NAME : MUTHI’AH NURUL IZZATI

NIM : A320180279

CLASS :F

SUBJECT : APPLIED LINGUISTICS

TEXT, TEXT TYPES, AND GENRE

MIND MAP - A text is a unit of

language in use (Halliday
De Beaugrande & Dressler (1981) mention & Hasan, 1976:1)
seven standards of textuality: cohesion,
coherence, intentionality, acceptability,
informativity, contextuality, and A text is a semantic unit of language
intertextuality. that make sense. When it doesn’t
make sense, it is not a text; it is not
communication. (Agustien, 2006: 5)

TEXT
TYPE GENRE
TEXT
 The former is based on the
internal, linguistic characteristics
of text themselves
 Text type is the category based
on the internal (linguistic) criteria
 Text type may be defined on the
basis of cognitive categories or
linguistic criteria

Different in the form

 and situations of use

 The former is based on external,

non-linguistic, traditional criteria
 Genre is defined as a category
assigned on the basis of external
criteria such as intended
SUMMARY audience, purpose, and activity
The example: Introduction type
- Procedure  Genre isThe example:
defined on the basis of
- Anecdote Recent years systematic- Recipe
non-linguistic criteria
- Description have seen - Personal letter
- Exposition increased emphasis being - Advertisement
- Problem-solution placed on the notion of - Police report
- Recount genre in the language - Student essay
- Report - Formal letter
learning classroom,
- Review - News item
including in Indonesia. Less
- Health brochure
attention, however, have - Student assignment
been given to the notion of text types. One common
problem associated with the teaching of the notion of genre at school level is the students
often leave with the idea that genres are quite simply similar to text types. Students commonly
equate text types with genre.

What is a Text?
A text is basically “language that is doing some job in some context” Halliday & Hasan,
1985: 0). A text is a unit of language in use (Halliday & Hasan, 1976: 1). A text is a semantic unit,
a unit of language that make sense. A conversation, talk, and a piece of writing can be called a
text only when it makes sense. When it doesn’t make sense, it is not a text; it is not
communication. Communication happens only when we make sensible texts (Agustien, 2006:5).
Butt et al. (2001: 3) state that a text refers to “a piece of language in use”, which is a
“harmonious collection of meanings appropriate to its context” and hence has “unity of
purpose”.
Halliday & Hasan (1976: 2) state,
Text is use in linguistics to refer to any passage, spoken or written, of whatever length, that
does form a unified whole [….]. A text is a unit of language in use. It is not a grammatical
unit, like a clause or a sentence; and it is not defined by its size. A text is sometimes
envisaged to be some kind of super-sentence, a grammatical unit that is larger than a
sentence but is related to a sentence in the same way that a sentence is related to a clause,
 a clause to a group and so on [….].A text is best regarded as a semantic unit; a unit not of
form but of meaning.
A text may be written or spoken, long or short, but must be ‘functional’. It is
semantically and pragmatically coherent in its real-world context. It can have whatever length
that form a unified whole (Carter & McCarthy, 2006). That is a text can be a single word (i.e. a
slow, sign of the road) or a sequence of utterances or sentences (a speech, a letter, a novel,
etc). A single sentence “I am in the bath” cannot be considered as a text. But a dialogue below
is text.
A: the phone’s ringing
B: I’m in the bath!
A: OK
This implies that both spoken and written text is essentially interactive (just as a speaker
has a listener, a writer has an imagined reader) and has a goal or purpose. It also implies that
texts take place, function, within particular contexts, or register, and those contexts affect the
choices made within the texts. A text can be recognized as such through textuality, that is, the
external and internal factors that bind it as text. De Beaugrande and Dressler (1981) mention
seven standards of textuality, namely; cohesion, coherence, intentionality, acceptability,
informativity, contextuality, and intertextuality.
Cohesion describes the ways components of sentences of a text are grammatically and
lexically connected. This connetion can be achieved through grammatical dependences (De
Beaugrande and Dressler, 1981). Coherence is the logical link between the elements of the text.
It enables the readers and hearers to understand the writers and speakers’ intentions.
Intentionality includes the intentions of the text producers to receptors. Intentionality is
reflected in the writer’s manipulation of rhetorical devices commands, questions, and
suggestions etc.
Acceptability concerns the text receiver’s attitude that the text should constitute useful
or relevant details or information such that is worth accepting. Informativity is the principle
that makes a text having a communicative value. It is the informativity value of syntactic
expressions. It represent the extent to which the text is expected and known by the receptors.
Contextuality is a principles that focuses on the importance of context in communication. For
effective communication in language use is determined by the contextual knowledge the
participants share. Intertextuality is a principle that refers to past experience. That is, the
formation and understanding of a text is affected by the formation of another text which is
similar to it (Carstens, 1997).
Text Types and Genre
The terms text types and genre are often used interchangeably in different contexts and
are generally thought to mean the same idea. “Text type” and “genre” are very similar in
practical contexts, it is important to understand how they relate to each other and this will also
explain why these terms are often used interchangeably.
One way of making a distinction between genre and text type is to say that the former is
based on external, non-linguistic, traditional criteria while the latter is based on the internal,
linguistic characteristics of text themselves (Biber, 1988: 70 & 170). He states that “genre
categories are determined on the basis of external criteria relating to the speaker’s purpose and
topic; they are assigned on the basis of use rather than on the basis of form (Biber, 1988: 170).
A genre in this view, is defined as a category assigned on the basis of external criteria such as
intended audience, purpose, and activity type, that is, it refers to a conventional, culturally
recognized grouping of texts based on properties other than lexical or grammatical (co-)
occurance features, whereas text type is the category based on the internal (linguistic) criteria.
Swales (1990: 24-27) mentions genres simply as categories chosen on the basis of
external parameters. Genres also have the property of being recognized as having a certain
legitimacy as groupings of texts within a speech community. Biber in Paltridge (1996: 237)
states that a text type is “a class of text having similarities in linguistic forms regardless of the
genre”.
Hammond in Paltridge (1996, 237-239) exemplifies the characteristic of several genres
and categorized them according to similarities in text types: recipes have procedure type of
text, personal letters are often used tell private anecdotes; advertisements deal with
description; new articles have recount type; scientific papers prefer passive voice over active
voice in presenting reports; and academic papers commonly have embedded clause (Paltridge,
1996: 237-239).
Text types refer to text prototypes defined according to their primary social purposes,
and six main text types are identified as follows: (1) Narratives tell a story, usually to entertain,
(2) Recounts (personal, factual) tell what happened, (3) Information Reports provide factual
information, (4) Instructions tell the listener or reader what to do, (5) Explanations explain how
or why something happens, and (6) Expository Texts present or argue viewpoints.
Genres also refer to more specific classes of texts, such newspaper reports or recipes.
Texts of each genre may be purely of one text-type (for example, a bus schedule is purely an
Information Report, while most recipes are purely of the text type ‘Instructions’) or they may be
a blend (for example, sermons often include stretches of narratives of recounts, as well as
explanations, while usually expository in intent). In some instances, written genres are defined
in terms of familiar broad categories such as Narratives, Description, Persuasion,
Argumentative, etc. Whatever the differences, categorization is based on what the discourse
seeks to achieve or to do socially, for example, to tell a story (Narratives) or to argue an opinion
(Argument, Exposition).
In sum, a genre is much more than a “text type” with a fixed, static, and arbitrary form.
Rather, genres have evolved in response to certain social purposes that certain types of writing
have to serve; genres come to have the textual elements that they do because those textual
elements have been found over time to be capable of accomplishing what writers typically need
to accomplish with those sorts of texts. Paltridge’s (1996) examples of genres and text types as
follows:
Genre Text Type
Recipe Procedure
Personal letter Anecdote
Advertisement Description
Police report Description
Student essay Exposition
Formal letter Exposition
Formal letter Problem-Solution
News item Recount
Health brochure Procedure
Student assignment Recount
Biology textbook Report
Film review Review

ANSWERING QUESTION

1. What Halliday & Hasan say about text

Halliday & Hasan (1976: 2) state, “Text is use in linguistics to refer to any passage,
spoken or written, of whatever length, that does form a unified whole [….]. A text is a
unit of language in use. It is not a grammatical unit, like a clause or a sentence; and it is
not defined by its size. A text is sometimes envisaged to be some kind of super-
sentence, a grammatical unit that is larger than a sentence but is related to a sentence
in the same way that a sentence is related to a clause, a clause to a group and so on
[….].A text is best regarded as a semantic unit; a unit not of form but of meaning”.

2. Examples of a text which consists of only one word, one sentence, and one clause of
conversation and its social purposes
A: when will you come back?
B: I still don’t know but ASAP
Social purpose: asking the return
3. Halliday’s statement “text is not only a semantic unit but also an instance of social
interaction”
→Text is a sign representation of a socio-cultural event embedded in a context of
situation. Text not only contains meanings but also shows the interaction between
humans.

4. Seven standards of textuality mentioned by De Beaugrande and Dressler

De Beaugrande and Dressler (1981) mention seven standards of textuality, namely;
cohesion, coherence, intentionality, acceptability, informativity, contextuality, and
intertextuality.
- Cohesion describes the ways components of sentences of a text are grammatically
and lexically connected. This connetion can be achieved through grammatical
dependences (De Beaugrande and Dressler, 1981).
- Coherence is the logical link between the elements of the text. It enables the
readers and hearers to understand the writers and speakers’ intentions.
- Intentionality includes the intentions of the text producers to receptors.
Intentionality is reflected in the writer’s manipulation of rhetorical devices
commands, questions, and suggestions etc.
- Acceptability concerns the text receiver’s attitude that the text should constitute
useful or relevant details or information such that is worth accepting.
- Informativity is the principle that makes a text having a communicative value. It is
the informativity value of syntactic expressions. It represent the extent to which the
text is expected and known by the receptors.
- Contextuality is a principles that focuses on the importance of context in
communication. For effective communication in language use is determined by the
contextual knowledge the participants share.
- Intertextuality is a principle that refers to past experience. That is, the formation
and understanding of a text is affected by the formation of another text which is
similar to it (Carstens, 1997).

5. The differences between the terms of text types and genre

Text types

Text Types Genre

 The former is based on the internal,  The former is based on external, non-
linguistic characteristics of text linguistic, traditional criteria
themselves  Genre is defined as a category
 Text type is the category based on the assigned on the basis of external
internal (linguistic) criteria criteria such as intended audience,
 Text type may be defined on the basis purpose, and activity type
of cognitive categories or linguistic  Genre is defined on the basis of
criteria systematic non-linguistic criteria