Operationalization of genre as a categorizer of academic and professional texts: A review of construct validity in six landmark studies

Abstract

This study reviews the application of genre theory to the classification of texts in six landmark studies, specifically in relation to the issue of construct validity. The genre theories that the studies draw upon include: North American New Rhetoric (more recently termed Rhetorical Genre Studies), genre theory influenced by Systemic Functional Linguistics and the English for Specific Purposes approach. The operationalization of genre in each study is examined using a framework of knowledge categories drawn from the dual social genre/cognitive genre model of the author (Bruce, 2005, 2008b). The findings indicate that the central genre-identifying element in the reviewed studies is some form of schematic or move structure to account for the staging of content within texts. While some studies associate the schematic structure with contextual, socially-constructed knowledge, others attempt to relate its stages to what are seen as genre-characterizing, linguistic features. However, what appears to be lacking in the three theories is a comprehensive, integrated approach to account for the socially constructed, general rhetorical and linguistic elements of genre knowledge. The findings of this study emphasize the developing nature of genre theory and research, and appear to support the need for a multi-faceted approach to genre in order to operationalize adequately so complex a phenomenon.