Written communication across cultures : a sociocognitive perspective on business genres / Yunxia Zhu.

New Zealand author.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 189-202) and index.

1. Introduction and outline. The theoretical imperatives. The rationale, aim, and research questions. The outline of the book -- 2. Communication across cultures. Constrastive rhetoric. Classical Greek and Chinese rhetorical traditions. Intercultural communication. Guanxi and intercultural business communication. Cross-cultural pragmatics. Face and politeness behaviour. Australian, New Zealand and the Chinese cultures. Summary of the cross-cultural dimensions -- 3. Conceptual framework : A dual perspective. Introducing the sociocognitive study of genre. Genre as relevant "social stock of knowledge". Genre and the sociocultural contexts. Genre practice and the discourse community. Genre as communicative events ( Genre and communicative purposes ; Genre and rhetorical structure ; Genre and intertextuality ). The Chinese genre approach. Historical review of Chinese genre study ( Liu Xie's view on Chinese written discourse ; Liu Xie's approach to genre study ). Modern Chinese genre study. Yingyongwen and gongwen genre study. Proposing the model for cross-cultural -- 4. Research design. The research method. Data. Questionnaire and interviews ( The participants ; The questionnaire ; The interviews ). Data analysis -- 5. Comparing English and Chinese sales letters. Sociocultural contexts for sales-letter writing ( The contexts and world schemata for English sales letters ; The contexts and world schemata for Chinese sales letters ). Communicative purposes and persuasive orientations of sales letters. Comparing texts of sales letters ( Intertextuality and rhetorical structure in sales letters ; Different moves employed by English and Chinese sales letters ; Similar moves employed by English and Chinese sales letters ; Summary of the textual analysis ). The most effective English and Chinese sales letters ( The English letter ; The Chinese sales letter ). Conclusion -- 6. Comparing English and Chinese sales invitations. Contexts for writing sales invititations. Other cultural factors : Politeness behaviour in invitations. Communicative purposes and persuasive orientations of sales invitations. Analysing the English and Chinese sales invitations ( Intertextuality reflected in sales invitations ; Intertextuality and rhetorical structure of sales invitations ). Analysing the most effective sales invitations ( Introducing the Expo and inviting the reader ; Advertising the Expo ; Offering incentives ; Inviting again ; Providing registration details ; Encouraging further contact ; Polite closing ; Summary of findings on sales invitations ). Comparing NZ and Chinese managers' views on sales invitations (Managers' views on the English invitation ; Managers' views on the Chinese invitation ). Conclusion -- 7. Comparing English and Chinese business faxes. Data of the English and Chinese faxes. Technological and sociocultural contexts for fax writing. Introducing fax as a genre. Persuasive orientations and communicative purposes of business faxes. An overview of types of intertextuality identified in faxes. Rhetorical structures identified in business faxes (Greetings used in faxes ; Reference to previous communication/contact ; Establishing credentials ; Giving information ; Detailing the order ; Confirmation move ; Giving product details ; Complaint ; Threat to change terms ; Stressing cooperation ; Polite closing ; Good wishes ). The most effective English and Chinese faxes. Conclusion -- 8. Cross-cultural genre teaching : Actions and implications. Issues relating to cross-cultural genre teaching ( Genre metaphors ; Genre teaching approaches ). Generic competence. Applying the sociocognitive approach to teaching and learning. Illustrating the five teaching and learning processes ( The experiment ; Learning and comparing the sociocultural contexts ; Learning persuasive orientations and communicative purposes ; Learning to write texts and incorporating peripheral participation ; Using authentic data and incorporating managers' views ; Learning the implications for cross-cultural generic competence ). Conclusion -- 9. Summaries and conclusions : Defining genre from a cross-cultural perspective. Summary of significant findings ( The framework ; Genre and sociocultural contexts ; Genre, persuasive orientations and communicative purposes ; Genre and its "deep semantics" ; Genre and intertextuality ; Genre as collectively programmed by the discourse community ; Generic competence across cultures ). Implications for genre research and intercultural competence. Further research. Closing remarks -- --

Ch. 1. Introduction and outline -- Ch. 2. Communication across cultures -- Ch. 3. Conceptual framework : a dual perspective -- Ch. 4. Research design -- Ch. 5. Comparing English and Chinese sales letters -- Ch. 6. Comparing English and Chinese sales invitations -- Ch. 7. Comparing English and Chinese business faxes -- Ch. 8. Cross-cultural genre teaching : actions and implications -- Ch. 9. Summaries and conclusions.

Machine converted from AACR2 source record.