A Genre Analysis of Preface Sections of Textbook

Abstract

This study aims to analyze  the preface section of the fifteen English academic text book related to the field of linguistics. Researcher adapted the move structure pattern proposed by Abdollahzadeh &Salarvan (2013) on the notion of Swales (1990) and Bhatia (1993).Fourteen moves were identified employed by preface authors to indicate different rhetorical purpose i.e. introducing the work, specifying the purpose, describing the book, identifying the readership, expression of gratitude and accepting the shortcoming in writing etc. The result revealed that preface writers focused more on move one, three and move seven. Distribution of moves varies from writer to writer. None of the writers applied the move six which is related to eliciting response from readers. The findings of the study can be helpful for teachers in teaching the structure of the genre. Moreover ,the study can be beneficial for students for developing awareness  of the content from the text books.

Keywords: Book prefaces, Genre analysis, Academic books