A Genre Analysis of Selected Emails Written in English by First-Year Students in the Department of English at Mouloud Mammeri University of Tizi-Ouzou
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Date
2024
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Publisher
Université Mouloud Mammer Tizi Ouzou
Abstract
Nowadays, E-mails play a vital role within higher education especially in building and
maintaining effective relationships between teachers and students. In this context, e-mails are
considered as a genre that students must be familiar with and able to use effectively. The
current dissertation is a genre analysis that aims at analysing emails samples of first-year
students in the Department of English at MMUTO. The study focuses on three (03) main
objectives. The first is to analyse the genre conventions and structural characteristics of each
identified genre within the corpus of first-year students’ emails. The second is to determine
teachers ‘attitudes towards first-year students’ emails communication. Lastly, the third
objective is to provide an appropriate structure of writing an academic email for enhancing
first-year students’ capabilities and awareness. To carry out our research study, we relied on
John Swales’ CARS Model (1990) with two integrated approaches namely TAM and TPACK
Models. These combined approaches provide a comprehensive understanding of how firstyear
students adapt to email communication within a university setting by considering genre
conventions, linguistic features, and communicative purposes of first-year students in an
academic context. To reach the objectives of the research, a mixed-methods approach was
used for both data collection and data analysis. Thus, we used the descriptive statistical
method in order to quantify the closed-ended items of the students’ questionnaire that consists
of seventeenth (17) questions, and the frequency of email genre conventions included in
thirty-three (33) emails, a quantitative method was adopted. Additionally, a qualitative
content analysis was used for the interpretation of the open-ended question of the
questionnaire (01), teachers’ interview conducted with three (03) teachers, and the results of
moves and steps included in first-year students’ emails referring to John Swales’ Model
(1990). Moreover, the findings of the questionnaire show that first-year students were
unfamiliar with the requirements of an academic email, and the results of the interview
revealed the positive attitudes and reactions of teachers towards their students by appreciating
their efforts as well. As regards the findings of the corpus affirmed that first year students lack
knowledge and awareness about the appropriate structure of an academic email.
Description
79p. : Ill. en coul. ; (+CD-Rom)
Keywords
Communicative Purposes, Email Communication, Email Conventions, Genre Analysis, First-Year Students
Citation
Didactics of Foreign Languages