Empowering ESP practitioners:
Rethinking the paths to
‘specialized knowledge’ through
the lens of genre analysis
An Cheng
Department of English
Oklahoma State University
an.cheng@okstate.edu
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Understanding learner needs
Experimenting with
methodologies
(Dudley-Evans & St John, 1998; Hutchinson & Waters, 1987; Kennedy &
Bolitho, 1984; Mackay & Mountford, 1978; Robinson, 1980; Selinker, Tarone, &
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Hanzeli, 1981; Schleppegrell & Bowman, 1986; Swales, 1985).
Understanding learner needs Learner identities
Critical ethnography
ESP program evaluation
Experimenting with
methodologies
Corpus linguistics
Multi-methodological genre
analysis
(Mackay & Mountford, 1978; see also Holden, 1977; Kennedy & Bolitho,
1984; Robinson, 1980; Selinker, Tarone, & Hanzeli, 1981; Schleppegrell &
Bowman, 1986; Swales, 1985; Basturkmen, 2006, 2010; Belcher, 2009;
Belcher, Johns, & Paltridge, 2011; Paltridge & Starfield, 2013).
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“ESP has frequently been a hotbed of conflict—the Wild West of
ELT” (Hutchinson & Waters, 1987, p. 158).
Laurence
Anthony
Image from http://lukenixblog.blogspot.jp/
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Content knowledge, should we?
How much?
• “The most frequently asked questions and the
core of many debates in the field” (Tsou & Kao,
2014, p. 5)
• “A feeling of inadequacy” (Tsou & Chen, 2014)
• Turning away from specialized ESP teaching
(Anthony, 2011; Cai, 2004)
• A part of teacher empowerment (Tsou, 2013)
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How much content knowledge?
• Process-oriented skills (Anthony, 2011)
• Specialist knowledge vs. specialized
knowledge (Fergusson, 2014)
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Specialist knowledge
Specialized knowledge
Knowledge of content in Knowledge of disciplinary
the student’s content
culture <- sociological and
area
anthropological
Too much
to learn
Outdated
easily
Not easy to
determine what a
discipline is
Knowledge of
epistemological basis of
disciplines <- philosophical
Knowledge of genre and
discourse <- linguistic (Tsou,
2013; Wu & Badger, 2009)
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The third knowledge of genre  Linguistic
Understanding the language of the discipline/profession
Genres as structured communicative events engaged in by specific
discourse communities whose members share broad communicative
purposes (Swales 1990)
Structured: moves/steps as function units/indicators of communication
functions
Lexical grammatical features
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OPENING SALUTATION
SUBJECT
ACTIONS TAKEN
DISCUSSION OF ISSUES
(with [optional] clear distinct issue headings)
SOLICIT ACTION
EXPRESS AVAIL ABILITY
CLOSING SALUTATION
The recurrent schematic structure of Tax Computation Letters (Flowerdew &
Wan, 2006, p. 141).
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The typical rhetorical organization of the
introduction section of technical instructions
Describing the goal of the instructions,
 Defining the intended readers of the technical
instructions
 Motivating the readers to read the technical
instructions
 Explaining the usage and conventions used in the
technical instruction, including safety information
 Providing a list of tools and equipment necessary for
completing the tasks described in the instruction

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SOLICIT ACTION [politeness strategies and the
avoidance of modal auxiliary]
• Please note that the filing date of the above return is on.
...
• We look forward to receiving your agreement to the
holdover application before.. .being the first payment
due date of the provisional tax liability.
(Flowerdew & Wan, 2006, p. 147).
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Defeating
purpose?
Element of ‘specialized
knowledge’
The paths to gaining the
knowledge
Knowledge of disciplinary
cultures and values
???
Knowledge of
epistemological basis
A course about science/in science; a
course about law/in law
Knowledge of genre and
discourse <- Linguistic
Learning to
• Recognize genre as ‘structured’
communicative events
• Analyze function units
(moves/steps)
• Categorize the conventionalized
linguistic features that perform the
moves and steps
<- ethnographic observation?
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Defeating
purpose?
Element of ‘specialized
knowledge’
The paths to gaining the
knowledge
Knowledge of disciplinary
cultures and values
???
Knowledge of
epistemological basis
A course about science/in science; a
course about law/in law
Knowledge of genre and
discourse <- Linguistic
Learning to
• Recognize genre as ‘structured’
communicative events
• Analyze function units
(moves/steps)
• Categorize the conventionalized
linguistic features that perform the
moves and steps
<- ethnographic observation?
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Genres as structured communicative events engaged in by
specific discourse communities whose members share broad
communicative purposes (Swales 1990)
Trajectory of inquiry in genre analysis (Bawarshi & Reiff,
2010; see also Basturkmen, 2010; implied in Fergusson,
1997) )
Context
• Culture of discourse
community
• Communicative
purposes valued by
discourse community
Text
• Schematic
structures (Moves
and steps)
• Lexico-grammatical
features
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Genres as structured communicative events engaged in by
specific discourse communities whose members share broad
communicative purposes (Swales 1990)
Trajectory of inquiry in genre analysis (Bawarshi & Reiff,
2010; see also Basturkmen, 2010; implied in Fergusson,
1997) )
Context
• Culture of discourse
community
• Communicative
purposes valued by
discourse community
Text
• Schematic
structures (Moves
and steps)
• Lexico-grammatical
features
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Additional ways to turn genre into a window
into context
Genre system
 Meta genre

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Defeating
purpose?
Element of ‘specialized
knowledge’
The paths to gaining the
knowledge
Knowledge of disciplinary
cultures and values
???
Knowledge of
epistemological basis
A course about science/in science; a
course about law/in law
Knowledge of genre and
discourse <- Linguistic
Learning to
• Recognize genre as ‘structured’
communicative events
• Analyze function units
(moves/steps)
• Categorize the conventionalized
linguistic features that perform the
moves and steps
<- ethnographic observation?
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Element of ‘specialized
knowledge’
The paths to gaining the
knowledge
Knowledge of disciplinary
cultures and values
???
Knowledge of
epistemological basis
A course about science/in science; a
course about law/in law
Knowledge of genre and
discourse <- Linguistic
Learning to
• Recognize genre as ‘structured’
communicative events
• Analyze function units
(moves/steps)
• Categorize the conventionalized
linguistic features that perform the
moves and steps
• Use the genre features to read the
disciplinary cultures and values as
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well as the epistemological basis
<- ethnographic observation?
Genres as structured communicative events engaged in by
specific discourse communities whose members share broad
communicative purposes (Swales 1990)
Trajectory of inquiry in genre analysis
Context
• Culture of discourse
community
• Communicative
purposes valued by
discourse community
Text
• Schematic
structures (Moves
and steps)
• Lexico-grammatical
features
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Take-home
messages/Implications for ESP?
• The need for and quantity of specialist
knowledge will continue to be an elusive
question
• The power of genre analysis enables us to
ask the right questions
• Not constrained by issues of specificity
• Enable a particular stance of working
with content experts
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Thank you!
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