Genre Analysis: English in Academic and Research Settings by John M.

Swales
Review by: Mark O. James
The Modern Language Journal, Vol. 76, No. 2 (Summer, 1992), pp. 238-239
Published by: Wiley on behalf of the National Federation of Modern Language Teachers Associations
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TheModernLanguageJournal76 (1992)

238
cision. Whenever possible, theyorganize those
decisions in enumerated liststo facilitatecomprehension and theirimplementation.
The range of topics examined in thisbook is
staggering. The authors treat everythingincluding an historicalperspective on teaching;
how language works;theirphilosophyon reading; reading skillsand strategies;propositional
analysis; testing;text choice (literaryand nonliterary);and instructionalstrategies,as well as
others. Each of these topics representsan area
of researchwithitsown set of terminology.The
uninitiatedreader may at times falteron the
number of new terms needed to comprehend
the material, which in turn would make the
reading somewhat tedious.
While the thoroughnessof the book alone is
enough to recommendit,thereare twofeatures
thatdeserve special mention.First,the bibliography contains nearly five hundred entries.
While not all citationsare of empirical studies,
the bibliographyis a valuable resource forboth
those who conduct research on second language reading and those who wishto read more
about the topic. Second, the authors included a
chapter in which they literallyrespond to the
questions theyhave been asked about theirapproach to reading. If one were to utilize this
book in a course, it would be helpful to keep
the contentsof thischapter in mind forit helps
illuminate readers' potential reactions to the
content.
Reading for Meaning is the result of many
yearsof experience teachinglanguage and integrating reading into a language curriculum.
Swaffar,Arens,and Byrneshave giventhe professiona valuable resource book.
JAMES F. LEE
University
ofIllinois

SWALES, JOHN M. GenreAnalysis:Englishin

Academic and Research Settings. Cambridge:
Cambridge Univ. Press, 1990. Pp. xii, 260.
$34.50, cloth; $15.95, paper.
Swales' book GenreAnalysisis a thoroughdiscussion of an as yetlittleresearched aspect of ESL
instruction:the social underpinnings of discourse/genreanalysis(withattendantpedagogical implications).
Ironically,there is much to debate in the L1
literature concerning the worth of academic

discourse types.Advocates of numerous "nontraditional"student populations rail against it

for its stultifying,inherentlyforeign nature.
Paradoxically,academic discourse communities
are both "barbaric" (in the words of one essayist), and criticallyempowering. No amount of
process-oriented instruction can compensate
for the bare fact that students must adjust to
the requirementsof theirchosen academic discourse communities. Some trivializethese requirementsas ritualsand gestures,whileothers
describe them as accepted waysof knowing,reportingand evaluating.
Either way, one cannot escape the fact that
genres exist and mustbe dealt with.All writing
(if it is meant to be read) is notjust a personal
event,but a social one as well.
This realization drove Swales to begin what
has amounted to a thorough discussion of the
importance of discourse communitiesand the
genres they fosterin the process of becoming
fullyliterate.This book representsthe fruitof
years of experience and the natural maturing
of ideas over time. The maturityis evident in
the claritywithwhichSwales definesthe crucial
concepts, as well as the breadth and depth of
his exposition of related sub-fieldsof language
study. His analysis of the limitationsof traditional genre classification,discourse analysis,
text analysis, and schema-theorywas at times
stinging,but always well supported.
Having spent a thirdof the book (parts one
and two) layinga firmfoundationforhis thesis,
Swales focuseson one particulardiscoursecommunity,thatof academic research (part three).
He convinces the reader of the overwhelming
role English plays in the disseminationof research worldwide and identifies the main
genres involved.In discussingthe development
of the research article as a genre, Swales goes
beyond the plethora of textual analyticstudies
of our time, probing the relationshipof these
developing characteristicsto evolving communicativepurposes. This results not only in the
identificationof what constitutesan "acceptable" article, but in an understanding of the
functions particular conventions, usage patterns,etc. have come to assume in itsacceptability. Consequently, we know not only what to
teach but likewisethe communicativepurposes
of such.
Several smaller chapters review what scant
research is available regarding other research
genres (e.g., dissertations, grant proposals,
etc.). Swales finisheswith possible applications
in intensive pre-universitywriting programs

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239

Reviews

transformationin Chinese and Japanese MarxChina,

ism,popular values in twentieth-century
the larger issue of what part our own values
should take in the study and assessment of
other societies and cultures, and the equally
broad issue of how we are to address substantivelyand methodologicallythe relationshipbetween Chinese modernizationand China's traditional culture" (p. 7).
All the essays to some degree are concerned
withthe issue of "ideas across cultures."At the
most elementarylevel, the fact that all the essays are writtenin the English language about
China and Japan and thattheydiscuss concepts
and ideas of anotherculturemake themexperiMARK O. JAMES
On a higher plane,
ments in trans-culturality.
Hawaii
in China,
Lee
discusses
"modernism"
when
Leo
University,
BrighamYoung
or Germaine Hoston addresses the "socialist
revolution" in Chinese and Japanese "Marxism,"or Hoyt Tillman considersYan Fu's "Utilitarianism"in China, these authors. are once
Ideas acrossCultures:Essayson ChineseThoughtin
again negotiatingtrans-culturally.
Honor ofBenjaminI. Schwartz.Ed. Paul A. CoHowever, it is in the last section of this volhen & Merle Goldman. Cambridge: Harvard
ume, in the essays of Thomas Metzgar and AnUniv. Council on East Asian Studies, 1990. Pp.
drew Nathan that the issue of ideas across cultures and the problems of trans-culturality
are
xii, 400. $28.00, cloth.
dealt with head on. In Metzgar's "Continuities
between Modern and Premodern China," he
Ideas acrossCulturesis an intellectuallyrich,stim- examines two alternativesystemsof thought:
the Chinese traditionof Confucian humanism
ulating volume that has something for everyand the Westernintellectualtraditionof pluralbody. This volume of ten essays is divided into
four parts: Thought (three essays), Literature
istic democracy, and asks "How do we deterand Culture (three essays), Political Theory
mine therightway to thinkabout human life?
What are the trans-culturalcriteriawithwhich
(two essays), and Culture and Methodology
to evaluate differentworlds of discourse? Does
(two essays). These essays are all writtenby former students of Professor Benjamin Schwartz
any world have a monopoly on the abilityto
who had been the intellectualhistorianpar exmake lifebetter?"Withthese provocativequescellence at Harvard Universityfor thirty-seven tions in mind, Metzgar examines criticallythe
discussionsof history,culture,and modernizayears (1950-87). These formerstudents,who
are now full-fledgedscholarsin theirown right,
tion within the Chinese cultural context and
still show the influence of their teacher. This
contraststhem withdiscussions in the Western
does not mean that theydoggedly followin his
context.
In Andrew Nathan's "The Place of Values in
footsteps.In fact,several of his studentshave
Cross-Cultural Studies: The Example of Dechallenged Schwartz's position, which is quite
in keeping with the Schwartzian "method,"
mocracy and China," he examines the role of
a
between
in social science inquiryas applied to the
values
namely, "dialogic relationship
subject
and object, ideas and contexts,"and I might
of
study
democracy in China. Nathan is not
add "teacher and student."
only concerned withknowingand understandIn line with Schwartz's panoramic interests, ing another cultureand itsinstitutions,
but also
this collectionof essays honoring him similarly evaluatingthe performanceof another culture.
spans an impressiverange: "ancient and mediIn weighingthe meritsand limitationsof adopteval Chinese thought,the fate of democracyin
ing either the cultural relativistposition or the
early Republican China, the development of
evaluative universalist position, which grants
aesthetic modernism in the 1920s and 1930s
the investigatorthe rightto pass judgment on
and its re-emergence in the post-Mao era, the
anothercultureusing his own value system,Naemphasis on spiritualregenerationand cultural
than comes down firmlyon the side of the lat(part four). If for no other reason, ESL practitionersought to read Swales' book, as it forcefullyoutlines some of the most powerfularguments why universityESL instructionshould
not be considered remedial,a battlemanyof us
are constantlywaging.
In conclusion, the research agenda that
Swales proposes could result in giving those
who receive tertiary education in Englishspeaking countriesEnglish thatwould not only
help them succeed in their studies, but would
help them remain visiblein the larger international forums of their chosen fields of endeavor-a worthygoal one mightthink.

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