FFLIS Distinguished Lecture Series, 8 Dec.

Last updated:2014-11-24

Topic: Critical Genre Analysis as Discursive Performance
Speaker: Professor Vijay K Bhatia, City University of Hong Kong

Time: 14:25, Monday, December 8, 2014
Venue: Room 210, School of Foreign Languages Building, South Campus, SYSU
Organizer: Faculty of Foreign Languages and International Studies

ABSTRACT
Genre Analysis, as inspired by ESP in the past thirty years or so, has focused largely on the discursive practices of specialists in academic and professional contexts. In all these analyses, the focus has largely been on the discursive output, written as well as spoken, of these specialists. However, very little effort has been invested in studying critical performance in professional practice as distinct from discursive practice. 
In this talk, I would like to develop some of the critical aspects of genre theory to study interdiscursive performance as a resource for the study of academic and professional practice in all its manifestations. Drawing on the notion of interdiscursivity (Bhatia, 2004, 2008a, 2008b, 2010), I will make an attempt to demystify some of the key aspects of professional practice, thus suggesting an informed approach to the design and implementation of ESP programmes.

References:
Bhatia, Vijay K. (1993): Analysing Genre: Language Use in Professional Settings. London, Routledge.
Bhatia, Vijay K., (2004): Worlds of Written Discourse: A Genre-Based View, London, Bloomsbury
Bhatia, Vijay K., (2008a): ‘Genre Analysis, ESP and Professional Practice’, English for Specific Purposes, 27, [161-74]
Bhatia, Vijay K., (2008b): ‘Towards Critical Genre Analysis’, in Bhatia, Vijay K., John Flowerdew, Rodney Jones, (Edited) Advances in Discourse Studies, Routledge, (166-177).
Bhatia, Vijay K., (2010): ‘Interdiscursivity in Professional Communication’, Discourse and Communication, 21/1, (32-50).
Bhatia, Vijay K., (2012): ‘Critical Reflections on Genre Analysis’, in Iberica, Vol.24, (17-28).

ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Vijay Bhatia is a retired Professor from the Department of English at the City University of Hong Kong. He is the founding President of the LSP and Professional Communication Association for the Asia-Pacific Rim. Some of his research projects include Analyzing Genre-bending in Corporate Disclosure Documents, and International Arbitration Practice: A Discourse Analytical Study, in which he led research teams from more than 20 countries. His research interests are: (Critical) Genre Analysis, academic and professional discourses, including, legal, business, newspaper, and promotional genres; ESP and Professional Communication; simplification of legal and other public documents. Two of his books, Analysing Genre: Language Use in Professional Settings and Worlds of Written Discourse: A Genre-based View, are widely used in genre theory and practice.