By identifying properties and concepts of a genre-based approach to language, Swales with this book gives his readers a valuable tool for both structuring academic classes and for learning in those classes. Using the notion of a genre-based approach, he describes the value of considering discourse communities and language learning tasks in working toward this kind of approach. He describes communicative purpose as the "thread that binds the three key element together" (10). In this sense, he has taken a serious approach to looking beyond a purely textual approach to genre study, while continuing to recognize the importance that organization of texts plays in this context. His definitions of these three concepts to provide a pragmatic foundation for genre-based studying.
A discourse community, as Swales discusses it, is a group that is connected in some kind of orderly way to reach a common goal. To reach this goal, they all become familiar with the genre that can perpetuate their needs. In this sense, these genres belong to the discourse community as a whole. They are a function of the community and belong to the group, not to an individual (9). In chapter 2, Swales defines the concept of discourse community in both what it is and what is not.
Swales admits that the notion of genre "remains a fuzzy concept," and provides his readers with definitions from dictionaries, as well as giving examples of its common usage. Because of its variety of applications, he defines it in four areas: folklore, literary studies, linguistics, and rhetoric. He then creates a characterization of genre that may be helpful for others to use:
1. A genre is a class of communicative events.
2. The principle criterial feature that turns
a collection of communicative events into a genre is some shared set of
communicative purposes.
3. Exemplars or instances of genres vary
in their prototypicality.
4. The rationale behind a genre establishes
constraints on allowable contributions in terms of their content, positioning
and form.
5. A discourse community's nomenclature for
genres is an important source of insight. (45-56)
These observations, although useful, are not all-encompassing. The need for genre analysis is so great because of the countless numbers of parameters that can shape and change the genre from event to event.
Swales recognizes a discourse outside of the classroom environment, so that the teaching and study of discourse within will be more relevant and natural. By helping his readers to recognize and use genre analysis, they will be able to find value in the three concepts separately, but also be able to synthesize them to investigate issues on a larger scale.