A Multi-Perspective Genre Analysis of the Barrister's Opinion: Writing Context, Generic Structure, and Textualization

Autor/in	Hafner, Christoph A.
Titel	A Multi-Perspective Genre Analysis of the Barrister's Opinion: Writing Context, Generic Structure, and Textualization
Quelle	In: Written Communication, 27 (2010) 4, S.410-441 (32 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0741-0883
DOI	10.1177/0741088310377272
Schlagwörter	Foreign Countries; English for Special Purposes; Legal Education (Professions); Law Students; Lawyers; Opinions; Writing Instruction; Legislation; Content Analysis; Applied Linguistics; Hong Kong + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Ausland; Juristischer Beruf; Lawyer; Rechtsanwalt; Lehrmeinung; Schreibunterricht; Gesetzgebungslehre; Inhaltsanalyse; Linguistics; Linguistik; Angewandte Linguistik; Hongkong
Abstract	In teaching and researching English for Law, considerable effort has been put into the fine-grained description of legal genres and accounts of associated legal literacy practices. Much of this work has been carried out in the academic context, focusing especially on genres encountered by undergraduate law students. The range of genres which must be taught in professional legal writing and drafting courses is comparatively underresearched in the applied linguistics literature. This article explores one such underresearched genre, the barrister's opinion. The article reports the findings of a genre analysis (Bhatia, 1993; Swales, 1990), drawing on the written opinions of five Hong Kong barristers, individual interviews with the barristers, and data from background information questionnaires.The study adopts a multi-perspective approach to genre analysis, drawing on the accounts of specialist informants to explain the genre as socially situated rhetorical action. Thus, the genre is analyzed in terms of its intertextual and interdiscursive writing context, generic move structure, and lexico-grammatical textualization. It is suggested that the findings may usefully be applied to the teaching of legal writing and drafting in a variety of contexts. (Contains 2 figures, 3 tables and 3 notes.) (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10