Acceso usuarios
Danni Yu
This study views genres as recurrent positioning acts that shape and reshape the social identity of members belonging to a discourse community. Combining genre analysis with positioning theory, this study aims to explore how the identity of a social role is constructed across cultures. A corpus-based analysis of 60 speeches from Italian and American university leaders reveals two cross-culturally common social positions: institutional representative and value disseminator. In terms of differences, Italian leaders tend to self-construct as advocates proposing courses of actions to a wide public on behalf of their institution. Their American counterparts, on the other hand, self-constructs as advisers providing guidance to students, also using the positions of morale-builder and relatable individual. The case study demonstrates that genres can serve as tools to understand the positionings typically associated with a social group in different cultural contexts. We suggest that this understanding can enhance the metacognitive genre awareness of L2 writers, aiding them in evaluating whether a position is acceptable to the reader from a different culture, thereby constructing an effective authorial self.
