Texts used in a particular situation for a particular purpose may be classified using

every-day Iabels such as a guidebook, a

nursery rhyme, a poem, a business letter, a

newspaper article, a radio play, an

advertisement, etc. Such categories are re-

ferred to as genres (TROSBORG, 1997, p. 4).

Genre refers to abstract, socially recognised ways of using language. It is based on the

idea that members of a community usually

have little difficulty in recognising

similarities in the texts they use frequently

and are able to draw on their repeated

experiences with such texts to read,

understand, and perhaps write them

relatively easily (HYLAND, 2007, p. 149).

How do genres relate to register and text types? How is one genre to be identified and

distinguished from other genres? Are the

defining criteria text-internal, or is the

classification based on text-external criteria,

or both? [...] What are the characteristics of

specific genres? Do these characteristics

differ cross-culturally and if so in what

ways? (TROSBORG, 1997, p. 1)

The category of register is postulated to account for what people do with their

language. When we observe language activity

in the various contexts in which it takes

place, we find differences in the type of

language selected as appropriate to different

types of situation (Halliday et al. apud TROSBORG, 1997, p 4).

The language of religion

The language of legal documents

The language of newspaper reporting

Medical language

Technical language

Register constraints operate at the linguistic

level of vocabulary and syntax.

Genre constraints operate at the level of

discourse structure: specific conditions for

beginning, structuring and ending a text.

Description: differentiation and interrelation of perceptions in spacen.

Narration: differentiation and interrelation of perceptions in time.

Exposition: comprehension of general concepts through differentiation by Analysis and/or synthesis.

Argumentation: evaluation of relations between and among concepts through the extraction of similarities, contrasts, and transformations.

Instruction: planning of future behaviour.

A note:

This is just to say I have eaten the plums that were in the icebox and which you were probably saving for breakfast. Forgive me, they were delicious: so sweet and so cold.

A translation:

Este bilhete s para lhe dizer que comi as ameixas que estavam na geladeira e que provavelmente voc estava guardando para o caf da manh. Desculpe-me, mas elas estavam deliciosas: to doces e geladas.

I have eaten

the plums

that were in

the icebox

and which

you were probably

saving

for breakfast

Forgive me

they were delicious

so sweet

and so cold

How do genres relate to register and text types? How is one genre to be identified and

distinguished from other genres? Are the

defining criteria text-internal, or is the clas-

sification based on text-external criteria, or

both? [...] What are the characteristics of

specific genres? Do these characteristics

differ cross-culturally and if so in what

ways? (TROSBORG, 1997, p. 1)

Genre pedagogies promise very real benefits for learners as they pull together

language, content, and contexts, while

offering teachers a means of presenting

students with explicit and systematic

explanations of the ways writing works to

communicate (CHRISTIE, MARTIN 1997 apud HYLAND 2007, p. 150).

A genre-based writing instruction offers students an explicit understanding of how target texts are structured and why they are written in the ways they are.

The exploration of texts and contexts through genre teaching helps learners to see how grammar and vocabulary choices create meanings and to understand how language works and its role in texts

The function of the genre must be understood from the perspective of the composer/translator who must draw upon knowledge of register and genre to perform effectively (TROSBORG, 1997, p 15)

Identify the genre of the extracts on

attachment 5.

Point out the characteristics that led you to

identify the genres.

Translate the texts into Portuguese.

ARROJO, R. Oficina de traduo: a teoria na prtica. So Paulo: tica, 1986

HYLAND, K. Genre pedagogy: Language, literacy and L2 writing instruction. Journal of Second Language Writing 16 (2007) 148164. Available on < www.sciencedirect.com>

MAGALHES, C. Estratgias de anlise macrotextual: gnero, texto e contexto. In: PAGANO, A (org.). Traduzir com autonomia: estratgias para o tradutor em formao. So Paulo: contexto, 2000. p. 71 86

TROSBORG, A. Text Typology: Register, Genre and Text Type. In: Trosborg, Anna (ed.). Text Typology and Translation. 1997. Available on: