Investigation #4 Genres and Generic Conventions

In this investigation, I will look into a formal internal email message of my site. The different moves of the text will first be identified and the generic conventions will also be analyzed to see how they constitute the 'discourse community'.

In the chosen text of a formal internal email message, a 'move structure'can be identified and applied to most of the other formal internal messages of this company. As reflected in the attached text, the first move of the message is to give a clear subject line which can effectively summarize the whole message; the second move is to salute, followed by the third but the first most important move of this text, that is to state the purpose of this email with two sub-moves: i)listing enclosure and ii)inviting consideration. The fourth move is to provide detailed information of the teaching schedule and the fifth move is to request for confirmation. What coming next is the sixth move asking for the exact date and time for the next meeting and the seventh, which is to give contact information. The eighth move is to thank, followed by the closing with additional contact details.

As compared to other internal email messages, it is shown that these messages share a stable sequencing and structure (please refer to attached text 2). Certain compulsory moves such as giving a subject line, salutation, stating purpose, providing contact detail, thanking and closing with additional contact information are strictly followed. A 'discourse community' is formed, given that the members all share the knowledge that this is an official message.

This internal email message also signals membership. For instance, the teaching schedule provided in the email message has included the course codes for the assigned teaching classes. These course codes can be seen as 'discriminary' since only members of the site know how to interprete the code, for example, CW stands for Comprehension and Writing as well as the difference between * and non-* class.

In addition, by sending this message the sender has projected the identity of employees to the receivers; and by replying or confirming the message the recipents have agreed on the identity of employees.

We can conclude from the previous analysis that this formal internal email message has built the reality of 'who' the readers are and 'what' they have to do. With the cultural competence of this genre, members of this sites have formed a 'discourse community' sharing communicative goals and knowledge of the sent messages.


Attached text 1


Attached text 2

Investigation #3 Analyzing a Speech Event

Among all the speech events of company meeting, I choose to investigate one of the most significant event- consultation of curriculum, with reference to Hymes's SPEAKING model. Some consequences of certain 'marked' behavior and the different kinds of cultural competencies will also be covered as this investigation goes along.

As for the setting and scene, the consultation of curriculum meeting of the language centre that I am working in takes place once in a semester. It is usually held in the conference room at a designated time during weekdays when there are no students come for class. All the staff sit around the table, with the principal and panels sit closely together. This meeting is agreed to be formal but everyone is free to give opinions.

The ratified participants of this activity include the principal, panels, academic officers and senior teaching staff. Part-time tutors and customer service officers in this case are the unratified participants who are expected to be present but do not have much opportunity to speak.

The ends of this meeting vary for different participants. For the higher power ones such as the principal and panels, their purpose is to elicit more opinions for curriculum modification; but for the ones with lower power, the underlying purpose for them to come might be to show that they are participative in the company.

The meeting starts off by the panel introducing the agender and inviting everyone to give opinions and recommendation. Then, the senior teaching staff usually take the turn to express their thought. The academic officers do speak up sometimes but their speech is relatively shorter. At the end of the meeting, part-time tutors and customer service officers are invited to add opinions. Surprisingly, the principal is the last to speak in the activity rounding up the whole meeting and thanking everyone for their contribution. When I first came to this company, I thought the panel was too aggressive that she took the role of the principal to start off the meeting. My new workmates and I dared not speak up as we thought we had to let the principal talk first until we were taught that the principal only speaks up at the end of the meeting. That is because she doesn't want to interrupt the meeting and she wants everyone to throw their ideas freely. In this case, every member got to know the sequence of the acts so that they know when to speak up and express their ideas at the right time.

The key of the meeting is known to be formal, however, no one is expected to wear formal dressing and cantonese is acceptable even though it is an English language school. People who are in formal dressing and speak in a serious tone will be seen as a distant outsider. The company always encourages a casual and friendly atmosphere for meeting so that everyone will feel free to speak up.

As for instrumentalities, the knowledge of the curriculum and students’ performance are the most crucial cultural tools for this meeting to go smoothly and effectively.

The most interesting norm that I observed in the meeting is to say thank you for more than two times every time when a person takes the turn to speak. At first, I would think it was too pretentious but then people are so comfortable with this and if someone forgot to thank others, s/he will be seen as a disrespectful person.

I would say this meeting is a mixed genre of company meeting and forum. Every member can speak for themselves in a casual way but still, the unstated norms of the meeting are anticipated to be followed.

After analyzing the meeting by Hymes's SPEAKING model, it is reflected that cultural competencies are necessary for avoiding ‘marked’ behaviors and are helpful to generate more effective in-group communication.