Discourse Acts in Expository Writing
Why identify discourse acts?
If we can describe the discourse acts in the types of texts students have to write, we can improve their writing by teaching them to perform the expected discourse acts.
What are discourse acts?
They refer to
what we do when we use language in our interactions with other people. For
instance, before we ask someone for a favour we say “Can you do me a favour? The
discourse act we have performed may be described as ‘Prepare listener to expect
a request that may cost him time/energy/money”.
Typical discourse acts in a letter of request/appeal for action
The social situation is: An undesirable incident has occurred, which prompts W (the writer) to ask R (the reader) for remedial action. (See Text A distributed at the first session.)
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Discourse acts |
Example |
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Provide R with enough details of the problem situation to enable R to know what this letter is about (reader orientation) |
Usually at the beginning of the letter. I am the coordinator of …. Part time tutors have great difficulty finding parking space…. It is very stressful for a tutor to… |
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Suggest a solution to the problem; indicate purpose of suggestion; use tentative, polite language |
In the body of the letter To avoid illegal parking…, may I suggest that a dozen or so lots be allocated… |
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Elaborate suggestion to answer anticipated R objection/question (How?/ Why?/ What if…?); use tentative language. |
Labels, a different colour for each semester, could be issued …. (Anticipating “How implement? How prevent abuse?”) |
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Predict the negative result(s) of not meeting W’s request. And/or predict the positive result(s) of granting W’s request. |
Without willing part time tutors, a number of courses would have insufficient teachers. We should treat part time tutors with consideration or risk losing good tutors to other educational institutions that also seek part time staff. |
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Indicate the action/response W expects from R |
In concluding paragraph I would appreciate your reply to my suggested solution… If the suggestion is impractical, please tell me what advice to give to part time tutors who… |
Typical discourse acts in an argument
The social situation may be the school argumentative essay, although in everyday life students, like teachers and everyone else, do engage in argument with family, friends, colleagues on a variety of topics.
The student’s role in the essay is to present himself/herself to the teacher/examiner reader as a student capable of maturity of thought, adequate development of a thesis, clarity, and other features valued by teachers/examiners. (As teachers, we should be asking ourselves: What discourse acts must be performed so that an essay shows maturity of thought, developed thesis, etc. etc.?)
The discourse acts below result from a study of Text B (Session 1 materials). While not a student’s argumentative essay, Text B contains discourse acts typical of written argumentation. Its social situation is the belief, held by some people and disputed by others, that animals in the wild are free as opposed to animals held in zoos.
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Discourse acts |
Example |
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Assert (state) W’s position on the topic/issue |
Usually in the essay’s opening paragraph Animals in the wild are, in practice, free neither in space nor in time, nor… |
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Concede (often reluctantly) that the opposing view may be (partly) true/ reasonable. |
Conceding opposing view may occur later in the essay after W’s supporting claims. It occurs early in Text B because the preceding paragraphs have presented the view of people who claim that animals in the wild are happy and free. In theory…an animal could pick up and go, … |
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Disprove opposing view; assert it is untrue/unreliable; use analogy to support assertion. (There are other ways of disproving an opposing view; analogy is just one.) |
But such an event is less likely to happen than for, say a shopkeeper… to drop everything and walk away from his life…
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Make a claim to support W’s position |
…that is what animals are, conservative,…The smallest changes upset them… |
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Introduce support for the claim using general, abstract terms. |
‘Introduce’ is done when the support consists of a number of propositions. You see this in their spatial relations. |
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Provide details to support claim |
An animal inhabits its space, …. In the wild animals stick to the same paths…season after season. |
There are, of course, other discourse acts that regularly occur in argumentation. Look out for them when you read your students’ essays, newspaper feature articles, and other texts that argue a position.
Discourse acts in a report writing task
(Task and discourse acts contributed by the in-service class of March 2007)
Task (2006 exam, situational writing task)
Write a report to your principal on the best way to help newly arrived Sec 1 students settle quickly into your school.
Idea (selected from list given by examiner): Produce a video to show new students what the school can offer.
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Genre practices in this report: |
§ Propose that showing a video is the best method to help the primary school students settle down quickly into Sec 1. § Argue how this the best method, how a video would help. |
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Discourse acts involved in performing the second genre practice above. (What students must be able to do to write a good report for a principal.) |
[Acts 6, 7, and 8]
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Which of the above discourse acts to teach? Teach the ones your students are least proficient in.
Objective of the lesson should be to teach the selected discourse acts (rather than topic content) so that students can apply them to any report writing question requiring argument for a proposal.