Applied Linguistics as Social Science

Download or read book Applied Linguistics as Social Science written by Alison Sealey and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2004-01-01 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Genre theory in the past few years has contributed immensely to our understanding of the way discourse is used in academic, professional and institutional contexts. However, its development has been constrained by the nature and design of its applications, which have invariably focused on language teaching and learning, or communication training and consultation. This has led to the use of simplified and idealised genres. In contrast to this, the real world of discourse is complex, dynamic and unpredictable. This tension between the real world of written discourse and its representation in applied genre-based literature is the main theme of this book.