Interdiscursivity in Public Relations Communication: Appropriation of Genre and Genre Resources

<p>Undoubtedly, in recent years, the world as a whole, as well as the present world of work, has seen rapid changes which have served to bring about fundamental changes to work practices. Employees and trainers are thus facing greater challenges to achieve the required competency needed in this changing workplace environment. Bhatia (2013) observes that while the analyses of legal discourse have focused largely on ‘discursive practices’, very little effort has been given to studying ‘critical performance’ in professional legal practices, which is distinct from discursive practices. For this reason, this paper aims to show why discursive output has proved insufficient in the dynamic and complex discourse world of the present day workplace, as well as how the application of Critical Genre Analysis (CGA) greatly assists our understanding of it. By using critical genre theory, this paper looks more closely at interdiscursivity in public relations (PR) involving professional communication and how this in turn results in greater understanding of the changing workplace environment of the PR profession and helps individual PR practitioners cope with the challenges that they face. To achieve these aims, this study includes (i) in-depth interviews with public relations practitioners to gain their perceptions of their daily activities and the language and communication skills required by public relations practitioners to improve their effective professional communication, and (ii) critical genre analysis of the production of PR/communication plans, in particular, the Executive Summary and the Situation Analysis Section of the plans, to show the interaction between discursive and professional practices in the “socio-pragmatic space” of public relations contexts and how interdiscursivity is built into PR genres. For example, in order to examine the appropriation of genre and genre resources, it is interesting to consider: (i) in what way the Executive Summary of the PR/communication plans satisfies the requirements of sales promotional materials, and (ii) how in a very subtle manner, promotional elements are incorporated in the Situation Analysis Section, resulting in a mixed and embedded genre and discourse, achieving a mixture of communicative purposes in the communicative context: to report and to recommend communicative actions as well as to achieve ‘private intentions’ within the context of ‘socially recognized communicative purposes’ (Bhatia 2002).</p>

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English for Business Communication

Language Teaching ◽

10.1017/s0261444812000171 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 45 (4) ◽

pp. 410-445 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

Vijay K. Bhatia ◽

Stephen Bremner

Keyword(s):

State Of The Art ◽

Business Communication ◽

Genre Theory ◽

Professional Communication ◽

Genre Analysis ◽

Extensive Review ◽

Business English ◽

Business World ◽

Design And Implementation ◽

Gradual Shift

The concept of Business English has undergone some major shifts in the last few years because of a number of developments, such as advances in genre theory and the coming together of English for Business Purposes and Business Communication, inspired by the realization that there is a gap to be bridged between the academy and the globalized business world. Drawing on advances in the analysis of business discourses, especially in applied genre analysis, this state-of-the-art review revisits the frameworks currently used in English for Business Purposes and Business Communication (or, more generally, Professional Communication) to suggest an integration of the two approaches for the design of English for Business Communication (EBC) programmes. The study incorporates an extensive review of much of the relevant published work in all the three areas mentioned above to identify some of the main issues in EBC, and illustrates a gradual shift in the rationale for the design and implementation of EBC programmes.

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Do They Have What It Takes: A Review of the Literature on Knowledge, Competencies and Skills Necessary for 21st Century Public Relations Practitioners in Canada

Canadian Journal of Communication ◽

10.22230/cjc.2014v39n3a2775 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 39 (3) ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Terence (Terry) Flynn

Keyword(s):

Public Relations ◽

First Century ◽

Professional Communication ◽

Theory Building ◽

Review Of The Literature ◽

Public Relations Practitioners ◽

Symmetrical Model ◽

Il Y A ◽

The Media ◽

Knowledge Competencies

The practice and study of public relations in Canada has had a contested and conflicted history. Theory building and empirical research have been overshadowed by the dominant, American-centric, two-way symmetrical model that was proposed some 20 years ago. Further, there has been limited focus on the requisite competencies and skills necessary for contemporary public relations practitioners, despite the transformations in the media and professional communications fields in recent years. This study is situated and contextualized in the knowledge, competencies, and skills required for twenty-first-century professional communication workers. It also explores the specific requirements for current public relations practitioners.La pratique et l’étude des relations publiques au Canada ont eu une histoire difficile et pleine d’épreuves. La construction des théories et la recherche empirique ont été éclipsées par le modèle dominant, américano-américaines, bio-directionnelle proposé il y 20 ans. En plus, il y a eu un focus limité sur les compétences nécessaires pour les professionnels en relations publiques de nos jours, malgré les transformations dans les secteurs du média et la communication professionnelle dans les années récentes. Cette étude se situe dans le contexte des connaissances et compétences requises par les professionnels en communication au 21e siècle. Elle explore aussi les exigences particulières pour les professionnels en relations publiques de nos jours.

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Let’s talk about discourse analysis for health professional education: What, why and how

Focus on Health Professional Education A Multi-Professional Journal ◽

10.11157/fohpe.v21i2.470 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 21 (2) ◽

pp. 63-74

Author(s):

Robyn Woodward-Kron

Keyword(s):

Discourse Analysis ◽

Health Professional ◽

Professional Education ◽

Genre Theory ◽

Genre Analysis ◽

Health Professional Education ◽

Discursive Practices ◽

Professional Discourse ◽

Professional Educators ◽

Interactional Patterns

Much of healthcare is facilitated through interactive talk and writing: diagnosing, collaboratively making treatment decisions, conducting treatment, coordinating care, handing over care. For junior health professionals, learning the valued patterns of talk and writing—the discursive practices of healthcare—is part of becoming a health professional. Discourse analysis of texts, written and spoken, can make visible to health professional educators what the valued interactional patterns are and how junior members learn the discursive practices through interaction with more senior colleagues. It can also illuminate “troubles” in communication, such as barriers, power imbalances and misalignment. Doing discourse analysis requires an understanding of how texts work and a meaningful, systematic approach to representing and analysing data. This paper introduces genre theory, a form of discourse analysis that distinguishes between text types according to their social purpose and contextual variables, including what the text is about, who is involved and how the text is organised. This paper outlines some principles of genre analysis and practical “how to” guidelines. It also provides suggestions about how findings of genre analysis can inform teaching in health professional education.

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