A Corpus-based Genre Analysis Of The Closings Of English Social Science Open Online Courses

Within the framework of genre theory and analysis, this paper aims to reveal thespecific generic structures of English social science open online courses and theircommunicative purposes through the genre analysis of self-built learner corpus whichwas collected from the wangyi public platform.The author selected80course closings covering nine disciplines: society,economics, politics, management, education, law, psychology, media, and geography.Based on Swales and Bhatia’s genre analysis theory, Hasan’s Generic StructurePotential model and Hyland’s interpersonal mode of metadiscourse, the paper willanalyze the closings both quantitatively and qualitatively. On one hand, it will analyzethe macro generic structure of course closings; on the other hand, it will analyze themicro linguistic features in language use. From the findings, the study will suggest howto apply the analyzed generic mode of closings in the instruction of delivering closingsof English social science open courses. Furthermore, it tries to find a feasible structureto enhance teachers and students’ generic consciousness of English social science opencourses closings. At the same time, it points out research limitations and prospects forfuture study.