Research: Crossing disciplinary borders

Genre is an important organizing and analytical concept in many academic disciplines. Each discipline defines and analyzes genre in its own way, with some disciplines borrowing from others and some with long and complex histories. To enable scholars and students to cross disciplinary borders more easily, this section of GXB provides introductory access to a range of disciplines that engage in genre research and scholarship. Each introduction provides an overview of what the concept of genre means, how it has functioned within that disciplinary formation, and what the key issues, texts, and research tools are. Each research introduction has been prepared by a disciplinary expert, peer reviewed, and edited for brevity and consistency. Moderated commenting is enabled on each page so that users may update and supplement the material. Please submit requests for additional disciplines to be included here, along with suggestions for authors and/or peer reviewers, through our Feedback link. If you wish to contribute a translation of a previously published research introduction, please contact us.

Research Introductions

Composition Studies

by Peter Vandenberg, Professor and Department Chair, Writing, Rhetoric, & Discourse, DePaul University
   English

English for Specific Purposes

by Brian Paltridge, Professor of TESOL, Faculty of Education and Social Work, University of Sydney
   English

English and American Literary (and Cultural) Studies

by Heather Dubrow, John D. Boyd, SJ, Chair in the Poetic Imagination, Department of English, Fordham University
   English

Systemic Functional Linguistics

by Sue Hood, Associate Professor, Language Studies Group, University of Technology Sydney
   English

Technical Communication

by Brent Henze Professor of English, East Carolina University with Carolyn R. Miller and Stephen Carradini, North Carolina State University
   English

Film Studies

by Ib Bondebjerg, Professor emeritus, Department of Communication, University of Copenhagen
   English

Published reviews of literature

[615] Bauman, Richard. "Speech Genres in Cultural Practice." In Encyclopedia of Language & Linguistics, edited by Keith Brown, 745-758. Vol. 11. Oxford: Elsevier, 2006.
[618] Bawarshi, Anis S., and Mary Jo Reiff. Genre: An Introduction to History, Theory, Research, and Pedagogy In Reference Guides to Rhetoric and Composition, Edited by Charles Bazerman. West Lafayette, IN: Parlor Press, 2010.
[1764] Bondebjerg, Ib. "Film: Genres and Genre Theory." In International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, edited by James D. Wright, 160-164. 2nd ed. Elsevier, 2015.
[665] Campbell, Karlyn Kohrs. "Genre." In 21st Century Communication: A Reference Handbook, edited by William F. Eadie, 257-265. Vol. 1. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2009.
[1098] D'Acci, J.. "Television: Genres." In International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences, edited by N. J. Smelser and P. B. Baltes, 15574-78. New York: Elsevier, 2001.
[1095] Harris, Trudier. "Genre." Journal of American Folklore 108, no. 430 (1995): 509-527.
[797] Hyland, Ken. "Genre: Language, Context, and Literacy." Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 22 (2002): 113-135.
[799] Hyon, Sunny. "Genre in Three Traditions: Implications for ESL." TESOL Quarterly 30 (1996): 693-722.
[1420] Miller, Carolyn R., and Ashley R. Kelly. "Discourse Genres." In Verbal Communication, edited by A. Rocci and L. de Saussure, 269-286. Handbooks of Communication Science. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2016.
[1397] Schryer, Catherine F.. "Genre Theory and Research." In Encyclopedia of Library and Information Sciences, edited by Marcia J. Bates and Mary Niles Maack, 1934-1942. 3rd ed. Taylor & Francis: New York, 2010.
[979] Tardy, Christine M., and John M. Swales. "Form, Text Organization, Genre, Coherence, and Cohesion." In Handbook of Research on Writing: History, Society, School, Individual, Text, edited by Charles Bazerman, 565-581. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2008.
[1061] Tardy, Christine M.. "Researching First and Second Language Genre Learning: A Comparative Review and a Look Ahead." Journal of Second Language Writing 15, no. 2 (2006): 79-101.