If you want to know further about Genre, you can read the following table. Don't hesitate to ask questions if you get confused!
KIND OF TEXTS (GENRE)
| GENRE | SOCIAL FUNCTION | GENERIC STRUCTURE | SIGNIFICANT LEXICOGRAMMATICAL FEATURES |
| Recount | To retell events for the purpose of informing or entertaining | · Orientation : provides the setting and introduces participants · Events : tell what happened, in what sequence · Re-orientation: optional-closure of events | · Focus on specific Participant · Use of material processes · Circumstances of time and place · Use of past tense · Focus on temporal sequence |
| Report | To describe the way things are, with reference to a range of natural, man-made and social phenomena in our environment | · General classification : tell what the phenomenon under discussion is · Description tells what the phenomenon under discussion is like in terms of (1) parts, (2) qualities, (3) habits or behaviors, if living; uses, if non-natural | · Focus on Generic Participants · Use of Relational Processes to state what is and that which it is · Use of simple present tense (unless extinct) · No temporal sequence |
| Discussion | To present (at least) two points of view about an issue | · Issue : - Statement - Preview · Arguments for and against or statement of differing points of view - Points - Elaboration · Conclusion or recommendation | · Focus on generic human and generic non-human participants · Use of : - Material processes, e.g. has produced, have developed, to feed - Relational processes, e.g. is could have cause, are - Mental processes, e.g. feel · Use of comparative contrastive use of comparative contrastive and consequential conjunctions · Reasoning expressed as verbs or nouns (abstraction) |
| Explanation | To explain the processes involved in the formation or workings of natural or sociocultural phenomena | · A general statement to position the reader · A sequenced explanation of why or how something occurs | · Focus on generic, non-human participants · Use mainly of material and relational processes · Use mainly of temporal and causal circumstances and conjunctions · Some use of passive voice to get theme right |
| Exposition (Analytical) | To persuade the reader or listener that something’s the case | · Thesis Position : introduces topic and indicates writer’s position. Preview : outlines the main arguments to be presented · Arguments Points : restates main arguments outlined in preview. Elaboration : develops and supports each point/argument · Reiteration : restates writer’s position | · Focus on generic human and non human participants · Use of simple present tense · Use of relational processes · Use of internal conjunction to state argument · Reasoning through causal conjunction or nominalization |
| Exposition (Hortatory) | To persuade the reader or listener that something should or should not be the case | · Thesis : announcement of issue concern · Arguments: reasons for concern, leading to recommendation · Recommendation : statement of what ought or ought not to happen | · Focus on generic human and non human participants, except for speaker or writer referring to self. · Use of : - Mental Processes : to state what writer thinks or feels about issue, e.g. realize, feel, appreciate. - Material processes : to state what happens, e.g., is polluting, drive, travel, spend, should be treated - Relational processes : to state what is or should be, e.g., doesn’t seem to have been, is · Use of simple present tense |
| New Item | To inform readers, listeners or viewers about event of the day which are considered newsworthy or important | · Newsworthy event(s) : recounts the event in summary form · Background Events s: elaborate what happened, to whom, in what circumstances. · Sources : comments by participants in, witnesses to and authorities expert on the event | · Short, telegraphic information about story captured in headline · Use of Material Processes to retell the event (in the text below, many of the material processes are nominalised) · Use of projecting verbal processes in sources stage · Focus on circumstances (e.g. mostly within qualifiers) |
| Anecdote | To share with others an account of an unusual or amusing incident | · Abstract : signals the retelling of an unusual incident · Orientation : sets the scene · Crisis : provides details of the unusual incident · Reaction : reaction to crises · Coda : optional-reflection on or evaluation of the incident | · Use of exclamations, rhetorical questions and intensifiers (really, very, quite, etc) to point up the significance of the events · Use of material processes to tell what happened · Use of temporal conjunctions |
| Narrative | To amuse, entertain and to deal with actual or vicarious experience in different ways; Narratives deal with problematic events which lead to a crisis or turning point of some kind, which in turn finds a resolution | · Orientation : sets the scene and introduces the participants. · Evaluation : a stepping back to evaluate the plight · Complication : a crisis arises · Resolution : the crisis is resolved, for better or for worse · Re-orientation : optional | · Focus on specific and usually individualized participants · Use of material processes (and in this text, behavioral and verbal processes) · Use of relation processes and mental processes · Use of temporal conjunctions and temporal circumstances · Use of past tense |
| Procedure | To describe how something is accomplished through a sequence of actions or steps | · Goal · Materials (not required for all procedural texts) · Steps 1-n (i.e., Goal followed by a series of steps oriented to achieving the goal) | · Focus on generalized human agents · Use of simple present tense, often imperative · Use mainly of temporal conjunctions (or numbering to indicate sequence) · Use mainly of material processes |
| Description | To describe a particular person, place or thing | · Identification : identifies phenomenon to be described · Description : describes parts, qualities, characteristics | · Focus on specific participants · Use of attributive and identifying processes · Frequent use of Epithets and classifiers in nominal groups · Use of simple present tense |
| Review | To critique an art work, event for a public audience. Such works of art include movies, TV shows, books, plays, operas, recordings, exhibitions, concerts and ballets | · Orientation : places the work in its general and particular context, often by comparing it with others of its kind or through analogue with a non-art object or event. · Interpretive recount : summaries the plot and/or provides an account of how the reviewed rendition of the work came into being; is optional, but if present, often recursive · Evaluation : provides an evaluation of the work and/or its performance or production; is usually recursive · Evaluative summation : provides a kind of punch line which sums up the reviewer’s opinion of the art event as a whole; is optional | · Focus on particular participants · Direct expression of options through use of Attitudinal Epithets in nominal groups; qualitative attributes and effective mental processes · Use of elaborating and extending clause and group complexes to package the information · Use of metaphorical language (e.g. the wit was there, dexterously ping ponged to and fro…). |
