What is discourse?
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I will reserve the word "discourse", with a little "d", to mean language-in-use or stretches
of language (like conversations or stories). "Big D". Discourses are always language plus
"other stuff". I use the term "Discourse", with a capital "D", for ways of combining and
integrating language, actions, interactions, ways of thinking, believing, valuing, and using
various symbols, tools, and objects to enact a particular sort of socially recognizable identity.
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A piece of text, an instance of discursive practice, and an instance of social pratice
(Fairclough 1992: 4)
It is constituted, shaped, and constrained by the context in which it is embedded, that is,
situations, institutional frames,and social
structures. • At the same time, it is socially constitutive, as it contributes to shaping such
social practices. Discourse stands in a dialectic relationship with its context: Discourse does
not merely represent the world but also signifies it, constituting it in meaning, constructing
identities, relationships, and systems of knowledge and beliefs. (Fairclough 1992: 62-64,
Discourse and Social Change).
What is genre?
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A recognizable communicative event characterized by a set of communicative purpose(s)
identified and mutually understood by the members of the professional or academic
community in which it regularly occurs. Most often it is highly structured and
conventionalized with constraints on allowable contributions in terms of their intent,
positioning, form and fuctional value. These constraints, however, are often exploited by the
expert members of the discourse community to achieve private intentions within the
framework of socially recognized purpose(s). (Bhatia 1993: 13, Analysing Genre: Language
Use in Professional Settings)
