A Study Of Generic Structure Of Prefaces In English Textbooks

During the last 20 years, there has been an increasing interest in the study of genre both within and across various language use domains. In the literature on genre analysis, the academic genre to which more attention has been paid is the research article, considered as the main instrument of communication within the academic community. Textbook prefaces have usually been considered secondary or dependent genres, whose existence depends on the textbook chapters. In each textbook, preface is an indispensable and inevitable part; therefore it has considerable value both to the readers and the authors. There has been little research, however, on generic pattern of prefaces despite the growing interest in academic writing, and hence arises the necessity for the present research. Based on theory of Generic Structure Potential (GSP) as well as Swales' and Bhatia's well-known Models, this thesis investigates generic pattern of English textbook prefaces, combining qualitative study with quantitative analysis to reveal its generic structure and its obligatory and optional elements.This dissertation contains five chapters. Chapter 1 provides an introduction to the investigation, which describes, in very general terms, the research background, research purpose and significance of the investigation as well as the data and methods employed in the investigation. Chapter 2 presents theoretical frameworks for this research. It discusses the theory of GSP as well as Swales' and Bhatia's approaches to genre analysis. In Chapter 3 generic features of textbook prefaces are examined as follows: pervasive use of textual metadiscursive and evaluative language, which is depending on its dual communicative purposes (informative and promotional). The afore-mentioned theoretical frameworks are based on in Chapter 4 to examine samples radomly chosen from English textbooks. Qualitative study is first carried out and then the inferred move structure are tested by quantitative analysis in all samples to see whether it is feasible or suitable for all and to be discussed in detail. The final chapter of the research, chapter 5, reaches conclusions, as well as considers implications and suggestion for further research.