Abstract
Genre studies have tended to focus on academic contexts, with little attention to professional settings. Against this backdrop, this study set out to conduct a corpus-based genre analysis of letters of regularization written to land institutions in Ghana. The study adopted a textual analysis, informed by the ESP approach to genres, and supplemented it with a corpus-based analysis to examine 40 letters of regularization. The analyses revealed that the most frequent move in the letters of regularization was the ‘Purpose of the letter’. Although the ‘Reason for the application’ move was not obligatory, it took much textual space in the letters. As regards lexicogrammatical features, politeness was embedded and expressed in ‘if clauses’ to mitigate direct impositions on the reader. Additionally, gratitude was mainly construed as a quality and as a process in the letters. Based on these findings, the study offers implications for further research and practice.
References
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Author, & Gyasi, R. B. (2020).
Author, & Mwinlaaru, I. N. (2012).
Agbaglo, E. (2022). “My heartfelt gratitude goes to…”: The construal of gratitude in master’s dissertation acknowledgements. International Journal of Research, 11(6), 13-28.
Al- Ali, M. (2004). How to get yourself on the door of a job: A cross-cultural contrastive study of Arabic and English job application letters. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 25(1), 1-23.
Anderson, J. A. (2014). Polite requests in non-native varieties of English: The case of Ghanaian English. Linguistica Atlantica, 30, 59-86.
Bazerman, C. (1994). Systems of genres and the enhancement of social intentions. In M. Bednarek, & H. Caple (Eds.), News discourse (pp. 105-160). London: Continuum.
Berkenkotter, C., & Huckin, T. N. (2016). Genre knowledge in disciplinary communication: Cognition/culture/power. London: Routledge.
Bhatia, V. (2002). Applied genre analysis: A multi-perspective model. Ibérica, 4, 3-19.
Bhatia, V. K. (1993). Analyzing genre: Language use in professional settings. London: Longman.
Bhatia, V. K. (1996). Methodological issues in genre analysis. HERMES-Journal of Language and Communication in Business, 16, 39-59.
Bhatia, V. K. (2008). Genre analysis, ESP and professional practice. English for Specific Purposes, 27(2), 161-174.
Bhatia, V. K. (2012). Critical reflections on genre analysis. Ibérica, 24, 17-28.
Bhatia, V. K. (2016). Critical genre analysis: Investigating interdiscursive performance in professional practice. New York: Routledge.
Biber, D., Connor, U., & Upton, T. A. (2007). Discourse on the move: Using corpus analysis to describe discourse structure. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Biber, D., Conrad, S., & Reppen, R. (1994). Corpus-based approaches to issues in applied linguistics. Applied Linguistics, 15(2), 169-189.
Blum-Kulka, S., House, J., & Kasper, G. (1989). Investigating cross-cultural pragmatics: An introductory overview. Cross-cultural pragmatics: Requests and Apologies, 31, 1-34.
Boicu, R. (2008). Modal verbs and politeness strategies in political discourse (No. 45913). University Library of Munich, Germany. Retrieved from, http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/45913/
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Brown, P., & Levinson, S. C. (1987). Politeness: Some universals in language usage. Cambridge: Cambridge university press.
Carter-Thomas, S., & Rowley-Jolivet, E. (2003). Analysing the scientific conference presentation (CP), A methodological overview of a multimodal genre. GERAS, 2(39), 59-72.
Christie, F. (2013). Genres and genre theory: A response to Michael Rosen. Changing English, 20(1), 11-22.
Cownie, F. (2017). Gratitude and its drivers within higher education. Journal of Marketing for Higher Education, 27(2), 290-308.
Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. W. (2018). Research design qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (5th Ed.). London: Sage Publications.
Ding, H. (2007). Genre analysis of personal statements: Analysis of moves in application essays to medical and dental schools. English for Specific Purposes, 26(3), 368-392.
Dos Santos, V. P. (2002). Genre analysis of business letters of negotiation. English for Specific Purposes, 21(2), 167-199.
Flowerdew, L. (2004). The argument for using specialised corpora to understand academic and professional language. In U. Connor, & T. Upton (Eds.), Discourse in the professions: Perspectives from corpus linguistics (pp. 11-33). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Flowerdew, J., & Dudley‐Evans, T. (2002). Genre analysis of editorial letters to international journal contributors. Applied Linguistics, 23(4), 463-489.
Flowerdew, J., & Wan, A. (2006). Genre analysis of tax computation letters: How and why tax accountants write the way they do. English for Specific Purposes, 25(2), 133–153.
Flowerdew, J., & Wan, A. (2010). The linguistic and the contextual in applied genre analysis: The case of the company audit report. English for Specific Purposes, 29(2), 78-93.
Fryer, D. L. (2012). Analysis of the generic discourse features of the English-language medical research article: A systemic-functional approach. Functions of Language, 19(1), 5-37.
Fusch, P. I., & Ness, L. R. (2015). Are we there yet? Data saturation in qualitative research. The Qualitative Report, 20(9), 1408-1422.
Gesuato, S. (2004). Towards a grammar of gratitude: Expressing thanks in PhD dissertation acknowledgements (Unpublished PhD thesis). University of California at Berkeley.
Gillaerts, P. (2003). A textlinguistic and genological approach to the letters of application. Journal of Linguistics, 31, 105-117.
Goźdź-Roszkowski, S. (2020). Communicating dissent in judicial opinions: A comparative genre-based analysis. International Journal for the Semiotics of Law, 33(2), 381-401.
Halliday, M. A. K. (1978). Language as social semiotic. Bath: Pitman Press.
Author, & Cao, F. (2011).
Author, & Liu, Y. (2018).
Huddleston, R. D., & Pullum, P. K. (2002). The Cambridge grammar of English language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hüttner, J. (2010). The potential of purpose-built corpora in the analysis of student academic writing in English. Journal of Writing Research, 2(2), 197-218.
Hyland, K. (2003). Dissertation acknowledgements: The anatomy of a Cinderella genre. Written Communication, 20(3), 242-268.
Hyland, K. (2005). Metadiscourse. London: Continuum.
Hyland, K., & Milton, J. (1997). Qualification and certainty in L1 and L2 students’ writing. Journal of Second Language Writing, 6(2), 183-205.
Hyland, K., & Tse, P. (2004). “I would like to thank my supervisor”. Acknowledgements in graduate dissertations. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 14(2), 259-275.
Hyland, K., & Tse, P. (2012). ‘She has received many honours’: Identity construction in article bio statements. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 11(2), 155-165.
Jalilifar, A., & Beitsayyah, L. (2011). Genre analysis of enquiry letters across cultures: Perspectives on rhetorical structures. Concentric: Studies in Linguistics, 37(2), 309-333.
Kessy, J. D. (2005). Land regularization through participatory approach in Tanzania: The case of Ubungo Darajani--Dar es Salaa. Unpublished PhD thesis, Southern New Hampshire University.
Kjellberg, S. (2009). Scholarly blogging practice as situated genre: An analytical framework based on genre theory. Information Research: An International Electronic Journal, 14(3), n3.
Kuteeva, M. (2020). Revisiting the ‘E’in EMI: Students’ perceptions of standard English, lingua franca and translingual practices. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 23(3), 287-300.
Lee, J. J. (2016). “There's intentionality behind it…”: A genre analysis of EAP classroom lessons. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 23, 99-112.
Lin, K. L., Mwinlaaru, I. N., & Tay, D. (Eds.). (2020). Approaches to specialized genres. London: Routledge.
Martin, J. R. (1992). English text: System and structure. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Mehrpour, S., & Mehrzad, M. (2013). A comparative genre analysis of English business e-mails written by Iranians and native English speakers. Theory & Practice in Language Studies, 3(12), 124-137.
Mesthrie, R., & Bhatt, R. M. (2008). World Englishes: The study of new linguistic varieties. Cambridge University Press.
Miller, C. R. (1984). Genre as social action. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 70, 151-167.
Mwinlaaru, I. N., & Nartey, M. (2021). ‘Free men we stand under the flag of our land’: A transitivity analysis of African anthems as discourses of resistance against colonialism. Critical Discourse Studies, 1-17.
Nartey, M., & Yankson, F. E. (2014). A semantic investigation into the use of modal auxiliary verbs in the manifesto of a Ghanaian political party. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 4(3), 21-304.
Pho, P. D. (2008). Research article abstracts in applied linguistics and educational technology: A study of linguistic realizations of rhetorical structure and authorial stance. Discourse Studies, 10(2), 231-250.
Santos, V. B. M. (2002). Genre analysis of business letters of negotiation. English for Specific Purposes, 21(2), 167-199.
Sarfo, E. (2011). Offering health care through radio: An analysis of radio health talk by medical doctors. Language, Discourse & Society, 1, 104-125.
Scott, M. (1999). Picturing the keywords of a very large corpus and their lexical upshots – or getting at the guardian’s view of the world. In B. Kettemann & G. Marko (Eds.), Teaching and learning by doing corpus analysis (pp. 43-50). Amsterdam: Rodopi.
Swales, J. (1990). Genre analysis: English in academic and research settings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Swales, J. M. (1981). Aspects of article introduction. Aston ESP Research Reports. University of Aston, Birmingham.
Swales, J. M. (2009). Worlds of genre: Metaphors of genre. In C. Bazerman, A. Bonini, & D. Figueiredo (Eds.), Genre in a changing world (pp. 3-16). West Lafayette, IN: Parlor Press.
Taguchi, N. (2008). The role of learning environment in the development of pragmatic comprehension: A comparison of gains between EFL and ESL learners. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 30(4), 423-452.
Thompson, R. A., & Anderson, J. A. (2019). Perception of politeness: Some perspectives from Ghana. Journal of Politeness Research, 15(1), 101-120.
Thompson, S. (1994). Frameworks and contexts: A genre-based approach to analysing lecture introductions. English for Specific Purposes, 13(2), 171-186.
Tiainen, K. (2012). A genre analysis of academic research blogs. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Helsinki.
Tseng, F. P. (2011). Analyses of move structure and verb tense of research article abstracts in applied linguistics journals. International Journal of English Linguistics, 1(2), 27-39.
Yaakob, S. B. (2014). A genre analysis and corpus-based study of university lecture introductions. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Birmingham.
Yang, W. (2013). Genre analysis of dissertation acknowledgements: A comparative study across contexts. 3L: The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies. 19(2), 27-40.
Yule, G. (1996). Pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Author, (2016).
Author, & Gyasi, R. B. (2020).
Author, & Mwinlaaru, I. N. (2012).
Agbaglo, E. (2022). “My heartfelt gratitude goes to…”: The construal of gratitude in master’s dissertation acknowledgements. International Journal of Research, 11(6), 13-28.
Al- Ali, M. (2004). How to get yourself on the door of a job: A cross-cultural contrastive study of Arabic and English job application letters. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 25(1), 1-23.
Anderson, J. A. (2014). Polite requests in non-native varieties of English: The case of Ghanaian English. Linguistica Atlantica, 30, 59-86.
Bazerman, C. (1994). Systems of genres and the enhancement of social intentions. In M. Bednarek, & H. Caple (Eds.), News discourse (pp. 105-160). London: Continuum.
Berkenkotter, C., & Huckin, T. N. (2016). Genre knowledge in disciplinary communication: Cognition/culture/power. London: Routledge.
Bhatia, V. (2002). Applied genre analysis: A multi-perspective model. Ibérica, 4, 3-19.
Bhatia, V. K. (1993). Analyzing genre: Language use in professional settings. London: Longman.
Bhatia, V. K. (1996). Methodological issues in genre analysis. HERMES-Journal of Language and Communication in Business, 16, 39-59.
Bhatia, V. K. (2008). Genre analysis, ESP and professional practice. English for Specific Purposes, 27(2), 161-174.
Bhatia, V. K. (2012). Critical reflections on genre analysis. Ibérica, 24, 17-28.
Bhatia, V. K. (2016). Critical genre analysis: Investigating interdiscursive performance in professional practice. New York: Routledge.
Biber, D., Connor, U., & Upton, T. A. (2007). Discourse on the move: Using corpus analysis to describe discourse structure. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Biber, D., Conrad, S., & Reppen, R. (1994). Corpus-based approaches to issues in applied linguistics. Applied Linguistics, 15(2), 169-189.
Blum-Kulka, S., House, J., & Kasper, G. (1989). Investigating cross-cultural pragmatics: An introductory overview. Cross-cultural pragmatics: Requests and Apologies, 31, 1-34.
Boicu, R. (2008). Modal verbs and politeness strategies in political discourse (No. 45913). University Library of Munich, Germany. Retrieved from, http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/45913/
Author & Author (2022).
Brown, P., & Levinson, S. C. (1987). Politeness: Some universals in language usage. Cambridge: Cambridge university press.
Carter-Thomas, S., & Rowley-Jolivet, E. (2003). Analysing the scientific conference presentation (CP), A methodological overview of a multimodal genre. GERAS, 2(39), 59-72.
Christie, F. (2013). Genres and genre theory: A response to Michael Rosen. Changing English, 20(1), 11-22.
Cownie, F. (2017). Gratitude and its drivers within higher education. Journal of Marketing for Higher Education, 27(2), 290-308.
Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. W. (2018). Research design qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (5th Ed.). London: Sage Publications.
Ding, H. (2007). Genre analysis of personal statements: Analysis of moves in application essays to medical and dental schools. English for Specific Purposes, 26(3), 368-392.
Dos Santos, V. P. (2002). Genre analysis of business letters of negotiation. English for Specific Purposes, 21(2), 167-199.
Flowerdew, L. (2004). The argument for using specialised corpora to understand academic and professional language. In U. Connor, & T. Upton (Eds.), Discourse in the professions: Perspectives from corpus linguistics (pp. 11-33). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Flowerdew, J., & Dudley‐Evans, T. (2002). Genre analysis of editorial letters to international journal contributors. Applied Linguistics, 23(4), 463-489.
Flowerdew, J., & Wan, A. (2006). Genre analysis of tax computation letters: How and why tax accountants write the way they do. English for Specific Purposes, 25(2), 133–153.
Flowerdew, J., & Wan, A. (2010). The linguistic and the contextual in applied genre analysis: The case of the company audit report. English for Specific Purposes, 29(2), 78-93.
Fryer, D. L. (2012). Analysis of the generic discourse features of the English-language medical research article: A systemic-functional approach. Functions of Language, 19(1), 5-37.
Fusch, P. I., & Ness, L. R. (2015). Are we there yet? Data saturation in qualitative research. The Qualitative Report, 20(9), 1408-1422.
Gesuato, S. (2004). Towards a grammar of gratitude: Expressing thanks in PhD dissertation acknowledgements (Unpublished PhD thesis). University of California at Berkeley.
Gillaerts, P. (2003). A textlinguistic and genological approach to the letters of application. Journal of Linguistics, 31, 105-117.
Goźdź-Roszkowski, S. (2020). Communicating dissent in judicial opinions: A comparative genre-based analysis. International Journal for the Semiotics of Law, 33(2), 381-401.
Halliday, M. A. K. (1978). Language as social semiotic. Bath: Pitman Press.
Author, & Cao, F. (2011).
Author, & Liu, Y. (2018).
Huddleston, R. D., & Pullum, P. K. (2002). The Cambridge grammar of English language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hüttner, J. (2010). The potential of purpose-built corpora in the analysis of student academic writing in English. Journal of Writing Research, 2(2), 197-218.
Hyland, K. (2003). Dissertation acknowledgements: The anatomy of a Cinderella genre. Written Communication, 20(3), 242-268.
Hyland, K. (2005). Metadiscourse. London: Continuum.
Hyland, K., & Milton, J. (1997). Qualification and certainty in L1 and L2 students’ writing. Journal of Second Language Writing, 6(2), 183-205.
Hyland, K., & Tse, P. (2004). “I would like to thank my supervisor”. Acknowledgements in graduate dissertations. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 14(2), 259-275.
Hyland, K., & Tse, P. (2012). ‘She has received many honours’: Identity construction in article bio statements. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 11(2), 155-165.
Jalilifar, A., & Beitsayyah, L. (2011). Genre analysis of enquiry letters across cultures: Perspectives on rhetorical structures. Concentric: Studies in Linguistics, 37(2), 309-333.
Kessy, J. D. (2005). Land regularization through participatory approach in Tanzania: The case of Ubungo Darajani--Dar es Salaa. Unpublished PhD thesis, Southern New Hampshire University.
Kjellberg, S. (2009). Scholarly blogging practice as situated genre: An analytical framework based on genre theory. Information Research: An International Electronic Journal, 14(3), n3.
Kuteeva, M. (2020). Revisiting the ‘E’in EMI: Students’ perceptions of standard English, lingua franca and translingual practices. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 23(3), 287-300.
Lee, J. J. (2016). “There's intentionality behind it…”: A genre analysis of EAP classroom lessons. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 23, 99-112.
Lin, K. L., Mwinlaaru, I. N., & Tay, D. (Eds.). (2020). Approaches to specialized genres. London: Routledge.
Martin, J. R. (1992). English text: System and structure. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Mehrpour, S., & Mehrzad, M. (2013). A comparative genre analysis of English business e-mails written by Iranians and native English speakers. Theory & Practice in Language Studies, 3(12), 124-137.
Mesthrie, R., & Bhatt, R. M. (2008). World Englishes: The study of new linguistic varieties. Cambridge University Press.
Miller, C. R. (1984). Genre as social action. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 70, 151-167.
Mwinlaaru, I. N., & Nartey, M. (2021). ‘Free men we stand under the flag of our land’: A transitivity analysis of African anthems as discourses of resistance against colonialism. Critical Discourse Studies, 1-17.
Nartey, M., & Yankson, F. E. (2014). A semantic investigation into the use of modal auxiliary verbs in the manifesto of a Ghanaian political party. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 4(3), 21-304.
Pho, P. D. (2008). Research article abstracts in applied linguistics and educational technology: A study of linguistic realizations of rhetorical structure and authorial stance. Discourse Studies, 10(2), 231-250.
Santos, V. B. M. (2002). Genre analysis of business letters of negotiation. English for Specific Purposes, 21(2), 167-199.
Sarfo, E. (2011). Offering health care through radio: An analysis of radio health talk by medical doctors. Language, Discourse & Society, 1, 104-125.
Scott, M. (1999). Picturing the keywords of a very large corpus and their lexical upshots – or getting at the guardian’s view of the world. In B. Kettemann & G. Marko (Eds.), Teaching and learning by doing corpus analysis (pp. 43-50). Amsterdam: Rodopi.
Swales, J. (1990). Genre analysis: English in academic and research settings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Swales, J. M. (1981). Aspects of article introduction. Aston ESP Research Reports. University of Aston, Birmingham.
Swales, J. M. (2009). Worlds of genre: Metaphors of genre. In C. Bazerman, A. Bonini, & D. Figueiredo (Eds.), Genre in a changing world (pp. 3-16). West Lafayette, IN: Parlor Press.
Taguchi, N. (2008). The role of learning environment in the development of pragmatic comprehension: A comparison of gains between EFL and ESL learners. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 30(4), 423-452.
Thompson, R. A., & Anderson, J. A. (2019). Perception of politeness: Some perspectives from Ghana. Journal of Politeness Research, 15(1), 101-120.
Thompson, S. (1994). Frameworks and contexts: A genre-based approach to analysing lecture introductions. English for Specific Purposes, 13(2), 171-186.
Tiainen, K. (2012). A genre analysis of academic research blogs. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Helsinki.
Tseng, F. P. (2011). Analyses of move structure and verb tense of research article abstracts in applied linguistics journals. International Journal of English Linguistics, 1(2), 27-39.
Yaakob, S. B. (2014). A genre analysis and corpus-based study of university lecture introductions. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Birmingham.
Yang, W. (2013). Genre analysis of dissertation acknowledgements: A comparative study across contexts. 3L: The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies. 19(2), 27-40.
Yule, G. (1996). Pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Copyright (c) 2023 Emmanuel Mensah Bonsu, Joseph Benjamin Archibald Afful, Guangwei Hu
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