Republic of uzbekistan fergana state university

4.Speaking genres

The genre theory assumes that different speech events result in different

types of texts, which are distinct in terms of their overall structure and kinds of

grammatical items typically associated with them (Hughes, 2002: 83). Carter

and McCarthy (1997) classify speaking extracts in terms of genres as follows:

􀁨 Narrative: A series of everyday anecdotes told with active listener

participation.

􀁨 Identifying: Extracts in which people talk about themselves, their

biography, where they live, their jobs, their likes and dislikes.

􀁨 Language-in-action: Data recorded while people are doing things such

as cooking, packing, moving furniture… etc.

􀁨 Comment-elaboration: People giving casual opinions and commenting

on things, other people, events and so on.

􀁨 Debate and argument: Data, in which people take up positions, pursue

arguments and expound on their opinions.

􀁨 Decision-making and negotiating outcomes: Data illustrating ways in

which people work towards decisions/consensus or negotiate their way

through problems towards solutions.

It is recognized that no speech genre can be entirely discrete; for

example, narratives can be embedded within other main generic categories.

Furthermore, speaking genres overlap with language functions explained

before.