12 Genres of Reading Text in English

GENRE	SOCIAL FUNCTION	GENERIC STUCTURE	SIGNIFICANT LEXICOGRAMATICAL  FEATURES
Recount	To retell events for the purpose of informing or entertaining	§  Orientation: provides the setting and introduces participants §  Events: tell what happened, in what sequence. §  Re-orientation: optional-closure of events	§  Focus on specific Participants §  Use of material processes §  Circumstances of time and place §  Use of past tense §  Focus on temporal sequence
Report	To describe the way things are, with reference to a range of natural, man-made and social phenomena in our environment	§  General classification: tell what the phenomenon under discussion is. §  Description tells what the phenomenon under discussion is like in terms (1) parts, (2) qualities, (3) habits or behaviors, if living; uses, if non-natural.	§  Focus on Generic Participants. §  Use of relational Processes to state what is and that which it is. §  Use of simple present tense (unless extinct). §  No temporal sequence
Discussion	To present (at least) two points of view about an issue	§  Issue: -          Statement -          Preview §  Arguments for and against or statement of differing points of view. -          Point -          Elaboration §  Conclusion or Recommendation.	§  Focus on generic human and generic non-human Participants. §  Use of : -          Material Processes, e.g. ha produced, have developed to feed. -          Relational Processes, e.g., is, could have, cause, are. -          Mental Processes, e.g., feel. §  Use of Comparative: contrastive and Consequential conjunctions. §  Reasoning expressed as verbs and nouns (abstraction)
Explanation	To explain the processes involved in the formation or workings of natural or socio-cultural phenomena	§  A general statement to position the reader. §  A sequenced explanation of why or how something occurs.	§  Focus on generic, non-human Participants. §  Use mainly of Material and Relational Processes. §  Use mainly of temporal and causal Circumstances and Conjunctions. §  Some use of Passive voice to get Theme right.
Anecdote	To share with others an account of an unusual or amusing incident.	§  Abstract: signals the retelling of an unusual incident. §  Orientation: sets the scene. §  Crisis: provides details of the unusual incident. §  Reaction: reaction to crises. §  Coda: optional-reflection on or evaluation of the incident.	§  Use of exclamations, rhetorical questions and intensifiers (really. Very, quite, etc.) to point up the significance of the events. §  Use of material Processes to tell what happened. §  Use of temporal conjunctions.

GENRE	SOCIAL FUNCTION	GENERIC STUCTURE	SIGNIFICANT LEXICOGRAMATICAL  FEATURES
Exposition (Analytical)	To persuade the reader or listener that something should be the case	§  Thesis Position: Introduces topic and indicates writer's position. Preview: Outlines the main arguments to be presented. §  Arguments Point: restates main arguments outlined in Preview. Elaboration: develops and supports each Point/argument. §  Reiteration: restates writer's positions.	§  Focus on generic human and non human Participants. §  Use of simple present tense. §  Use or Relational Processes. §  Use of Internal conjunction to state argument. §  Reasoning through Causal Conjunction or nominalization.
Exposition (Hortatory)	To  persuade the reader or listener that something should or should not bi the case	§  Thesis: announcement of issue concern. §  Arguments: reasons for concern, leading to recommendation. §  Recommendation: statement of what ought or ought to happen.	§  Focus on generic human and non-human Participants, except for speaker and writer referring to self. §  Use of: -          Mental Process: to state what writer thinks or feel about issue, e.g. realize, feel, appreciate. -          Material Processes: to state what happens, e.g. is polluting, drive, travel, spend, should be treated. -          Relational Processes: to state what is or should be, e.g. doesn’t seem to have been, is. §  Use of simple present tense
New Item	To inform readers, listeners or viewers about events of the day which are considered newsworthy or important.	§  Newsworthy Event(s): recount the event in summary form. §  Background Events: elaborate what happened, to whom, in what circumstances §  Sources: comments by participants in witnesses to and authorities expert on the event.	Short telegraphic information about story captured in headline. §  Use of Material Processes to retell event (in the text below, many of the Material Processes are nominalised). §  Use of projecting Verbal Processes in Sources stage. §  Focus on circumstances (e.g. mostly within qualifiers).

GENRE	SOCIAL FUNCTION	GENERIC STUCTURE	SIGNIFICANT LEXICOGRAMATICAL  FEATURES
Narrative	To amuse, entertain and to deal with actual or vicarious experience in different ways; Narratives deal with problematic events which lead to a crisis or turning point of some kind, which in turn finds a resolution.	§  Orientation: sets the scene and introduces the participants. §  Evaluation: a stepping back to evaluate the plight. §  Complication: a crisis arises. §  Resolution: the crisis is resolved, for better or for worse. §  Re-orientation: optional.	§  Focus on specific and usually individualized Participants. §  Use of Material Processes (and in this text, Behavioral and Verbal Processes. §  Use of Relational Processes and Mental Processes. §  Use of temporal conjunctions and temporal Circumstance. §  Use of past tense.
Procedure	To describe how something is accomplished through a sequence of actions or steps.	§  Goal. §  Materials (not required for all Procedural text). §  Steps 1-n (i.e., Goal followed by a series of steps oriented to achieving the Goal).	§  Focus on generalized human agents. §  Use of simple tense, often imperative. §  Use mainly temporal conjunctions 9or numbering to indicate sequence). §  Use mainly of Material Processes.
Description	To describe a particular person, place or thing.	§  Identification: identifies phenomenon to described. §  Description: describes parts, qualities, characteristics.	§  Focus on specific Participants §  Use of Attributive and Identifying Processes. §  Frequent use of Ephitets and Classifiers in nominal groups. §  Use of simple present tense.
Review	To critique an art work, event for a public audience. Such works of art include movies, TV shows, books, plays, operas, recordings, exhibitions, concerts and ballets.	§  Orientation: places the work in its general and particular context, often by comparing it with others of its kind or through analogue with a non-art object or event. §  Interpretive Recount: summaries the plot and/or provides an account of how the reviewed rendition of the work came into being; is optional, but if present, often recursive. §  Evaluation: provides an evaluation of the work and/or its performance or production; is usually recursive. §  Evaluative Summation: provides a kind of punchline which sums up the reviewer's opinion of the art event as a whole; is optional.	§  Focus on Particular Participants. §  Direct expression of options through use of Attitudinal Ephitets in nominal groups. Qualitative Attributes and Affective Mental Processes. §  Use of elaborating and extending clause and group complexes to package the information. §  Use of metaphorical language (e.g., the wit was there, dexterously pino ponged to and fro…).