WOW
Speaking and Writing Genres of Discourse
Question
How is writing different from speaking?
writing is not just spoken language written down (Biber 1988, 1992, 1995).
Problem
Academic
Formal
Passive
written discourse is of a higher order—more logical, formal, and complex— than oral discourse and is therefore superior to it.
Formality
The notion of formality is an aspect of many spoken genres, such as courtroom argumentations or academic presentations, while some written genres, such as email or personal diaries, can be considered informal. As Ochs (1979) points out, rather than using the terms formal and informal, it may be more appropriate to speak of planned versus unplanned discourse to describe the differences between such cases.
01
Turn taking
“well,” “oh,” “so”
Some Points
02
Requests for information
in speaking
03
Body language and tone
words
Examples
My personal experience is a compelling example of this. When I am in university, some days that I didn’t want to go. In my case, I think I am a bit lucky to be surrounded by technology but I do feel like people with no technology around me do struggle to comply with our fixed daily life styles nowadays. In my opinion, I totally agree with the idea that our current way of life will have a negative impact on future generations.
Questions
1. How might you define the term discourse in simple terms for a language student?
2. It is stated that a random group of sentences does not constitute discourse. What are some mechanisms in written language that serve to link the words, clauses, or paragraphs together, or—as some say—to provide “cohesion” to a text? Find a short newspaper article and search for actual examples. How might you explain the examples to a language student?
3. There are several differences between spoken and written genres of discourse that have been mentioned in this text. Under what circumstances might it be an advantage to speak rather than write or to listen rather than read? What are the implications of the differences for language teaching?
4. Discuss evidence (from your teaching, language study, or other life experience) for the claim that the rhetorical structures and conventions of written and spoken discourse differ from culture 16 to culture. Is this claim true for all writers and types of writing, or are there exceptions?
Thanks
Spoken vs Written Discourse
Omid
Created on November 21, 2022
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Transcript
WOW
Speaking and Writing Genres of Discourse
Question
How is writing different from speaking?
writing is not just spoken language written down (Biber 1988, 1992, 1995).
Problem
Academic
Formal
Passive
written discourse is of a higher order—more logical, formal, and complex— than oral discourse and is therefore superior to it.
Formality
The notion of formality is an aspect of many spoken genres, such as courtroom argumentations or academic presentations, while some written genres, such as email or personal diaries, can be considered informal. As Ochs (1979) points out, rather than using the terms formal and informal, it may be more appropriate to speak of planned versus unplanned discourse to describe the differences between such cases.
01
Turn taking
“well,” “oh,” “so”
Some Points
02
Requests for information
in speaking
03
Body language and tone
words
Examples
My personal experience is a compelling example of this. When I am in university, some days that I didn’t want to go. In my case, I think I am a bit lucky to be surrounded by technology but I do feel like people with no technology around me do struggle to comply with our fixed daily life styles nowadays. In my opinion, I totally agree with the idea that our current way of life will have a negative impact on future generations.
Questions
1. How might you define the term discourse in simple terms for a language student? 2. It is stated that a random group of sentences does not constitute discourse. What are some mechanisms in written language that serve to link the words, clauses, or paragraphs together, or—as some say—to provide “cohesion” to a text? Find a short newspaper article and search for actual examples. How might you explain the examples to a language student? 3. There are several differences between spoken and written genres of discourse that have been mentioned in this text. Under what circumstances might it be an advantage to speak rather than write or to listen rather than read? What are the implications of the differences for language teaching? 4. Discuss evidence (from your teaching, language study, or other life experience) for the claim that the rhetorical structures and conventions of written and spoken discourse differ from culture 16 to culture. Is this claim true for all writers and types of writing, or are there exceptions?
Thanks