Writing in and across Disciplines
GENRE ANALYSIS OF PHARMACY JOURNAL ARTICLES AND ITS APPLICATION TO EAP TEACHING
Jayne Parry
University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, UK
This presentation will summarise the results of a genre analysis of authentic texts in the field of Pharmacy employing an approach described by Bhatia (1993). The analysis focused on the structure of the texts and how cohesion was achieved. There were two main findings: firstly, that the articles described professional issues in the field of Pharmacy through the use of Introduction, Problem, Solution and Evaluation moves; secondly, it was discovered that there was a low frequency of linking words and phrases (LWP ) other than ‘and’. Therefore, it seemed that cohesion was implicit and achieved by cohesive devices, such as, the use of lexical (key word) repetition. To conclude, learning/teaching the essential moves utilised in the articles could empower Pharmacy students’ writing skills by linking these moves to a plan for the text structure in their essays. In addition, a learning/teaching focus on the use of cohesive devices other than LWP could improve cohesion in students’ writing in their field of study.
References
Bhatia, V.J. (1993) Analysing Genre: Language Use in Professional Settings. Harlow, England: Longman.