Discussion Questions for Norman Fairclough’s Analysing Discourse
Chapter 4: Genres and generic structure
1. Introduction
Q1. The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary defines genre as ‘a particular type or style ofliterature, art, film or music that you can recognize because of its special features’. On the other
hand, in 65A, NF defines genre as ‘the specifically discoursal aspect of ways of acting andinteracting in the course of social events’. The OALD’s definition is the traditional, standard one.
It emphasizes texts, and implies that genres are a feature of ‘high’ art and culture. Fairclough’s
definition emphasizes action, and implies that genre is a part of ordinary people’s everyday lives.
Which definition do you think is more useful for thinking about genre in relation to the media andmedia texts? Or do we need both?
2. Genres and texts
Q2. NF’s approach to the analysis of texts is a relational one, or, as I prefer to call it, arealizational one. This means that there are various levels of text organization, and the choices
made by text producers at higher levels (about the meanings they want to express) get realized
through the choices they make at lower levels (which genres, discourses and styles they use, andthen which grammar and vocabulary to use). For text producers, this is a top-down process. But
for discourse analysts like us, we must work in the opposite direction: we must start at the bottomlevel, the level of words on the page or sounds in the air, and work our way back upwards towards
the meanings that (we think) the text producers wanted to express. Try to illustrate this point byreference to one or more media texts.
3. Pre-genres, disembedded genres and situated genres
Q3. NF gives two examples of disembedded genres (interviews and self-publicising‘infomercials’). Can you think of any other examples of disembedded genres, especially ones
which are related to the media?
Q4. Can you think of any modern media texts which seem to be a hybrid mixture of other (older,and perhaps purer) genres?
4. Analysing individual genres
Q5. In 72B, NF concludes that genres vary in their degree of purpose-driven-ness! Some genres
are strongly driven by one (or more) purpose, but some are not. Consider a range of different
media genres and try to rank them in order from most- to least- purpose-driven-ness. Why aresome genres more purpose-driven than others?

Q6. Try to identify the hirerarchy of purposes in a certain media genre. How can you decide which
purpose is higher than another one? What do we mean by ‘higher’ purpose and ‘lower’ purpose?
4.1 Generic Structure
Q7. For any particular media text genre, try to identify its generic structure. Which elements areobligatory to the structure, and which are optional? Why?
Q8. Deborah Cameron’s study of the language used in ‘call centres’ is very interesting (in myhumble opinion!!). NF concludes, in 73A, that the way in which call center workers’ language iscontrolled by their managers is an example of the wider tendency in the modern world forcommunication to become commodified and industrialized. In the world of the media, can you
think of any examples of this commodification and/or industrialization of language. Can you thinkof any opposite cases which suggest that some media people are trying to fight against thesetendencies?
4.2 Social Relations
Q9. How to TV announcers address (= talk to) viewers? What sort of power relations andsolidarity relations does their use of address forms seem to construe (or create)? Are they‘simulating’ friendly relations? (Or are they really being friendly?) Are these relations the same for
all TV programmes, or does they vary depending on the type of programme? Do the ways they
address viewers seem designed to legitimize their powerful position, or avoid the alienation ofviewers?
4.3 Communication Technologies
Q10. Can you give some examples of how the development of new technologies has produced
new media genres?
5. Dialogue and the Public SphereQ11. Can you think of any examples of dialogue in the media which are represented as being fairand equal but which are, in fact, not so?
Q12. Can you explain what ‘public sphere’ (79B) means, and how it relates to one or more typesof media? For the media you have chosen, can you say whether it contributes to creating aneffective public sphere or not?
6. Arguments, Assumptions and Ideologies
Q13. Can you find a newspaper story which contains an argument. An Editorial (社説) or an
Opinion article might be a good place to look for such a story. Can you identify what grounds,warrants, backings and claims it contains? Are any of the grounds, warrants or backings onlyimplied, or assumed, or taken for granted? Is there an ideological reason for this? Is it due to theparticular discourse (or ideology) of the writer?
7. Narrative
Q14. Collect a range (at least, two!) of media reports about one particular event (majorinternational event or small, local event – either is OK!). Then try to identify the ‘Fabula’
structure of the original event and the ‘Story’ structure of the various reports. Can you make somecomments about what similarities and differences you found?
Q15. For two media reports used in Q14, can you say how they are focalized? What point of vieware they written from? Can you think of any other possible ways of focalizing the same story?
Q16. Do you agree with the idea that news is a form of social regulation, or ‘apparatus ofgovernment’ which controls events and the way that people think about them?
Q17. Do you think I have given you too many questions this week???
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