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English for Specific Purposes 27 (2008) 161–174 PURPOSES
www.elsevier.com/locate/esp

Genre analysis, ESP and professional practice

Vijay K. Bhatia
Department of English and Communication, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Abstract

Studies of professional genres and professional practices are invariably seen as complementing
each other, in that they not only influence each other but are often co-constructed in specific profes-
sional contexts. However, professional genres have often been analyzed in isolation, leaving the
study of professional practice almost completely out, except as providing context for specific anal-
yses, thus undermining the role of interdiscursivity in professional genres and practices. Drawing
examples from a range of professional contexts, in particular from business and international arbi-
tration practice, this paper argues for a shift towards an integration of discursive and professional
practices, thus emphasizing the function of interdiscursivity in critical genre analysis.
Ó 2007 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The American University.

1. Introduction

One of the major criticisms of teaching English for Specific (Professional) Purposes has
been that although students, when placed in professional settings, can handle textual fea-
tures of some of the professional genres, they are still unaware of the discursive realities of
the professional world. The blame, in my view, does not rest with the learners but with the
teachers and discourse/genre analysts who treat professional genres as simply textual arti-
facts (Bhatia, 1993, 1994; Swales, 1990). Although it is true that much of genre analysis,
especially in the British tradition, is undertaken within the general background of ‘contex-
tual factors’ emerging from relevant professional practices and cultures, these professional
practices have never been taken seriously enough. More recently, however, some analysts
seem to be taking a more serious view of what might be regarded as text-external factors,

E-mail address: enbhatia@cityu.edu.hk

0889-4906/$34.00 Ó 2007 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The American University.

doi:10.1016/j.esp.2007.07.005
162 V.K. Bhatia / English for Specific Purposes 27 (2008) 161–174

leading to an integration of discursive and professional practices of the professions, often

complementing each other (Bargiela-Chiappini & Nickerson, 1999; Bazerman & Paradis,
1991; Bhatia, 2004; Freedman & Medway, 1994; Russell, 1997; Smart, 1998; Swales, 1998).
On the part of the disciplinary specialists (professionals in the workplace), this develop-
ment is encouraging them to look at their professional and organizational practices from
the point of view of language use, thus bridging the gap between the analysis of disciplin-
ary discourses and discourse-based investigations of organizational, institutional and
other professional practices (Alvesson & Kärreman, 2000; Boje, Oswick, & Ford, 2004;
Philips, Lawrence, & Hardy, 2004). Alvesson and Kärreman (2000) rightly point out.
One of the most profound contemporary trends within the social sciences is the
increased interest in and focus on language. In disciplines closely related to organi-
zational theory, such as sociology, social psychology, communication theory, and
cultural anthropology, researchers rethink and reclaim their various subjects from
textual and linguistic points of view. Despite diverse backgrounds, these scholars
express a shared message. They suggest that the proper understanding of societies,
social institutions, identities, and even cultures may be viewed as discursively con-
structed ensembles of texts.
In this paper, I would like to argue for a more integrated analytical perspective on pro-
fessional genres in order to have an evidence-based view of the knowledge producing and
knowledge disseminating practices of the professions. Drawing on a number of different
professional contexts, in particular from business and law, especially international arbitra-
tion practice, this paper will argue for a more comprehensive and serious look at ‘interdis-
cursivity’ which can be viewed as appropriation of semiotic resources across genres,
professional practices and disciplinary cultures.
The paper will also illustrate the use of a multi-perspective and multidimensional crit-
ical genre analytical framework by reporting from two ongoing studies. The first study
focuses on corporate disclosure practices in Hong Kong, claiming that in order to have
a good understanding of corporate disclosure documents, one needs to go beyond the
established discursive practices of the professional cultures to take into account a number
of text-external resources, including other institutional voices that form part of the wider
professional practice within which these discourses are invariably grounded. The study
claims that in order to develop a comprehensive and evidence-based awareness of the
motives of such disciplinary and professional practices, one needs to look closely at the
multiple discourses, actions and voices, both text-internal as well as text-external, that play
a significant role in the formation of specific discursive practices (Fairclough, 1992) within
the institutional and organizational settings (Swales, 1998), in addition to the systems of
genres (Bazerman, 1994) often used to fulfill the professional objectives of specific disci-
plinary or discourse communities. The study emphasizes the need to go from text to con-
text in order to undertake a comprehensive and critical view of discursive practices.
The second study, in an attempt to have a comprehensive and critical view of profes-
sional practice, focuses on international commercial arbitration practice, through the dis-
courses it employs to achieve its objectives. Both these studies, though on-going at this
stage, support the claim for an integrated analytical perspective on discursive and profes-
sional practices in typical professional cultures. However, before we go to these studies, I
would like to take up an interesting law case to underpin the importance of text-external
factors in the construction and interpretation of language use in professional contexts.
 V.K. Bhatia / English for Specific Purposes 27 (2008) 161–174 163

1.1. Text-external constraints on interpretation in legislative genres

It is important to note that different professional discourses have their own specific
characteristics that constrain their use and interpretation. For instance, although legisla-
tive discourse has been considered notorious for its tortuous syntactic complexities (Bha-
tia, 1982), its interpretation depends largely on its application to relevant descriptions of
cases, which provide specific ‘sites of engagement’ (Scollon, 1998). Every time a legislative
text is interpreted in the context of a particular case description, it assumes a potentially
different interpretation. Clarity, precision, and unambiguity, though important in legal
discourse, may not always be so crucial at a ‘critical moment of interaction’ (Scollon,
1998). Legislative writing, in this sense, becomes highly intertextual and interdiscursive,
requiring socio-pragmatic considerations (Bhatia, 2004) based on the facts of a particular
case for its interpretation. As illustration, I would like to consider a recent law case
decided by the Supreme Court of India, i.e. Lohia v. Lohia (2002) AIR SCW 898 (India)
(see Appendix 1 for the material facts and the arguments of the case).
The case brings into focus section 10 of Arbitration and Conciliation Ordinance of
India, which states:
Article 10 –
(1) The parties are free to determine the number of arbitrators, provided that such number
shall not be an even number;
So far as the lexico-grammatical meaning is concerned, there appears to be no scope for
ambiguity. It clearly establishes the free will of the parties to agree on any number of arbi-
trators, provided this number is not an even number. However, as the case description
points out, the parties agreed to have only two arbitrators. The question then was whether
this agreement was contrary to the provision of Article 10. Linguistic evidence clearly
suggests that this agreement contravened the provision in Article 10. However, when
one considers text-external factors, this interpretation is not really that simple and
straightforward. The Supreme Court decided that the agreement to have two arbitrators
did not amount to contravention of Article 10. Since the case arose as a result of arbitra-
tion, which has its basis in the agreement between the two disputing parties, the interpre-
tation must seek its validity from conventions of arbitration practice, which brings into
play a number of other relevant factors (including the basic assumptions, aim and objec-
tives of arbitration, expectations, and bases of arbitration process, etc.) that allow one to
assign a somewhat different interpretation to the same provision in this context. Let me
give more substance to this.
Arbitration is meant to provide an economic, expeditious, and informal remedy for the
settlement of commercial disputes, thus legitimizing autonomy and free will of the parties
captured in mutual agreement as basis for arbitration. That is the main reason why the
judge in this case highlights ‘arbitration as the creature of agreement’. To emphasize this
aspect of party autonomy, the arbitration rules give unprecedented freedom to parties to
choose arbitration procedures. It is obvious that the spirit of arbitration lies within the
arbitration agreement, which in turn represents the free will of the parties to settle com-
mercial disputes through arbitration rather than litigation. However, it is also typical of
human nature that when faced with arbitration award against one’s interest the affected
parties do not hesitate to go for litigation, which seems to be the situation in this case.
The parties initially agreed to go for arbitration by two arbitrators but when the award
went against their expectation they decided to opt for litigation on the grounds that the
164 V.K. Bhatia / English for Specific Purposes 27 (2008) 161–174

constitution of the arbitration commission did not accord with Article 10. The Supreme
Court rejected the claim and upheld that the two-member arbitration commission was still
legal and valid, notwithstanding the mandatory requirement in Article 10 that the number
of arbitrators be odd and not even. Here the interpretation of the judge is clearly not based
on a simple reading of the text but takes into account the other intertextual as well as inter-
discursive information, assumptions and conventions.
In fact, the interpretation of the court highlights an important tension between two
legal documents, Article 10 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Ordinance of India and
the arbitration agreement. A possible explanation is that the two parties had full freedom
to appoint a mutually agreed number of arbitrators at the time of the constitution of the
arbitration commission. At that point, Article 10 was the determining force, and any vio-
lation of this provision would have made such a constitution of the arbitration commis-
sion null and void. However, their failure to object to such an arrangement within the
given period of time implied that they had accepted such a commission. In short, they were
taken to have waived their right to object to such appointment. However, when the parties
did not find the award to their liking and decided to go for litigation, this was interpreted
by the judge as going against the spirit of arbitration, which clearly considers ‘arbitration
as a creature of agreement’. Here one can see that after the arbitration process is complete,
agreement becomes a more dominant force rather than the requirements of the arbitration
law. So, in spite of the fact that the case seems to rest on a violation of an interpretation
based on a strict reading of the text of Article 10, the judge goes beyond such a purely lin-
guistic interpretation. He takes into account what I am referring to here as socio-prag-
matic factors, such as the tension existing between the agreement between the parties
and the arbitration law, and the underlying assumptions, aim and objectives and the spirit
of arbitration practice, in order to rule against the purely textual interpretation of Article
10. The discussion supports the view that legal action does not always depend on seman-
tically accurate interpretations, but also on appropriate socio-pragmatic interpretations.
The above case underpins the importance of text-external information, particularly the
conventions that make a particular genre possible, as well as a specific professional prac-
tice, and perhaps more appropriately, the specific disciplinary culture that motivates these
practices, both discursive as well as professional. A comprehensive analysis of any profes-
sional genre therefore must consider and perhaps integrate these text-internal as well
as text-external aspects of language use, which I have made an attempt to represent in
Diagram 1. Any theory or framework that chooses to underemphasize any of these four
aspects of language use is likely to miss input which can be of potential value to a good

Diagram 1. Language use in professional contexts.

 V.K. Bhatia / English for Specific Purposes 27 (2008) 161–174 165

Interdiscursivity

Appropriation of Generic Resources

Critical Analysis Critical Analysis

of Professional Genres of Professional Practices

Demystifying Corporate Colonization of Arbitration

Disclosure Documents Practices

Diagram 2. Interdiscursivity in professional contexts.

understanding of a specific genre used as part of the professional activity to achieve a spe-
cific disciplinary objective.
Textual as well as other semiotic resources and conventions at these four levels of dis-
cursive as well as professional activities are often appropriated and exploited for the con-
struction and interpretation of discursive as well as disciplinary practices, thus establishing
interesting interactive patterns of interdiscursivity (Bakhtin, 1986; Candlin & Maley, 1997;
Fairclough, 1995; Foucault, 1981; Kristeva, 1980). Interdiscursivity in this context can be
viewed as appropriation of semiotic resources (which may include textual, semantic, socio-
pragmatic, generic, and professional) across any two or more of these four levels, espe-
cially those of genre and professional practice.
The main argument of the paper rests on the claim that in order to develop a compre-
hensive and evidence-based awareness of the motives and intentions of disciplinary and
professional practices (Swales, 1998), one needs to look closely at the multiple discourses,
actions, and voices that play a significant role in the formation of specific discursive prac-
tices within the institutional and organizational context, in addition to the conventional
systems of genres (Bazerman, 1994) often used to fulfill the professional objectives of spe-
cific disciplinary or discourse communities. This view is possible within the notion of
‘interdiscursivity’, which is an important function of appropriation of text-external generic
resources across professional genres and professional practices. I would now like to take
up two specific instances of interdiscursivity, one resulting from an appropriation of gen-
eric resources across two different professional genres, and the other across two different
professional practices, Diagram 2 captures this.

2. Demystifying corporate disclosure documents1

The first study is based on an on-going research project on the study of corporate dis-
closure practices. The inspiration for this work came from the collapse of Enron in 2001
just after posting excellent annual results. The following are some of claims that were
made in the 2001 annual report.

1
The work described in this part of the paper was supported by a grant from the Research Grants Council of
the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China [Project No. 9041056 (CityU 1454/05H)].
166 V.K. Bhatia / English for Specific Purposes 27 (2008) 161–174

 Enron’s performance in 2000 was a success by any measure. . .

 We continued to outdistance the competition and solidify our leadership. . .
 In our largest business, we experienced an enormous increase of 59%. . .
 Our newest business. . . significantly accelerated transaction activity. . .
 Our oldest business. . .registered increased earnings. . .
 The company’s net income reached a record $1.3 billion in 2000. . .
 Enron has built unique and strong businesses that have tremendous opportunities for
growth. . .
 Our size, experience and skills give us enormous competitive advantages. . .

Based on some of these reported ‘facts’, the corporation further claimed that:

 Enron is in a unique position to provide the products and services. . .

 Enron is laser-focused on earnings per share, and we expect to continue strong earnings
performance. . .

Enron went on to emphasize that they had,

 Robust networks of strategic assets. . .

 Unparalleled liquidity and market-making abilities. . .
 Risk management skills. . .
 Innovative technology to deliver products and services at the lowest cost.

It is interesting to note that Enron, one of the biggest US corporations with reported
revenues of US $101 billion in 2000, filed for bankruptcy in less than a year. Its share value
went down from US $81 to just 40 cents in less than a year. It is even more intriguing to
find that the company was selling shares to its own employees just days before it filed for
bankruptcy, which makes one wonder to what extent the shareholders and other stake-
holders were aware of the real economic health of the company. This unexpected collapse
of a giant raised a number of crucial issues relevant to several areas of business and finan-
cial sectors, some of which include corporate accounting, banking and investment, busi-
ness law, financial accounting, financial gap analysis, bankruptcies etc. and several
studies have since been undertaken to address some of the issues involved in such corpo-
rate failures. However, this incident also raised a serious concern for those interested in
critical genre analysis and corporate communication who would like to investigate the
use and abuse of linguistic and rhetorical strategies often employed in corporate disclosure
documents and practices. A study such as this would require not only the textual analysis
of corporate annual reports but also a more multiperspective and multidimensional anal-
ysis of other intertextual materials, such as earnings and results announcements, press
releases, shareholder circulars, notes from general meetings, and a range of other corpo-
rate communications, in addition to financial review articles in newspapers and magazines
by outside financial experts. Over and above this, one may need to take into account the
interdiscursive relations between these corporate disclosure documents and the typical cor-
porate disclosure practices of which some of these corporate disclosure genres form an
interesting part.
My study of corporate disclosure documents based on 15 Hong Kong Stock Exchange
listed companies revealed a number of interesting aspects of these documents of which I
 V.K. Bhatia / English for Specific Purposes 27 (2008) 161–174 167

would like to take only one at this stage. The study showed that one of the legally
required modes of disclosure, that is, the annual report, is a typical combination of
two interesting kinds of discourses included in the same document, both of which, partly
because of the interdiscursive relations between them and partly through the expert use of
specific lexico-syntactic as well as socio-pragmatic resources, are cleverly exploited to
‘bend’ the norms and conventions of ‘reporting’ to promote a positive image of the cor-
poration, even in adverse and challenging economic circumstances. The corporations
through these annual reports manage to negotiate the tension between the need to under-
play the relatively weak past corporate performance and to project the expectations of
good performance (speculation about the future outlook), especially in contexts when
uncertainties about future economic and corporate growth and performance threaten
good prospects in the coming years (for more details see Bhatia, forthcoming). The
two kinds of discourses are

 Accounting discourse, which forms a major part of the Annual Reports, duly endorsed,
certified by public accountants.
 Public relation discourse, in the form of the chairman’s letter to shareholders, for which
public accounting firms do not take any responsibility.

As Kohut and Segars (1992), in their discussion of corporate annual reports, point out:
While financial portions such as the income statement, balance sheet, and changes in
financial position are subject to the scrutiny of the firm’s auditors, the narrative por-
tions of the document are a direct consequence of corporate communication deci-
sions. The president’s letter should. . .be viewed as downward communication to
the firm’s shareholders outlining past operating results and identifying new areas
of potential corporate growth and profitability.. . .
In the present study, we discovered two very different kinds of discourses embedded in
the same document, that is, the annual report. To take just one example from the Cathay
Pacific Airways Limited 2002 Annual Report, we find the following two very different
forms of discourse making claims about past and future performance. Here is a section
from the financial review section:
2002 was a good year for cargo, both in terms of revenue and freight tonnage car-
ried. Growth was driven by demand for Hong Kong exports to Europe and the Uni-
ted States. Brussels, Manchester and Milan were added to our freighter network.
Cargo revenue contributed 28.4% to Group turnover. . .
Passenger services turnover increased by 8.7% to HK $22,376 million primarily due
to higher passenger numbers. The number of passengers carried increased by 9.3%
to 12.3 million. . .
First and business class revenues increased by 8.1% and the front end load factor
increased from 52.6% to 58.9%. Economy class revenue rose by 9.0% and the econ-
omy class load factor increased from 75.6% to 81.8%.
(Cathay Pacific Airways Limited Annual Report 2002)
In this instance discourse claims are based on financial data. The use of numbers is a
significant resource for making claims here. However, in the same report in the Chair-
man’s letter we also find claims made about the future in a very different way.
168 V.K. Bhatia / English for Specific Purposes 27 (2008) 161–174

In 2002 the Group recorded one of its most profitable years. This was an outstanding
achievement given that the aviation industry was still suffering from the turmoil of 2001.
In considering the outlook for the coming year we are conscious of the fact that it
will be hard to repeat the performance of 2002 in the context of the current global
political and economic uncertainties. Nevertheless we have every confidence in our long
term future and in our ability to excel in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
(Cathay Pacific Airways Limited Annual Report 2002, emphasis added)
The first set of texts is a typical instance of accounting genre, whereas the second one is
a typical example of a public relations genre. However, due to the fact that both of these
genres were textually placed in the same text, we wanted to investigate to what extent the
two were based on the same set of financial data. When a senior public relations manager
was asked about the role of the chairman’s letter in an annual report, she pointed out:
. . .the Chairman’s Statement in a company report (is) the PR’s job. . .At times when
profit is not so good, her role as a PR manager is to manage the sentiments of the
public and the shareholders so as not to make any dramatic share price movement.
This involves management of tone and manner of writing the reports as well as meet-
ing the expectations of the Management.
On the other hand, a senior public accountant indicated:
The accountant’s job is to note any inconsistency in the company reports and. . .to go
through the banking mechanism of the management... Accountants are not respon-
sible for the forecasting of the company’s future.
These two genres thus tend to serve two very different purposes: the accounting discourse
tends to report accurately and factually on the basis of financial evidence the past corporate
performance, whereas the chairman’s letter is meant to promote a positive image of the com-
pany to its shareholders and other stakeholders in order to sustain their confidence in the
future corporate performance. Both these genres are products of two very different corpo-
rate practices: one is a typical response to the conventional and legally required practice
of auditing corporate results, and the other is an instance of marketing and public relations
practice. They also use very different textual resources and rhetorical strategies: one uses
numerical data in line with audit and accountancy practices, whereas the other makes use
of promotional as well as forecasting rhetoric. However, it is interesting to note that the
two genres are strategically placed in the same document, that is, the annual report, thus
establishing an interesting interdiscursive relationship between these two different corporate
genres. The main intention for placing the two genres within the boundaries of the same cor-
porate annual report is that such textual proximity is likely to lend the marketing and public
relations genre the same factual reliability and hence credibility that is often presupposed
from the use of numerical data. The public relations genre, on its own, is likely to be viewed
by the intended audience of (minority) shareholders as a promotional effort but when it is
placed in the discoursal proximity of an accounting discourse, which is often viewed as more
evidence-based, factual and therefore reliable, it is likely to raise a legitimate presupposition
that it may be drawing its conclusions from the accounting numbers which are certified by a
public authority accepted by the controlling government agencies. Many of the minority
shareholders, whose numbers have increased considerably in recent years, often lack exper-
tise and even linguistic skills to fully understand the implications of the accounting genre in
 V.K. Bhatia / English for Specific Purposes 27 (2008) 161–174 169

the annual report, but when they see the chairman’s letter to shareholders in the same report,
which is ‘assumed’ to be based on the accounting data, they are likely to take at least some of
the predictions and speculative statements in the letter rather more seriously than otherwise.
This rather brief account of corporate disclosure practices clearly underpins the impor-
tance of corporate practices in the study of corporate genres. A purely textual or discour-
sal study of lexico-grammatical, semantico-pragmatic, and discourse organization is
unlikely to reveal the intricacies of the construction, interpretation, use and especially
exploitation of these corporate genres in achieving their corporate objectives within the
requirements of disclosure practices imposed by corporate governance bodies and rating
agencies. In order to fully appreciate and understand the implications of one of the key
questions in the analysis of professional discourse, that is, ‘why do these professionals
use the language the way they do?’ one needs to integrate the analysis of professional gen-
res with professional practices and cultures.
Having looked at interdiscursivity as a function of the relationship between genres and
professional practice, I would like to go to yet another aspect of interdiscursivity, that is,
the interrelationship between two rather different professional practices.

3. Critical study of colonization of arbitration practices2

Arbitration, as discussed earlier in the paper, is intended to be an efficient, economical

and effective alternative to litigation for settling disputes, almost entirely based on the free
will of the parties. In actual practice, however, parties do not hesitate to go for litigation
when the outcome does not favour them. To better protect their interests, the parties often
have recourse to legal experts rather than non-legal experts as arbitrators, which has the
effect of making arbitration similar to litigation, often encouraging the importation of typ-
ical litigation processes and procedures into arbitration practices. This leads to an increas-
ing mixture of discourses as arbitration becomes, as it were, ‘colonized’ by litigation
practices, threatening the integrity of arbitration practice to resolve disputes outside of
the courts, and thus going contrary to the spirit of arbitration as a non-legal practice.
Nariman (2000), a distinguished international scholar in International Commercial Arbi-
tration, rightly claims that International Commercial Arbitration has become almost
indistinguishable from litigation, which it was at one time intended to supplant. Commer-
cial arbitration practice thus provides an excellent context for the study of interdiscursivity
where two rather different professional practices, litigation and arbitration, each one well-
established in its own right, interact with each other, creating a perfect environment for the
‘colonization’ of one practice by the other. Although interdiscursivity in this context is not
directly the result of interaction between two genres, more interestingly, it is between two
different professional practices, that is, litigation and arbitration, where one seeks to
undermine the ‘integrity’ of the other.
In order to investigate the integrity3 (Bhatia, 2004:112) of international arbitration
practices, it is not enough to look at language in use as either text, or even as genre,

2
The work described in this part of the paper was supported by a grant from the Research Grants Council of
the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China [Project No. 9041191 (CityU 1501/06H)].
3
Integrity of genre and also of any professional practice is a function of a set of mutually accessible conventions
which most members of a professional community share and hence gives the genre or practice a recognizable
character. See (Bhatia, (2004:115)) for details.
170 V.K. Bhatia / English for Specific Purposes 27 (2008) 161–174

but one may need to go beyond these to language use as professional practice. In partic-
ular, one needs to determine the extent to which arbitration discourses interdiscursively
‘appropriate’ generic forms and conventions from litigation, particularly in terms of the
intentions, purposes, processes, procedures, and the shared expertise expected on the part
of the participants involved. Most of these factors can be studied on the basis of the dis-
courses employed by the participants, in addition to other sets of complementary textual,
narrative, and discourse data.
To provide an evidence-based exploration of the integrity of arbitration practice there-
fore, one may need to adopt a multi-perspective and multidimensional analytical frame-
work (Bhatia, 2004). This will involve an integration of three data sets: an examination
of the intertextual relationships amongst documents recording discursive practices typi-
cally selected from arbitration and litigation practices; narratives of experience drawn
from key practitioners within these institutional cultures and tested against the experiences
of other community members; and selective analyses of critical moments in the discourses
of arbitration practices in specific sites of engagement.
This kind of study is consistent with what Goffman (1959) suggests through his theatri-
cal metaphor of front-stage interactions, which include primary interactional data (i.e.,
participant interactions, wherever possible) from the actual proceedings of arbitration
practice and written documents such as arbitration awards and cases, as well as back-stage
interactions which may include, colleague–colleague discussions, preparation notes,
impressions and views informally expressed, through interviews, and focus groups. Of
course, these ‘stages’ are not always clear-cut; their boundaries can be frequently blurred.
However, it is possible to take advantage of such blurring by reflexively seeking confirma-
tions of the communicative characteristics of critical moments in the arbitration process by
testing practitioner hypotheses against other practitioners’ experiences and against the
actualities of interaction in key sites. This corroborating reflexivity becomes crucial as
one investigates the contested degree to which, in given arbitration contexts and sites,
interdiscursivities between the arbitrational and the litigational become manifest and ori-
ented to by the participants. In analyzing such areas of interdiscursivity, although the evi-
dence comes from the use of language and discourse, the focus is on the study of
arbitration practice, in particular on the extent to which arbitration practice is influenced
by what is popularly known as litigation practice4.

4. Conclusions

In this paper, I have argued for a multiperspective and multidimensional approach to

critical genre analysis, which integrates the analysis of discursive and professional or dis-
ciplinary practices in the context of specific professional or disciplinary cultures. In doing
so, I have made an attempt to highlight the nature, function and importance of interdis-
cursivity in the analysis of professional discourses. Taking interdiscursivity in genre theory
as one of the significant functions of appropriation of generic and other semiotic resources
across various dimensions of genres, professional practice, and professional culture, I have
suggested that conventional text-based approaches to genre analysis need to develop fur-

4
Although it is too early to show any conclusive results from analysis at this stage as the project is in its early
phase, the indications are positive about the approach and the concept used.
 V.K. Bhatia / English for Specific Purposes 27 (2008) 161–174 171

ther in the direction of contextualization (Bhatia, 2004), underpinning the crucial role of
text-external factors not only for the construction of professional discourses, but also for
the eventual success of professional activities typically undertaken by professionals to
achieve their professional objectives.
By focusing on critical moments of interaction within specific sites of professional
engagement, I have brought into focus the key role of disciplinary, institutional, organiza-
tional or professional practices of specialist communities in the study of the discursive
practices of established members of specific professional cultures. The argument also
underpins the complex nature of discourse in the world of professions, a complexity that
requires, for its analysis, a greater integration of text-internal and text-external factors that
influence and contribute to the construction, interpretation and exploitation of genres on
the part of professionals to achieve their objectives in a variety of specific contexts. To ade-
quately account for most of these factors one may require an equally complex and
dynamic multiperspective and multidimensional analytical framework which can encour-
age much greater integration of analytical tools from various disciplines and frameworks.
Bhatia (2004) suggests a three-space model of discourse analysis, consisting of a textual,
socio-pragmatic, and social space that integrates a number of different perspectives on
genre analysis, which include not only textual, cognitive, socio-critical, and institutional,
but ethnographic perspectives as well.
Employed together, these perspectives would in various ways contribute to our under-
standing of professional discourse not only as text and genre but, more importantly, also
as professional practice within the broader context of institutional, professional, organiza-
tional and disciplinary cultures (Diagram 3).
Finally, this view of professional discourse that would account for and, to a large
degree, integrate professional discourse and professional practice into a single analytical
framework, has the capacity to bridge the gap between the ideal world of classroom
and the real world of professional practice. The notion of interdiscursivity suggested
and developed here also helps analysts and ESP practitioners to handle pure as well as
hybrid genres (Bhatia, 1995, 1997, 2004) in addition to encouraging them to understand

Cognitive
Perspective

Discourse
Structures
Lexico-grammar
Socio-critical Institutional
Perspective Textual Perspective Perspective

Interdiscursivity
Intertextuality

Ethnographic
Perspective

Diagram 3. Perspectives on discourse.

172 V.K. Bhatia / English for Specific Purposes 27 (2008) 161–174

PROFESSIONAL
PRACTICE

Interdiscursivity

in Professional Discourse

DISCURSIVE
PRACTICE

Diagram 4. Interdiscursivity in professional discourse.

disciplinary conflicts in professional genres and generic conflicts across disciplines (Bhatia,
1998, 2004). The paper thus argues for a comprehensive and effective analysis of profes-
sional discourses through an understanding of both the discursive as well as professional
practices in an attempt to develop a discursive model of professional practice that high-
lights the relationship between discourse and professional practice through the study of
the construction, interpretation, and consumption of professional discourses and genres
within a socio-pragmatic space, as summed up in Diagram 4.

Appendix 1. 2002 AIR SCW 898 (Lohia v. Lohia)

Appellant: Narayan Prasad Lohia Respondent: Nikunj K Lohia.

The appellant and the respondents are family members, who had disputes and
differences in respect of family business and properties. All the parties agreed to resolve
their disputes through one Mr. Khaitan. Subsequently they agreed that Mr. Khaitan
and one Mr. Jain resolve their disputes. For the purpose of this appeal, the judges
presumed that the parties had agreed to the arbitration of these two persons.. . . The
parties made their claims before these two persons, and all the parties participated
in the proceedings. On 6th of October 1996 an award came to be passed by the two
persons.
On 22nd December 1997 the first respondent filed an application in the Calcutta High
Court for setting aside this award. Later on the second respondent also filed an application
for setting aside this award. One of the grounds, in both these applications was that the
Arbitration was by two Arbitrators whereas under the Arbitration and Conciliation
Act, 1996 there cannot be an even number of Arbitrators. It was contended that arbitra-
tion by two arbitrators was against the statutory provision of the said Act, and therefore
void and invalid. These contentions found favour with a single Judge of the Calcutta High
Court, who set aside the award on 17th November 1998. On the 18th May 2000 the
Appeal was also dismissed. Hence this Appeal to this Court.
Mr. Veugopal, the counsel for the respondents, submits that section 10 is a mandatory
provision which cannot be derogated. He points out that even though the parties are free
to determine the number of arbitrators, such number cannot be an even number. Any
agreement which permits the parties to appoint an even number of arbitrators would be
contrary to this mandatory provision. He submits that such an agreement would be invalid
and void as the Arbitral Tribunal would not have been validly constituted. He submits
 V.K. Bhatia / English for Specific Purposes 27 (2008) 161–174 173

that composition of the arbitral tribunal itself being invalid, the proceedings and the
award, even if one be passed, would be invalid and unenforceable.
On the other hand, Mr. Dwivedi, the counsel for the appellant, submits that Sections 4,
10, and 16 are part of the integrated scheme provided in the said act. . .the provisions have
to be read in a manner whereby there is no conflict between any of them. . . He submits
that undoubtedly Section 10 provides that there should not be an even number of arbitra-
tors. He points out that Section 10 starts with words. ‘‘The parties are free to determine
the number of arbitrators’’.
He submits that arbitration is a matter of agreement between the parties. He submits
that generally, in arbitration, the parties are free to determine the number of arbitrators
and the procedure. Parties could agree upon an even number of arbitrators. He submits
that even after a party has agreed to an even number of arbitrators he can still object
to the composition of the arbitral tribunal. He submits that such objection must be taken
before the arbitral tribunal no later than the date of the submission of the statement of
defence. . .
We have heard the parties at length. . . Undoubtedly, Section 10 provides that the num-
ber of arbitrators shall not be an even number. The question still remains whether Section
10 is a non-derogable provision. In our view the answer to this question would depend on
question as to whether, under the said Act, a party has a right to object to the composition
of the arbitral tribunal, if such composition is not in accordance with the said Act and if so
at what stage. It must be remembered that arbitration is a creature of an agreement. There
can be no arbitration unless there is an arbitration agreement in writing between the
parties.
In the said Act, provisions have been made in Sections 12, 13 and 16 for challenging the
competence, impartiality and jurisdiction. Such challenges must however be before the
arbitral tribunal itself. . . A party is free not to object within the time prescribed in section
16(2). If a party chooses not to so object there will be a deemed waiver under section 4. Thus
we are unable to accept the submission that Section 10 is a non-derogable provision. In our
view Section 10 has to be read along with Section 16 and is, therefore, derogable provision.
Respondent 1 and 2 not having raised any objection to the composition of the arbitral
tribunal, as provided in Section 16, they must be deemed to have waived their right to
object.
For the reasons aforesaid, the Judgments of the learned Judge and the Division Bench
on the question of law discussed cannot be sustained. They are accordingly set aside.

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