Cross-cultural Genre Analysis

This book evaluates the genre structure and generic features of corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports using a corpus-based approach. It examines similarities and differences of business communication across cultures and provides insights into the practice of CSR reporting in a globalized context.

This unique monograph provides a theoretical and methodological account on how to do cross-cultural genre analysis with the aids of corpus tools. Cross-cultural genre analysis investigates how discourse communities from different cultural backgrounds use language to realize a particular genre. It can shed light on genre nature as well as cultural specificities. The book suggests five specific approaches in doing cross-cultural genre analysis: Investigating genre context; Approaching genre complexity; Exploring genre nature; Exploring culture specificity; and Focusing on specific communicative functions. Each of these approaches is illustrated and demonstrated in a specific chapter with practical analyses of the genre of CSR reports.

Covering linguistic analysis of CSR reports in three languages: Chinese, English and Italian, Yu provides insights into implications for both genre theories and CSR communication practice. By applying the cross-cultural perspective in corporate discourse analysis, her book demonstrates how the approach of cross-cultural genre analysis is fruitful and valuable in providing practical insights into the textual practice of CSR reporting in a globalized context. Moreover, in the final parts of the book, Yu illustrates how cross-cultural genre analysis can be applied in the didactic field of writing, translation and cross-cultural studies.

This volume is a valuable reference to scholars of genre analysis, corpus-based studies, cross-cultural studies and corporate communication. Moreover, it is also useful for professionals involved in compiling CSR reports. Armed with the knowledge imparted in this book, the reader should be able to analyze other genres from a cross-cultural perspective. In particular, instructions on how to use specific corpus tools are provided in the appendices, which can give scholars basic technical knowledge to approach the field of cross-cultural genre analysis.

Autorentext

Danni Yu is an associate professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University, China. Her research interests include genre analysis, corpus-based studies, and cross-cultural studies (with a focus on Chinese, Italian and English discourses). Her profile can be found on her Research Gate account: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Danni-Yu-3.

Inhalt

PART I Theoretical and methodological preliminaries 1 Introduction 2 Theoretical preliminaries: cross-cultural genre analysis 3 Methodology: Cross-cultural genre analysis PART II Doing cross-cultural genre analysis 4 Investigating genre context 5 Approaching genre complexity 6 Exploring genre nature: cross-cultural universality 7 Exploring culture specificity: a trilingual perspective 8 Focusing on specific communicative functions: how do different discourse communities realize a specific rhetorical act in a genre? PART III Applications, implications and some complementary details 9 Pedagogical application and theoretical and methodological implications 10 Complementary details: Focus on the moves