UNIT 14 INSTRUCTIONAL TEXT: STRUCTURES

AND CHARACTERISTICS

In this unit we are going to look at the structure and characteristics of the
instructional text. Within this area we are going to include an
examination of the constituents of texts in general, so that we can see
the principles that will be included in any type of description. This will
involve an examination of the word text and the cohesive devices that go
into providing a text with coherence.
The information will be taken from Halliday and Hassan, Ramon Seldon
and The Penguin Guide to Literature.
We will begin by looking at the meaning of the word text in general, so
that we can see the foundation of descriptive texts.
Definition of text
Basically, a text can be taken to mean a stretch of language that can
form the process of communication. This can be made either through a
linear pattern of sound waves, otherwise known as speech, or a linear
sequence of marks on paper, or writing. This communication must make
coherent sense in the context of its use. The linguistic form is important,
but it is not in itself sufficient to give a stretch of language the status of a
text. For example, a road sign reading No Overtaking is an adequate
text, though comprising only a short noun phrase. It is understood as a
statement, paraphraseable as something like: it is dangerous to
overtake here. By contrast, the same sign placed out of context, for
example in a supermarket, is not an adequate text because although we
can recognise the structure and understand the words, the phrase can
communicate nothing to us as we pass by, and is therefore meaningless.
This is the key to understanding the text. In order for the communication
to work, it has to be placed in context. This is as true for instructive texts
as it is for any other type.
We will now look at text and context in connection, along with descriptive
texts, in greater detail.
TEXT AND CONTEXT

Text is all about meanings. However for those meanings to have any
value, they need to be received by someone who understands them.
In order for the communication to be successful, the message which is
received by the addressee has to be identical to that sent by the
addresser. However, this in itself is no guarantee of success. The sender
should also take care over how he sends the message. It should, in the
words of Paul Grice, be: TRUE, BRIEF, RELEVANT AND CLEAR.
Not only that, but the text has to be received within its correct context if it
is to be understood properly. The communication is only conceptually
successful if it is conceptually relevant. This is where context plays a
major role.
The context of a text takes into account the intention of the meaning and
how that intention is to be interpreted by someone. This is deeply
affected by the environment in which the message is sent, as well as the
previous or assumed knowledge of the receiver. This sharing of
knowledge by the participants is known as the implicit context.
The explicit context refers to the expression itself (oral or written), and to
the verbal and non-verbal elements (mime, gestures, etc.)
The implicit context is related to the ideas, conventions and knowledge
that is shared by the participants in the conversation.
Now that we have seen how the text can be made clear through its
context, we will move onto the principles of a text.
PRINCIPLES OF A TEXT
A text can be divided into two different categories of principles: regulative
and constitutive. We will begin with the regulative.
The regulative principles take three areas into account. These are: the
efficiency, the effectiveness and the appropriateness of a text.
Efficiency determines whether or not a satisfactory result can be
achieved by the participants. This means that the communicants should
be able to reach a mutual understanding without having to make huge
efforts in order to negotiate meaning. If this happens then the text can be
said to be effective, in other words, the intended result has been
produced. However, there has to be some kind of suitability or
correspondence between the text and the context. If this is so, the
appropriateness of the text is adequate.

The constitutive principles, on the other hand, refer to situationality (the

text has to have meaning within the context), informativity (if the
information that is provided is pointless or unneeded, the description is
unlikely to succeed), intertextuality (the text can be dependent on the
receivers previous knowledge of other texts, for example when a film is
in two parts), intentionality (the speaker tries all that he can to ensure
that the message that is received is the one that he intended to send),
and finally, acceptability (for the text to be acceptable, it has to be both
cohesive and coherent). We will look at this last point in greater detail.
In order to achieve coherence, or clarity, in a descriptive or any kind of
text, we have to pay attention to the cohesive devices that are used to
hold the text together as a whole. According to Halliday and Hassan,
cohesion is the combination of register, or how we speak, and a variety
of devices that go together to make a text coherent. We will examine
these devices, also known as cohesive ties, in greater detail in a
moment, but first lets look at register.
Register
The way that we speak can say a lot about us as people. Our accent
and our choice of words can have a profound effect upon those with
whom we are in contact. Generally speaking, an accent from the upper
classes will be considered as superior to some of the northern accents,
and anyone with an RP accent will be considered educated and so will
be treated with some respect.
Register can be divided into two classes, open and closed.
Open register is where we have the freedom to use the words that we
wish to use. This can be seen in day-to-day conversation. In the
descriptive text the register is rarely open, as the person doing the
describing is limited by the characteristics of the object he wishes to
portray.
Closed register is very restricted. An example of this could be the
language used in a radio conversation between a pilot and the control
tower. This can be applied to the instructive text when we think about
instruction manuals, where the language only relates to the relevant
information.
We will now move onto looking at some of the cohesive devices that also
go into making an instructive text coherent.

Cohesive devices
There are five major cohesive ties: lexis, reference, substitution, ellipsis
and conjunction.
Lexis refers to the way that words are used throughout the text to
provide cohesion. This can be done through the repetition of a word or
through the use of synonyms. Reference denotes the use of anaphora
and cataphora to refer to words that are mentioned somewhere else in
the text. Substitution is when one word is used to replace another, the
idea being that repetitions are avoided. Ellipsis is when a part of the
sentence is cut; the meaning being made clear through the context. In
the case of a conjunction, clauses are tied together with words such as
and, thereby helping the receiver to interpret the relationship between
the clauses.
These are some of the devices that go to give an instructional text
meaning. This meaning is lost, however, if the text lacks structure. This
structure is important, especially in connection with the next point that
we are going to look at, the types of instructional texts.
In the next section we are going to discuss two different types of
instructive texts or more specifically two types of instructions, subjective
and objective instructions. We will deal with structures, styles and
coherence of both types.
INSTRUCTIVE TEXTS: STRUCTURES AND CHARACTERISTICS
Subjective instructions