Genre studies

Genre studies is an academic subject which studies genre theory as a branch of general critical theory in several different fields, including the literary or artistic, linguistic, or rhetorical.

Literary genre studies is a structuralist approach to the study of genre and genre theory in literary theory, film theory, and other cultural theories. The study of a genre in this way examines the structural elements that combine in the telling of a story and finds patterns in collections of stories. When these elements (or semiotic codes) begin to carry inherent information, a genre emerges. In art history, genre theory considers the visual arts in a similar way.

Linguistic genre studies is best described by Systemic Functional Linguistics or "SFL", also known as the Sydney School of genre analysis. SFL scholars believe that language structure is an integral part of a text's social context and function. SFL scholars often conduct research that focuses on genres usefulness in pedagogy.

English for Specific Purposes or "ESP" is another school of literary genre studies that examines the pedagogical implications of genre. ESP scholars focus on how genre can help non-native English speakers, often in upper-level academic programs, learn how to use the language and its conventions through the application of genre.

Rhetorical Genre Studies or "RGS" studies genre as social action. RGS emerged from Carolyn R. Miller's article "Genre as Social Action".

Systemic functional linguistics scholars believe that language is organized within cultures based on cultural ideologies. The "systemic" of SFL refers to the system as a whole, in which linguistic choices are made. SFL is based largely on the work of Michael Halliday, who believed that individuals make linguistic choices based on the ideologies of the systems that those individuals inhabit. For Halliday, there is a "network of meanings" within a culture, that constitutes the "social semiotic" of that culture. This "social semiotic" is encoded and maintained by the discourse system of the culture. For Halliday, contexts in which texts are produced recur, in what he calls "situation types." People raised within a specific culture become accustomed to the "situation types" that occur within that culture, and are more easily able to maneuver through the "situation types" within that culture than people who were not brought up within it.

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