Abstract:China has made a continuing effort over the past decade to conduct a judicial reform (Hu, 2007;Jiang, 1997) in order to accommodate its fast-developing market and economy. The judicial reform changes a number of aspects of Chinese litigation practices including the selection of judges, the hearing of cases and the writing of judgments. This research aims at describing, analyzing and explaining some of the ways in which Chinese judges change their discursive construction of civil judgments due to the ongoing ju… Show more
“…In another context, Han (, p. 753), while discussing reforms in litigation, points out that judicial authorities in China have acknowledged the lack of legal reasoning in Chinese civil judgments. To remedy this situation, the Supreme People's Court of the PRC recommended improvements in legal reasoning but there is the question of English was never mentioned at all: The reform in writing litigation documents should be accelerated, and the quality of litigation documents should be improved.…”
Section: Beyond Textualisation In Genre and We Researchmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Litigation documents should record the process of litigation and open judges’ reasoning in adjudicating disputes, thus making each litigation document a typical instantiation of Chinese judicial justice for the public and a lively sample for educating the public in the law. (Five‐year Reform Outline of People's Courts, 1999, quoted in Han, )…”
Section: Beyond Textualisation In Genre and We Researchmentioning
Communication in international professional contexts, whether in spoken, written, or digital form, often involves participants from a variety of contexts in terms of variations in their use of language and cultural norms, discourse strategies, and expectations of participating members of specific professional communities, and as such, invariably reflects a multi-norm rather than a mono-norm native model of language use. However, very little attention has been paid either in world Englishes (WE) or discourse analytical studies to communication in professional practice, in particular with a focus on textexternal contextual factors. The major emphasis has so far been on the analysis of textualisation of discourse. Drawing on recent insights from critical genre analysis (Bhatia, 2017), I would like to argue that discursive data from professional practice provides additional support and convincing argument in favour of Kachru's (1985, p. 30) call for multi-norm standards in international communication and for a need to consider 'new paradigms and perspectives for linguistics and pedagogical research' in national as well as international contexts.as the mindset of the participants, awareness of their institutional or professional objectives, nature and function of professional expertise, and the expectations of the members of their respective discourse communities. This is particularly true of professional discourses, which are invariably embedded in a diversity of WE contexts. Thus, undermining the role of contextualisation in WE and GA has often led researchers to draw on linguistic theories of various kind to focus primarily on textualisation. In more recent developments, however, particularly in the analysis of professional discourse, we find discursive actions being viewed essentially as part of professional practice, thus making it necessary for the intended users of such genres to interpret them in a much wider socio-pragmatic space, with particular attention to interdiscursivity as appropriations across genres and professional practices BHATIA 31 genres need to look beyond the traditional concerns of formal linguistics to consider critically how expert professionals exploit generic resources (at various levels, including lexico-grammar, rhetorical structures, discourse organisation, conventions, and constraints on and across genres) to create new and hybrid forms to achieve their disciplinary objectives, invariably transcending geographical, disciplinary, institutional, as well as cultural, boundaries. Drawing on key insights from critical genre analysis (CGA) of interdiscursive performance in professional practice, I would like to argue for an integration of discursive and professional practices in order to facilitate a more comprehensive understanding of how professionals in WE contexts engage in pluricentric creativities to achieve their professional objectives. However, before I give more substance to the main argument, it is necessary to identify some of the key issues in world Englishes, and also to discu...
“…In another context, Han (, p. 753), while discussing reforms in litigation, points out that judicial authorities in China have acknowledged the lack of legal reasoning in Chinese civil judgments. To remedy this situation, the Supreme People's Court of the PRC recommended improvements in legal reasoning but there is the question of English was never mentioned at all: The reform in writing litigation documents should be accelerated, and the quality of litigation documents should be improved.…”
Section: Beyond Textualisation In Genre and We Researchmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Litigation documents should record the process of litigation and open judges’ reasoning in adjudicating disputes, thus making each litigation document a typical instantiation of Chinese judicial justice for the public and a lively sample for educating the public in the law. (Five‐year Reform Outline of People's Courts, 1999, quoted in Han, )…”
Section: Beyond Textualisation In Genre and We Researchmentioning
Communication in international professional contexts, whether in spoken, written, or digital form, often involves participants from a variety of contexts in terms of variations in their use of language and cultural norms, discourse strategies, and expectations of participating members of specific professional communities, and as such, invariably reflects a multi-norm rather than a mono-norm native model of language use. However, very little attention has been paid either in world Englishes (WE) or discourse analytical studies to communication in professional practice, in particular with a focus on textexternal contextual factors. The major emphasis has so far been on the analysis of textualisation of discourse. Drawing on recent insights from critical genre analysis (Bhatia, 2017), I would like to argue that discursive data from professional practice provides additional support and convincing argument in favour of Kachru's (1985, p. 30) call for multi-norm standards in international communication and for a need to consider 'new paradigms and perspectives for linguistics and pedagogical research' in national as well as international contexts.as the mindset of the participants, awareness of their institutional or professional objectives, nature and function of professional expertise, and the expectations of the members of their respective discourse communities. This is particularly true of professional discourses, which are invariably embedded in a diversity of WE contexts. Thus, undermining the role of contextualisation in WE and GA has often led researchers to draw on linguistic theories of various kind to focus primarily on textualisation. In more recent developments, however, particularly in the analysis of professional discourse, we find discursive actions being viewed essentially as part of professional practice, thus making it necessary for the intended users of such genres to interpret them in a much wider socio-pragmatic space, with particular attention to interdiscursivity as appropriations across genres and professional practices BHATIA 31 genres need to look beyond the traditional concerns of formal linguistics to consider critically how expert professionals exploit generic resources (at various levels, including lexico-grammar, rhetorical structures, discourse organisation, conventions, and constraints on and across genres) to create new and hybrid forms to achieve their disciplinary objectives, invariably transcending geographical, disciplinary, institutional, as well as cultural, boundaries. Drawing on key insights from critical genre analysis (CGA) of interdiscursive performance in professional practice, I would like to argue for an integration of discursive and professional practices in order to facilitate a more comprehensive understanding of how professionals in WE contexts engage in pluricentric creativities to achieve their professional objectives. However, before I give more substance to the main argument, it is necessary to identify some of the key issues in world Englishes, and also to discu...
“…The findings noted that judges used linguistic markers to show stance and attitude in addition to the use of modal verbs. Han (2011) examined the discursive behaviours of judicial opinions through the use of genre and critical discourse analysis methodology. The study investigated the discursive construction, particularly on the use of meta discourse in Chinese civil judgments.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…The main driving factor of the study was to discover whether the judges in China will adopt a more transparent nature when producing written judgments. Apart from the study by Han (2011), David, Saeipoor and Ali (2016) also conducted a genre analysis study with a focus on rape appeal judgments in Malaysia. Figueiredo (2002) suggests that one method of investigating the use and misuse of language regarding power over the body is through the research of judicial discourse on sexual crimes.…”
Violent behaviour is understood as being a social and unilateral action initiated by one party. It is social in nature as it occurs within an interpersonal context and unilateral per se because it involves action taken by one individual against the well-being of another. Judges use strategic discursive strategies to describe the accounts of the crime in their judicial decisions. This research aims to investigate the language used by judges to describe the accounts of rape in selected appellate judgments of sexual violence cases in Malaysia. Specifically, it aims to investigate the discursive strategies adopted by judges to reformulate the description of the crime. The findings revealed that violent, disapproving, sexual, and ambiguous terms were adopted. It was also revealed that the crime is often characterized as a non-coerced and mutually-consented behaviour rather than a criminal act. This results in minimizing the level of violence, the mitigation of offender's responsibility, and the relegation of victim's experience to the background. Another significant finding from this study is the issue of judges' 'interpretative repertoires' in describing cases of sexual violence. We recommend for future studies to include a bigger sample size, as well as to study whether different rape categories namely acquaintance rape, incestuous rape, and stranger rape would reveal distinctive terms used for the respective rape types.
“…While criminal trials have garnered the most attention, other legal genres have been analyzed: for example, oral argument in appeals cases (e.g. Tracy, 2009Tracy, , 2016, voir dire (Shuy, 1995) and the written opinions of judges in civil judgments (Han, 2011). Relatively unstudied are trials in small claims court, which after traffic court is one of the most common places for ordinary citizens to experience the law.…”
In this article we identify discourse moves in small claims court that have the potential to affect procedural justice-the sense that a litigant has been treated fairly and respectfully. We focus on what judges do as they address three communicative challenges that are part of small claims court judging: (1) handling the potential for appeal, (2) keeping trials short while treating litigants fairly and (3) managing the paradox of informal justice. After providing background on procedural justice and how it links to facework, and describing small claims court procedures and research, we characterize the trial data and our discourse approach. Then we explicate the discourse moves judges employed to address each of the communication challenges. This article concludes by suggesting the likely consequences of judges' moves for litigants' perceptions of procedural justice.
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