Texts

used in a particular situation for a

particular purpose may be classified using
every-day Iabels such as a guidebook, a
nursery rhyme, a poem, a business letter, a
newspaper article, a radio play, an
advertisement, etc. Such categories are referred to as genres (TROSBORG, 1997, p. 4).

 Genre

refers to abstract, socially recognised

ways of using language. It is based on the
idea that members of a community usually
have
little
difficulty
in
recognising
similarities in the texts they use frequently
and are able to draw on their repeated
experiences with such texts to read,
understand, and perhaps write them
relatively easily (HYLAND, 2007, p. 149).

How do genres relate to register and text

types? How is one genre to be identified and
distinguished from other genres? Are the
defining criteria text-internal, or is the
classification based on text-external criteria,
or both? [...] What are the characteristics of
specific genres? Do these characteristics
differ cross-culturally and if so in what
ways? (TROSBORG, 1997, p. 1)

 The

category of register is postulated to

account for what people do with their
language. When we observe language activity
in the various contexts in which it takes
place, we find differences in the type of
language selected as appropriate to different
types of situation (Halliday et al. apud
TROSBORG, 1997, p 4).

 The

language of religion
The language of legal documents
The language of newspaper reporting
Medical language
Technical language

 Register

constraints operate at the linguistic

level of vocabulary and syntax.
Genre constraints operate at the level of
discourse structure: specific conditions for
beginning, structuring and ending a text.

 Description:

differentiation and interrelation

of perceptions in spacen.
Narration: differentiation and interrelation
of perceptions in time.
Exposition:
comprehension
of
general
concepts through differentiation by Analysis
and/or synthesis.
Argumentation:
evaluation of relations
between and among concepts through the
extraction of similarities, contrasts, and
transformations.
Instruction: planning of future behaviour.

note:
This is just to say I have eaten the plums that
were in the icebox and which you were
probably saving for breakfast. Forgive me,
they were delicious: so sweet and so cold.

translation:
Este bilhete s para lhe dizer que comi as
ameixas que estavam na geladeira e que
provavelmente voc estava guardando para o
caf da manh. Desculpe-me, mas elas
estavam deliciosas: to doces e geladas.

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox
and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

How do genres relate to register and text

types? How is one genre to be identified and
distinguished from other genres? Are the
defining criteria text-internal, or is the classification based on text-external criteria, or
both? [...] What are the characteristics of
specific genres? Do these characteristics
differ cross-culturally and if so in what
ways? (TROSBORG, 1997, p. 1)

 Genre

pedagogies promise very real

benefits for learners as they pull together
language, content, and contexts, while
offering teachers a means of presenting
students with explicit and systematic
explanations of the ways writing works to
communicate (CHRISTIE, MARTIN 1997 apud
HYLAND 2007, p. 150).

A genre-based writing instruction offers students an

explicit understanding of how target texts are
structured and why they are written in the ways they
are.

The exploration of texts and contexts through genre

teaching helps learners to see how grammar and
vocabulary choices create meanings and to
understand how language works and its role in texts

The function of the genre must be understood from

the perspective of the composer/translator who must
draw upon knowledge of register and genre to
perform effectively (TROSBORG, 1997, p 15)

 Identify

the genre of the extracts on

attachment 5.
Point out the characteristics that led you to
identify the genres.
Translate the texts into Portuguese.

ARROJO, R. Oficina de traduo: a teoria na prtica. So

Paulo: tica, 1986

HYLAND, K. Genre pedagogy: Language, literacy and L2

writing instruction. Journal of Second Language Writing 16
(2007) 148164. Available on < www.sciencedirect.com>

MAGALHES, C. Estratgias de anlise macrotextual:

gnero, texto e contexto. In: PAGANO, A (org.). Traduzir
com autonomia: estratgias para o tradutor em formao.
So Paulo: contexto, 2000. p. 71 86

TROSBORG, A. Text Typology: Register, Genre and Text

Type. In: Trosborg, Anna (ed.). Text Typology and
Translation. 1997. Available on:
<http://www.academia.edu/5337735/Text_Typology_Regis
ter_Genre_and_Text_Type>