Abstract

Discourse is a mediating artifact, which, as is increasingly being recognized, plays a central role in activity. The intrinsic features of discourse are that it is emergent, multi-perspectival, jointly constructed. Together, these features suggest that discourse should be treated as a process (i.e. as “discoursing”). Following SFL and examining our own discussion, we will suggest a way of developing Bakhtin’s notion of speech genre in order to capture a dynamic nature of discoursing in a comprehensive account of the various ways in which it functions as a mediating artifact in activity.

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