Genre analysis of the reading passages in two high school english textbook series in Vietnam

GENRE ANALYSIS OF THE READING PASSAGES IN TWO HIGH 
SCHOOL ENGLISH TEXTBOOK SERIES IN VIETNAM 
Nguyen Phuong Thao* 
Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HUTECH) 
Received: 16/04/2020; Revised: 06/07/2020; Accepted: 25/08/2020 
Abstract: The notion of genre has been the topic of discussion by school curriculum designers and 
textbook writers. As an attempt to provide more findings to the scant research on genre in Vietnam, this 
study, employing genre-based content analysis, examines the range of genres of the reading passages 
and their generic features in two series of high school English textbooks: Tieng Anh Grade 10, 11, 12 
(TA) and Solutions Grade 10, 11, 12 (SG). The results indicated a variety of genres in the textbooks but 
the spread is uneven, with certain genres being more dominant. The topics were also found to be varied, 
with the TA series being slightly more suited to Vietnamese students’ immediate needs. The detailed 
analysis of selected texts showed they all generally displayed many features of the established patterns 
of the typical genres. Nonetheless, the TA’s repetition of conventional structures in more complex 
genres might not help sensitize students to real-life authentic texts while the SG’s deviated structure 
might pose difficulty for some learners. These findings suggest several implications for textbook writers 
and teachers. 
Keywords: Reading passages, genre analysis, textbook evaluation 
1. Introduction 
 The pedagogical value of genre-based approach to language teaching has been acknowledged for a 
long time (Hyland, 2004; Martin & Rose, 2012). In Vietnam, genre is also one important criterion in the 
guidelines for textbook evaluation issued by the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) in 2015 and 
in Vietnam’s national foreign language 2020 project. Given that this line of research in Vietnam seems 
scarce and that MOET also allows both locally-developed and international marketed English textbooks, if 
approved, to be put on the recommendation list for use in schools, it is thus worth exploring how genres are 
presented in the textbooks written by native English writers in comparison with those authored by 
Vietnamese writers. The current paper, therefore, aims to examine the reading texts in two currently-in-use 
high school English textbook series in Vietnam, one of which is published by Oxford University Press and 
the other jointly written by MOET and Pearson. The purpose of the study is to provide a deeper 
understanding of the texts by analyzing the texts at both macro- and micro-levels. Thus, first, at macro-
level, the paper aims to examine the range of genres found in the two textbook series and second, at the 
micro-level, it further analyzes the discourse features found in these texts. The paper is then guided by 
following research questions: 
1. What is the range of genres introduced in two high school English textbook series in Vietnam? 
2. What are the features of these texts presented in the two series? 
* Email: np.thao@hutech.edu.vn 
2. Literature review 
2.1. Definition of genre 
 Genre 
 For the present study which investigates genres in school textbooks, the definition of genre is best 
captured by Martin’s (2009) as his notion of genre has provided the basis for the work of school genres 
under the systemic functional linguistics (SFL) approach. Specifically, Martin (2009) defines a genre as “a 
staged, goal-oriented social process through which a culture is realized in a language” (p.13). According to 
him, a text is social as there is a communication need between the writer and the reader; it is goal-oriented 
as there is a purpose for the writer to achieve through the text; it is staged as there is usually more than one 
step for the writer to achieve that goal. 
 Following this notion, genres, in this paper, refer to types of text that share typical features, namely 
social purposes, contexts, intended audiences, structures, and lexico grammatical patterns. The following 
are the examples of the six genres used in this paper: Information Report, Narrative, Procedure, Recount, 
Explanation, and Exposition. These have been developed by some noted genre scholars working under SFL 
approach (Derewianka, 2003; Turbill, 2008). 
 Register 
 In genre-based approaches, the term register is often discussed in relation to the concept of genre. 
According to Martin (2009), while genre refers to the overall structure of discourse determined by the 
sociocultural context, register is more concerned with the particular linguistic features determined by the 
interplay between its three variables, namely field, tenor and mode. Field describes what the content is 
about (subject matter); tenor refers to the writer/speaker’s relationship with the reader/listener and their 
attitude towards the subject (formality); mode is concerned with the medium in which the text is constructed 
(channel). In other words, in Martin’s view, genre is realized through registers, which are in turn reflected 
in the choice of language. Thus, genre is at a higher level than register. Martin’s categorization is similar 
to that of Couture’s (1986) views. 
Figure 1. The relationship between genre and register (Adapted from Martin, 2009) 
 Text type 
 Text type is another term which is often conflated with genre. Distinctions between those terms have 
been proposed by a number of scholars, although there seems to be no agreement on what they mean (Martin 
& Rose, 2008). 
REGISTER 
Field 
(Subject matter) 
Tenor 
(Formality) 
Mode 
(Channel) 
CONTEXT OF SITUATION 
CONTEXT OF CULTURE 
 For systematic and consistent categorization of texts, genre in this paper refers to text categorizations 
at a more general level while text type is a more specific term. For instance, exposition is a genre within 
which different text types are included such as argumentative school essays, letters o ... l genres should also be reviewed in 
upper levels and more even spread should be achieved. 
 The last finding involves the limited distribution of Explanation. Unlike Narrative and Procedure, 
which are both the receptive and productive genre as shown in MOET’s examination syllabus. Explanation, 
which provides learners with information about how things work, belongs to the receptive genre. For 
instance, one text in TA explains how soot - black carbon can cause global warming. They are not asked to 
produce this type. Thus, this could be the reason why TA only have 3 texts in the whole series. The lack of 
Explanation in SG could be because SG was geared towards general English, not for CLIL (Content and 
Language Integrated Learning), in which more Explanation texts that explain reasons for phenomena would 
be covered. 
In terms of text types, both series had an extensive use of magazine and newspaper articles. As 
recommended by MOET, there are also other text types besides articles that are relevant to students’ needs 
such as blogs, posters, or brochures, and especially fiction texts. In the present study, while there was no 
literary texts in TA, SG did include across the levels, albeit minimally. 
With regard tothe range of fields, the findings reveal that both series covered a wide variety of topics. 
Among the 40 fields identified, certain localized fields for Vietnamese students were emphasized 
throughout the TA series. The scope of content in SG, on the other hand, demonstrated quite a Western-
oriented focus, for instance, nuclear power and migration. This could be explained by the fact that SG was 
authored by foreign writers and TA was locally developed. 
Regarding research question 2, in order to explore the structural and linguistic features of the genres, 
a micro level analysis was conducted to some selected genres in the series. 
For book grade 10 
The chosen genre was Information Report, a common genre in Grade 10, which provides learners 
with descriptions of things. Based on the summary in Table 9, and Figure 2 in section 4.2.1, it was found 
that both Information Report texts were generally in line with the typical genre in the literature. Specifically, 
at the overall level, both contents were about the description of a place of interest for tourists, namely 
Edinburgh in SG and Ha Long Bay in TA. The mode of the two texts were written form. Nevertheless, two 
texts have minor linguistic variations. The TA’s text had more descriptive language than the SG’s text. This 
findings of extensive use of adjectives was in line with Ip’s (2008), which pointed out that in tourism, 
destinations tend to be exaggerated with positive words. Some examples are: “superb experience, luxury 
cruise ship, breathtaking view” in the TA’s text and “top attraction, a magical world, and towering glaciers” 
in the SG’s text. The tenor of SG, on the other hand, was more in accordance with the genre exemplary 
than its counterpart, as reflected in the use of the second-pronoun “you” and the imperative in the text. 
These are typical features of tourism brochures (Terauchi, Maswana, & Yamada, 2017). As this writing 
aims to persuade people to come to visit the place, the use of “you” and the imperative made the reader feel 
personally engaged as if they were having a conversation with the writers. The lack of these features in the 
TA’s text made it slightly less authentic. At the structural level, both texts followed the generic features of 
Information Report in the literature. They had the introduction or topic at the beginning, followed by the 
detailed description of different aspects of the place. 
For book grade 11 
The selected genre was Recount, specifically Biography, which recounts a person’s life stages. Bases 
on the summaryin Table 10 and Figure 3 in section 4.2.2, the findings suggest both texts matched well with 
the description in the literature in terms of structural and linguistic features. Both texts followed the pattern of 
Orientation Record of events. The TA text started with an orientation that provided contextual background 
information about Conan Doyle – a famous dead writer, followed by a record of his life events from his birth 
to his death. The same pattern was found in the SG’s text about Jimmy Wales – an American Internet 
entrepreneur. The life stories of these people were presented in time order, as reflected in the wide use of time 
adverbials in both texts and past tenses, thus maintaining the narrative style of Recount. As such, the thematic 
development took the form of a zigzag pattern (Eggins, 2004). That is, the new subsequent events were built 
on the previously introduced information, thus creating for this recount what Eggins calls “a sense of 
cumulative development” (p.325). Also, both texts had similarity in the only use of third-person pronoun and 
declaratives, in the absence of modal verbs, and in the large number of nominalizations. The tenor of both 
texts, therefore, was formal. 
For book grade 12 
The selected genre was Exposition, the social purpose of which is to discuss or argue for or against 
a particular point of view. Specifically, both texts were discussion texts, in which the TA’s text discussed 
two contrasting attitudes towards robots and SG discussed opinions about advertising in school. Based on 
the summary in Table 11 and Figure 4 in section 4.2.3, both texts were found to reflect the linguistics 
features of the genre such as the use of third-person pronouns in presenting arguments, nominalizations, 
modality, and passive voice. All of these contributed to the formality of the texts. At the structural level, 
the TA text was more in line with the established pattern, following the traditional pattern of Thesis 
Arguments Conclusion. The SG text, on the other hand, did not have an explicitly stated thesis and 
conclusion. These findings suggest that the TA’s text structure would lay a good foundation for the future 
argumentative structure students will be likely to encounter in university, which is called the “three-stage 
essay” (Hyland, 1990). This structure, however, was later problematized by Schneer (2014) who concluded 
that this generalized structure did not reflect real-world argumentative writing, which can take various 
forms. This was shown in the findings from the SG’s text, in which there was an implicit thesis in the 
introduction and no conclusion. The reason for such deviation could be that the text was adapted from an 
authentic newspaper article. This finding was corroborated by Myskow and Gordon (2009) and Schneer 
(2014), who found that the structure of nonacademic argumentative writing was significantly contrasting 
with the traditional three-stage template. Such deviation might at first pose difficulties for learners who 
have been taught the conventional structure. The findings suggest that teachers need to familiarize high 
school students with the multifariousness of Exposition by providing them with the opportunity to research 
different texts and discuss in class in order to raise genre awareness. 
6. Conclusion 
The findings of this study, employing genre-based content analysis, unraveled that both textbook 
series had a lopsided range of genres and text types. Certain genres, namely Information Report, Recount 
and Exposition were more dominant than others. Additionally, both series lacked literary texts and had 
extensive use of newspaper/articles. The topics of both series were found to be varied, with TA’s focus on 
Vietnamese students’ immediate needs and SG’s on the West. The micro analysis of the texts also revealed 
that for simpler genres such as Information Report and Recount, both series generally matched well with 
the convention but variations were found in a more complex genre (Exposition) for SG. 
Some implications within this study are drawn. For textbook writers, the uneven distribution could 
deprive students of the opportunity to enhance their genre knowledge, thus it is suggested that future 
textbook revision should focus on expansion of the spread of genres and text types. For teachers, the results 
clearly show that no textbook series was superior to others in all aspects. It is thus reasonable to suggest 
that teachers should not strictly adhere to a single textbook and are encouraged to utilize the best features 
of TA and SG depending on the students’ levels. Teachers need to have a consciousness of genre and 
register in order to make an informed choice of learning texts for students. 
This study still bears some limitations. It has only examined two high school English textbooks out 
of many other series. Also, the paper investigated only complete written genres, excluding the spoken 
genres and those texts which were either too short and fragmented or had the sentences removed for the 
purpose of activity practice. Thus, the results should be treated with caution. Future studies are warranted 
to obtain a clearer understanding of genre in English textbooks. 
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PHÂN TÍCH THỂ LOẠI CÁC BÀI ĐỌC TRONG HAI BỘ SÁCH GIÁO 
KHOA TIẾNG ANH TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THÔNG 
Tóm tắt: Thể loại là chủ đề thường được thảo luận bởi nhà thiết kế chương trình học và tác giả sách 
giáo khoa. Để cung cấp thông tin cho nghiên cứu ít ỏi về thể loại ở Việt Nam, nghiên cứu này, sử dụng 
phương pháp phân tích nội dung, khám phá sự đa dạng về thể loại của các bài đọc và các đặc điểm về 
cấu trúc, ngữ pháp và từ vựng của chúng giữa hai loại sách giáo khoa tiếng Anh trung học phổ thông: 
Tiếng Anh Lớp 10, 11, 12 và Solutions Lớp 10, 11, 12. Kết quả cho thấy hai bộ sách đều đề cập đến các 
thể loại được đề nghị trong sách giáo khoa nhưng sự phân bổ thì không đồng đều, với một số thể loại 
chiếm ưu thế hơn. Các chủ đề cũng rất đa dạng và bộ TA phù hợp hơn với nhu cầu cấp thiết cho học 
sinh Việt Nam. Phân tích chi tiết của các bài đọc được chọn cũng cho thấy tất cả nhìn chung đều hiển 
thị nhiều đặc điểm tương đồng với các thể loại điển hình. Tuy nhiên, việc lặp đi lặp lại các cấu trúc đơn 
giản trong các thể loại phức tạp hơn trong bộ TA có thể không giúp học sinh quen với các cấu trúc của 
thể loại này trong thực tế. Trong khi cấu trúc phức tạp này ở bộ SG có thể gây khó khăn cho một số học 
sinh. Những kết quả này sẽ giúp ích cho tác giả sách và giáo viên. 
Từ khóa: Đoạn bài đọc, phân tích thể loại, đánh giá giáo trình