Activity ◽  
Game Developers ◽  
Research And Design

This chapter examines the construction of serious game genre frameworks from a rhetorical perspective. The author argues that to understand the forms of persuasion, learning, and social action that serious games facilitate, perspectives on genre must be developed and applied that situate serious gaming activity within larger systems of discourse, meaning-making, and text circulation. The current disconnect between popular understandings of serious game genres and those expressed by serious game developers represents one instance where rhetorical genre studies can be applied to generate knowledge about the “genre work” that serious games perform. Advocating a notion of genre that seeks to identify forms of social action and the persuasive possibility spaces of gaming, the author concludes by synthesizing digital game-based formulations of genre with perspectives from rhetorical theory to suggest implications for serious game research and design.

scholarly journals Towads a hybrid approach to genre teaching: comparing the swiss and brazilian schools of socio-discursive interactionism and rhetorical genre studies

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-120
Author(s):  
Vera Lúcia Lopes Cristovão ◽  
Natasha Artemeva
Keyword(s):  
North American ◽  
Hybrid Approach ◽  
Genre Analysis ◽  
Genre Studies ◽  
Rhetorical Genre Studies ◽  
The Future ◽  
Rhetorical Genre ◽  
Key Features ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Theoretical Foundations

Theoretical foundations of the Swiss School of Socio-Discursive Interactionism (SDI), North American Rhetorical Genre Studies (RGS) and the Brazilian School of SDI are reviewed, compared, and contrasted, and the similarities and differences in their key features and perspectives on genre analysis and pedagogy are discussed. The Brazilian School of SDI is identified as an expansion of Swiss SDI. The reviewed approaches are shown to be somewhat complementary. The recommendations are made for the future hybrid use of the Brazilian School of SDI and RGS in pedagogical applications.

scholarly journals Networks, Genres, and Complex Wholes: Citizen Science and How We Act Together through Typified Text

2016 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashley Rose Kelly ◽  
Kate Maddalena
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Science ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Genre Studies ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Rhetorical Genre Studies ◽  
Nuclear Disaster ◽  
Rhetorical Genre ◽  
Nous Croyons ◽  
Fukushima Daiichi

This article explores the intersection of Rhetorical Genre Studies (RGS) and Actor-Network Theory (ANT). These two traditions are particularly important in the Canadian research context. We examine genre and ANT to uncover what we believe is a complementary relationship that promises much to the study of science, especially in the age of the internet. Specifically, we see RGS as a way to account for how objects come to “be” as complex wholes and so act across/among levels of network configurations. Moreover, the nature of these objects’ (instruments’) action is such that we may attribute them to a kind of rhetorical agency. We look to the InFORM Network’s grassroots, citizen science-oriented response to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster as a case that exemplifies how a combined RGS and ANT perspective can articulate the complex wholes of material/rhetorical networks.Cet article examine Rhetorical Genre Studies (RGS) et Actor-Network Theory (ANT). Ces deux modes d’étude sont importants dans les contextes de la recherche Canadienne. Nous prennons genre et ANT, pour retrouver une perspective que nous croyons puisse contribuer beaucoup aux études de la science dans l’âge de l’internet. On comprend les genres de textes comme une moyenne de rendre compte de la façon dont les objets deviennent des ensembles complexes et donc agir entre les différents niveaux de configuration réseau. En plus, la nature des actions de ces objets (ou instruments scientifique) est telle qu’on puisse attribuer a eux une sorte d’agence rhétorique. Nous voyons le citizen science reponse de l’InFORM Network a la disastre au Fukushima Daiichi comme une example de la puissance d’un perspectif RGS/ANT pour articuler les “entieres-complexes” des networks qui sont material/rhetorical au meme temps.

A Review of Genre Approaches within Linguistic Traditions

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wan Farah Wani Wan Fakhruddin ◽  
Hanita Hassan
Keyword(s):  
Social Action ◽  
English For Specific Purposes ◽  
Genre Studies ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Ethnographic Approach ◽  
The Social ◽  
Rhetorical Genre ◽  
Rhetorical Features ◽  
And Function ◽  
Linguistic Approach

This paper reviews three major approaches to genre analysis; Rhetorical Genre Studies (RGS), English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL). Based on the review, it is noted that RGS is an approach which regards genre as a form of social action involving analysis of genre through detailed accounts of the social and cultural contexts with an emphasis on how a genre fulfills its social purpose and actions. On the other hand, ESP is an approach which views genre as a communicative event characterised by their communicative purposes as well as rhetorical features where the discourse community acts as those which recognises and sanctions the acceptance of a genre. The final genre approach, which is SFL, perceives genre as the cultural purpose of texts, achieved through a genre’s structural and realisational patterns where meanings are made within the genre. Overall, the ESP and SFL approaches share fundamental view that linguistic features of texts are connected to social context and function. Thus both of the approaches take on a linguistic approach in describing genres. RGS, in contrast, investigates genres through the study of society in which genre is being used thus taking an ethnographic approach to analysis of genres. This paper concludes with a discussion on the concept of genre presented in the various approaches and the possible emergence of other approaches in the study of genre.

scholarly journals Genresignaturen. En retorisk nydannelse

2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (74) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob Ølgaard Nyboe
Keyword(s):  
Literary Work ◽  
Genre Studies ◽  
Rhetorical Genre Studies ◽  
Rhetorical Genre ◽  
Media Reception

Jacob Ølgaard Nyboe: “Genre Signature. A Rhetorical Neologism ”The article introduces the notion of genre signature defined as a creative, unique or deliberately misguiding genre label. It is argued that the genre signature holds a great rhetorical potential in negotiating the position as well as the interpretation of a literary work. The phenomenon is examined through analyses of contemporary Danish literature and is viewed in the context of Rhetorical Genre Studies (RGS), new literary tendencies and media reception.

scholarly journals Scenes from Graduate School: Playing in the Smooth Spaces of Academic Writing

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 57-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy Bray
Keyword(s):  
Graduate School ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Academic Work ◽  
Writing Studies ◽  
Genre Studies ◽  
Graduate Studies ◽  
Rhetorical Genre Studies ◽  
Rhetorical Genre ◽  
Academic Genres

In this essay, I describe how I have experienced difficulties writing in particular academic genres. Finding spaces to play in these genres has helped me to ease these difficulties and negotiate the conflicts and contradictions of the academy. To explore and explain innovative spaces within genres, I extend Deleuze and Guattari’s notion of smooth and striated spaces with work in rhetorical genre studies. I conclude that opening smooth spaces in striated academic genres is not only important for students like me but may also help us better respond to the changing realities of graduate studies and academic work in Canada. I offer some suggestions as to how writing studies scholarship could support these efforts.

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