Bringing reality to the classroom: Exercises in intertextuality. (October 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bremner, Stephen; Costley, Tracey
• Is Part Of: English for specific purposes. Volume 52(2018)
• Page Start: 1
• Page End: 12
• Publication Date: 2018-10
• Subjects: email -- Intertextuality -- Professional communication -- Student writing -- Task design; English language -- Study and teaching -- Foreign speakers -- Periodicals; English language -- Business English -- Study and teaching -- Periodicals; English language -- Technical English -- Study and teaching -- Periodicals; Anglais (Langue) -- Étude et enseignement -- Allophones -- Périodiques; Enseignement professionnel -- Périodiques; Anglais (Langue) -- Anglais commercial -- Étude et enseignement -- Périodiques; Anglais (Langue) -- Anglais technique -- Étude et enseignement -- Périodiques; English language -- Business English -- Study and teaching; English language -- Study and teaching -- Foreign speakers; English language -- Technical English -- Study and teaching; Periodicals; 428.007
• DOI: 10.1016/j.esp.2018.05.001
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0889-4906

Abstract

Abstract: The ability to handle intertextual relations in email is an important component of workplace writing competence that is, for the most part, overlooked in classroom contexts because of a tendency to treat emails as independent texts. This study reports on a series of email assignments that required students to read and process a collection of texts before composing emails themselves, with the aim of examining how students dealt with the demands made by the intertextual nature of workplace writing. The findings suggest that the management of multiple texts and their intertextual relations poses considerable challenges for student writers, specifically relating to the amount of information to include, the degree of explicitness needed in referring to other texts, and the management of the dialogue and writer-reader relationship. The study concludes that there is a need to demonstrate to students the centrality of intertextuality and the ways in which it contributes to the coherence of workplace communication. Students need to understand, too, that managing intertextuality is not simply a question of textual manipulation, but of understanding the communicative context and of considering how they want their relationship with the reader to develop. Highlights: Highlights importance of intertextuality in workplace writing. Links theoretical discussion to classroom practice and assessment. Students perform poorly on email writing tasks involving intertextuality. Students have difficulty managing information and writer-reader relationship.