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