Essay - Non-Academic versus Academic Genres: Restricted Writers PDF

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Non-Academic versus Academic Genres:
Restricted Writers
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Non-Academic versus Academic Genres: Restricted Writers Throughout this essay the topic of genre will be addressed. Specifically will be a focus on academic and non-academic genres. For the purpose of this paper, academic genres will be referring to school-oriented formal writing and non-academic genres will be referring to informal computer-mediated genres such as text messages, blogs and emails. The purpose of this essay is to discover which genre type is more limiting to the individual writer is it the academic and nonacademic writing genres that are more restrictive to writers? This essay will claim that while on a very shallow level it would appear that non-academic genres are not restrictive at all, while it is clear that academic genres are; they are in fact both limiting in their own rights. However, while this is true, it is still the school-oriented academic writings that bound writer’s literary freedom. To prove this thesis there will be mention of works from Freedman, Herrington, Devitt, Britton, Reither, Xia, Ross, Hooff, Peterson and Kemp. The paper will begin with defining genre on a basic level, then describing the learning of each type of genre and how this relates to the limiting nature of each. This will be followed by the level of individual leeway each genre type allows. Finally the limiting process and goals of each genre type will be discussed. To conclude I will explore the teaching implications and suggestions for further research. Defining Genre According to Britton there are three types of writing transactional, poetic and expressive (106). In other words, to Britton, all writing can be categorized into three major categories, otherwise known as genres. However, based on his theories, the genres are separated by function and not by form. So each genre was defined by what it achieves not by how it achieves it. This, nevertheless, while an ideal thought in its simplistic nature, is not how genre works. When a

reader recognizes a genre, they don’t recognize it based on what it does, but instead by what the work looks like and how it is organized. “How language is used determines how it is organized” and this is what people are recognizing when they recognize genre (Herrington 10). So what causes this specific organization for different genres is the next question. Well since gene is a “dynamic patterning of human experience” and is thus socially structured it changes dependent on the situation (Devitt 573). Genres emerge and “respond appropriately to situations that writers encounter repeatedly” (Devitt 576). So a genre is a form of writing that comes out of specific expectations writers come across on a consistent basis and that form becomes generic that other writers will have to use when encountering the same situation and expectations. While genres can change because social situations change, they are still a mold into which writers must put their writing. Herrington mentions Kitzhaber’s rebelling to genres because “they turn the attention of both the student and teacher toward an academic exercise instead of toward a meaningful act of communication in social context” (4). Albeit there is certain flattening of writing when using specific genres, they are still communication in a social context as they are socially constructed. Now to move on to how academic and non-academic genres are learned and if the way they are learned is moving towards limited and restricted writing or not. Learning a Genre Academic In the theories researched for this paper it seems one thing they all had in common was the acknowledgement of how amazing it is that students know the details of different genres in school settings without explicitly having a genre class or without outright being taught these academic genres.

Learning and knowing formal academic genres “means knowing such things as appropriate subject matter, level of detail, tone and approach as well as the usual layout and organization” (Devitt 577). Within the school environment students, “with almost no explicit instruction and with minimal fuss, learn to produce written genres” (Freedman 179). So if there is no observable teaching of genre, what is the “process by which students acquire the knowledge necessary to perform appropriately” (Freedman 181). This seems like a lot of information to just unconsciously absorb as a student. One theory is called “situated learning” and is presented by Freedman. This involves a co-operative and collaborative learning operating on both the part of the student and on the part of the teacher. This joint performance when paired with learning through cultural tools is how knowledge of genre is acquired. Herrington presents a couple different theorists hypothesis’ of how genre is learned. She first talks about how Moffet believes that “genres emerged organically […] and could be reinforced and coached […] but not explicitly taught or pre-taught” (5). She goes on to talk about how Graves thinks that “genres emerge from the reading and writing that the teacher orchestrates” (5). In all of the aforementioned theories the learning of an academic genre involves a sort of natural and social emerging of the genre paired with the teacher pushing the student along with their understanding of the genre. The implication with regards to restrictiveness of these theories is that the student or learner needs to rely, at least in part, on somebody else (their professor) in order to learn the genre. While the student absorbs some of the understanding on their own, there needs to be feedback and coaching paired with a collaborative exploration in order for full genre comprehension to be achieved. This shows the limitedness of the student’s ability to learn new genres on their own.

Non-Academic Unlike situated learning and the other theories abovementioned, with non-academic computer mediated genres there is no guide “oriented entirely to the ‘learner’ and to the learner’s learning” (Freedman 189). As a result of this there is less pressure, more internal motivation but also less instruction on what each sub-genre should look like. The only way that these sorts of personal computer mediated modes are learned is through reading similar content. Therefore, mere exposure is the primary source of learning for non-academic genres. Furthermore, unlike academic genres which supply you with feedback from the teacher if you stray from the form or mode, there is no such feedback usually available for non-academic genres. When someone writes a text message as though it were a hand written letter (without all the characteristics usually prevalent in a text message) there would be no annotated text sent back with comments on how to better improve the writing to fit the genre. The only result would perhaps be the person on the receiving end being somewhat frustrated at having to read a longer text than usual in that genre. Another source of learning non-academic genres is trial and error. With specific subgenres such as the solicitation email and text messaging there are specific ends to be reached. Solicitation emails or “phishing emails deceive individuals into giving out personal information which may then be utilized for identity theft” (Ross 25). For this instance, the individual is trying to receive personal information, so once the email is sent, if there is no response containing useful information then the original writer will learn what works for the phishing email and what does not. Though this is an example of the subgenre of email being used as a weapon it is still considered a subgenre of computer mediated genres and as such is still a good example of learning non-academic forms. Hoof points to the fact that emails and texting provide “the

possibility of instant feedback” (134). Also they are primarily used to “make practical arrangements” and “for building and maintaining social relationships” within the context in instant communication. Reaching this aim of the genre again can only be learned through trial and error. Texting was “developed within the confines of a small screen, a 160 character message limit, and an alphanumeric keyboard with three letters to each number key” (Kemp 53). So when texting, people would learn that there is no time or space for writing out long messages very quickly. Thus learning informal non-academic genres includes exposure as well as trial and error. This type of learning is not limiting or restricting in any sense. There is no specific time restraint to the learning, there is no specific pressurized outcome of the learning, such as an essay or report. Therefore it can be said that in terms of learning non-academic versus academic genres, academic genres prove to be more restrictive to the writers.

Individual Leeway Academic Freedman explores multiple students’ works within the genre of a law paper. Within that genre she found many elements of the genre which were consistent among the different students writing. The “lexicon was discipline specific” (Freedman 182). There was “emphasis laid on presenting a claim and clarifying its implications” (Freedman 183). These two constituents alone are ultimately completely restrictive. These two elements control what the student says (the claim and its implications) and how they say it (discipline specific lexicon). With Freedman’s exploration of the genre of a finance paper she noted that “there were headings and sub-headings” and “an appendix consisting of a number of charts that summarized

the numerical data” (185). Again, similar to the law paper, this genre controls what the student says (summarizing the numerical date) and how they say it (beneath headings and sub-headings). The definition of genre used within this paper would be considered by Devitt as a “normalizing and static concept, a set of forms that constrain the individual” (574). While Devitt would probably fight this notion of genre, I stand by it in that while the forming of genre should be treated as a dynamic not static process because it arises out of repeating social situations, once the genre is formed and the new elements are decided, the genre does in fact become static again until the next change takes place. If genre were not static and restrictive in some sense, it would not be helpful in terms of an academic setting. When a writer tries to claim their own literary freedom it appears that they are “us[ing] genre badly” (Devitt 578). “A writer may try to vary the situation – say by treating the audience as a friend in a formal scholarly article – but the readers will likely note a change in the genre […] noting a flawed text that violates genre” (Devitt 578). Therefore in order for a writer to deviate at all from the genre their writing will be seen as flawed. Thus there is no room for personal leeway within an academic genre. Non-Academic When preparing to write a blog, email or text message a writer does not actively think of the different elements of the genre before writing in the same way that a writer would when approaching an academic piece of work. However, there are just as many factors or pieces to non-academic writing genre types are there are to academic genre types. “The discourse properties that are commonly used in different [computer mediated communication] genres include lexicon, graphology, and orthography levels” (Xia 111). On a lexical level, in computer mediated genres (such as blogs, emails and texts) there are “neologisms, abbreviations,

acronyms, and rebuses” (Xia 111). Neologisms are words created especially for computer mediated communication such as “refresh, home and save” (Xia 111). Abbreviations and “deletion of subject pronouns, determiners, and auxiliaries and different forms of contractions” are used because being brief and concise is the defining element of these genres (Xia 111). Acronyms such as: ROFL, LOL, IMHO, and DNS are also often used to keep with the theme of brevity. Rebuses are also commonly found. These are the “use [of] numerals for pronunciation of letters or use of letters for pronunciations of works” (Xia 111). Examples of rebuses are: L8r and b4. While these are all common aspects or common things seen in non-academic genres, there is nothing saying that these elements must necessarily be present. The writer either can use these lexical tools or not. Also, even if the writer had to employ all of these elements in order to get their message conveyed (which they do not) there would still be plenty of room for personal creativity and literary freedom in that there is no specified goal, motivation, audience or subject matter. The writer of an email, text or blog can write to anyone, about anything, for whatever reason they wish. With regards to the specific subgenre of blogs, the form is very restrictive but only to the reader. Blogs (or web logs) are a medium for writers to basically tell stories on a daily basis almost in journal entry style. However, blogs “accumulate in reverse chronological order” (Peterson 150). The result of this is that the reader has to read the most recent entry first instead of starting at the beginning. For the writer, this would not have a huge effect on their writing, but for the reader wanting to start at the beginning of the log, this would be limiting. However, while this presentation of the writers work would not hugely affect the writing process, it still would be slightly restrictive because for the writer, “today’s entry is simultaneously an introduction and a

conclusion” and would have to write it in such a way as to both introduce the blog, and still be a proper entry with a conclusion (Peterson 150). According to Xia writing in these non-academic computer mediated genres has a “widespread impact on students’ life, students’ thinking and eventually classroom writing” (120). The research Xia conducted found that students who participated on a continual and constant basis in this non-academic type of genre writing eventually had used “abbreviations and lower case [letters] in classroom writing” (120). This shows that while there is more personal leeway within the writing, the genre itself still has some sort of power or control over the student in that it spilled over into the students’ academic writing as well. As seen there are restrictive elements of both academic and non academic genres in terms of the actual appearance and organization of the genres. There are common things generally used in this genre such as rebuses, abbreviations, acronyms and so on, and also for blogs there is a specific presentation that goes along with the genre; however, there is still plenty of freedom within each genre which makes the small amount of restrictions of lexical expectations seem minor in the long run. Thus the final judgment of ultimate restrictiveness for each genre type will rely on goals and processes of writing each genre type. Process and Goals Academic When looking at academic genres the goal is always to complete the task given to them by the instructor. “The social motive [is] epistemic” (Freedman 182). Looking at Freedman’s exploration of students law papers she puts forth that “in their writing, the students not only looked at the kind of phenomena typically analyzed by the discipline; they also used the same lens” (183). This implies that not only are they forced to write about the same topics as all the

other students, but there is no room for personal perspective or a personal stance on the topic. This is fundamentally the total annihilation of literary freedom for the student and the writing just becomes a reiteration of information without any individual input. Based on the fact that the motivation is external, the writer would not be invested in a different way than a writer whose motivation to write is internal. The academic writer has more of a need to follow the genre and all of its elements exactly. The academic writer would be more focused on the argument, the debate, the persuasion, the proving, the copying, the quoting, the formatting and the editing instead of the exploring, the creating, the poeticizing and the innovating associated with less restrictive writing in non-academic genres. Non-Academic Similar to academic genres, within the context of these broader genres are sorts of subgenres. These include but are not limited to political blogs, personal blogs, professional emails, familiar emails, solicitation emails, picture texts, personal texts etc. Also similar to academic genres, there are still specific settings in which these genres are expected to be produced. For example, an email is suitable when there is some message an individual wants to convey without having to make a phone call (whether it be because the call would be long distance or just to avoid the conversational nature of a phone call). A text message would be appropriate when there is a simple message or question to be conveyed quickly. A blog would be a fitting subgenre to choose if there is an opinion to be expressed not to anybody specifically. Within the context of the non-academic genres (or merely non-school-oriented genres) there is no real external push to produce these writings. Excluding professional blogging in which the writer is getting paid to produce the blog or work related emails, the majority of these

would be personal and thus there would be no instructor impelling you to write. The motivation to write in these cases would be personal or internal. They are still social in that they are communicating in one way or another, however the writer is not required to write and will not be formally judged based on their writing. So with academic writing, they must meet all the elements expected of them in terms of genre in order to have successfully reached their goal. With non-academic writing, if the writer deviates from the genre at all, the only repercussion would be perhaps frustration on the side of the audience but the writer would not be considered to have failed at writing within that genre because as aforementioned there is no formal judgment of their writing. Therefore the academic writer would be more inclined to stay within the confines of their genre and therefore is more limited and restricted by it. Conclusion (Implications and Discussion) Based on these findings it is safe to say that while both academic, school-oriented genres and non-academic, computer mediated genres are restrictive and limiting in one way or another, it is ultimately the academic genre type that is altogether entirely limiting to the writers literary freedom. In terms of teaching, this is an important consideration. If a student is so limited by genres, perhaps it would be wiser to accept papers in the form of an email. Or to instead have students create a learning blog to record each day what it is that they have learned. However, since genres are so important for keeping the standardization of schools and academic writing for grading purposes, it might be more sensible to instead be concerned about or take into account the limited nature of genres and the lack of literary freedom a student has when producing a paper. Often times professors will write things such as “awk”, meaning awkward, on a paper;

however, if the teacher considered the fact that the student is attempting to fit their thoughts into a genre in a very unnatural way that limits their personal writing and literary choice, the awkward sentence might seem a little bit more impressive. As for future research, it would be interesting to see more research done on how the creative aspects of non-academic genres can be incorporated into the classroom. This would create a hybrid genre with the standardized aspects of academic genres which are so important for allowing fair grading of papers, while adopting the elements of non-academic genres which allow for writers to be more autonomous in their writing.

Works Cited Britton, James. “Writing to Learn and Learning to Write”. Prospect and Retrospect: Selected Essays of James Britton (1982) 94-111. Devitt, Amy. “Generalizing About Genre: New Conceptions of an Old Concept”. College Composition and Communication 44.4 (1993) 573-586. Freedman, Aviva. “Situating ‘Genre’ and Situated Genres Understanding Student Writing...