Applied Linguistics and the Writers' Rhetorical Choices in the Field of Education: Case Study Analysis

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Applied Linguistics

Introduction

Students and teachers of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) regularly encounter unconventional uses of the past tense in conditional sentences, in indirect or reported speech contexts, in sentences with wish, and so on. Usually the use of past tense in such contexts is explained as a back shifting rule, or simply a past tense rule, which applies only in certain enumerated types of English sentences. Additional and special treatment is warranted because, in these types of sentences, English speakers use nominally past tense verb forms in contexts which clearly refer to present or future time. Linguists have also commented on this unconventional use of the past tense. It has often been subsumed under the broader category. There are some researchers who speak of metaphorical uses of the past tense, and they simply regard this usage as signalling hypothetical meaning. The present study is motivated by the view that EFL practitioners, rather than regarding this phenomenon as merely a mechanical, arbitrary rule of English grammar, would benefit from a more integrative approach which emphasizes its underlying semantics and its role within the broader context of language acquisition. Therefore, multiple approaches for data collection will be used in the current study.

Background

As a wide range of definitions have been posited for genre as a construct, it is understandable that genre has been viewed from different perspectives with varying emphases on theoretical, rhetorical, linguistic, or instructional aspects. For instance, genre has been recently defined as a constellation of potential discourse conventions that are (i) sustained by previous knowledge of speakers, writers, listeners, and/or readers, (ii) stored in their memory, and (iii) grounded upon contextual, social, and cognitive constraints or parameters. Such a notion is consistent with some of the researcher's concept of genre that is constructed socio cognitively, given that genres emerge in different contexts. They are subjective constructs involving mental representations that are formed or designed in participants' interactions as members of groups and communities (Dahl, 2008, 1201).

Just as social interactions and cognitive functions are highlighted in the socio cognitive construction of genre, the researcher's notion of genre has provided a lucid elaboration on communicative purpose which is inextricably linked with participants' social interactions. The communicative intention in an institutional and professional setting shared by members of the same community. His concept of genre appears to be increasingly established in recent decades, especially in spheres involving academic discourse. While a crucial role has been accorded to communicative purpose in different approaches to genre analysis, numerous recent studies have demonstrated that the ascription of communicative purpose is not simple or straightforward. It has been suggested that analysts who adopt a text-driven procedure for genre analysis, may first consider the provisional purpose of texts in relation to their structure, style, and content before identifying the provisional genre. This explains why genre analysts adopting a largely text-based procedure often use a linguistic approach to consider the situational context, ...