Lloret, Diana Fernandez

Dr. Lloret is an English Interpreter and Translator at the Spanish Ministry of Domestic Affairs. She is finishing her Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics and has an M.A. in English Translation and Interpretation and a Master's degree in Linguistics and Literature from the University of Granada.

New Applications of Genre Analysis to Technical Manuals

2012 0-7734-2585-3
In this study, a number of different approaches to genre analysis have been discussed, mainly those of Bhatia and Lassen, but considering also the pioneering contribution of John Swales. Both approaches offer important perspectives on the specific applications of genre models. Within this context, it is of particular relevance Inger Lassen’s developments on a genre analysis model for technical manuals and previous studies undertaken by Vijay Bhatia in the area of business and law. However, neither of the two may be statistically applied to all technical or specialized texts, due to the fact that specialized texts are continuously changing and evolving and, therefore, genre models must fit in these communicative changes. Consequently, it is suggested that genre models must be subject to flexibility during the process of text analysis, so that the communicative ideas that govern this type of discourse can be properly adapted. Lassen’s prototype has been applied to the sample technical manuals of a natural stone product, Silestone, in order to evaluate the occurrence of moves, steps or sub-steps in a different type of technical manuals and to find out relevant variations which might be applied to Lassen’s model as a result.