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social function, which can be seen from the sequences of social activities Santosa, 2003; Martin, 1992.
Halliday and Hasan in Santosa 2010 also state that genre is realized in the Generic Structure Potential or GSP. GSP is an obligatory element of a text that
can be used in determining the genre of the text, because it is an obligatory element, every genre has different GSP. Texts with the same genre may have
many variations in their text structures depend on the context situation. So, the texts may have different optional structures.
In addition, Martin in Santosa 2010 classifies genre into two categories; story genre and factual genre.
1. Story Genre
Martin in Santosa 2010 states that story genre is explored from the social process which has the main purpose to entertain the readers. There are four types
of story genre; recount, anecdote, exemplum and narrative. a.
Recount A recount genre consists of a record of events or social phenomenon
occurred in the past. The events are arranged chronologically or using sequence of events. The purpose of recount in story genre is to entertain by telling story that
happened in the past. The generic structure of recount consists of orientation to introduce the general event, events to tell the detail event, and re-orientation.
The re- orientation is optional, that’s why it could be included or not. The semantic
features of recount are: using past tense, using material process, and focusing on temporal sequence Martin in Santosa, 2010.
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b. Anecdote
An anecdote refers to a record of events or social phenomenon consisting of a short and interesting story taken from our past experience. The story is not
only our own experience but also someone we know. The primary purpose of anecdote is not merely to entertain or to create humor but also to reveal a truth. In
addition, there is something remarkable out of ordinary. The generic structure of anecdote is as follow:
Abstract : tell the general incidents Orientation : set the happening
Crisis : provide the unusual event in details
Reaction : response to crisis Coda : give the evaluation of the incident, but it is optional
ibid. c.
Exemplum An exemplum views a usual thing as an incident, which is then followed
by an interpretation that explains how things should or should not happen ibid. d.
Narrative Narrative tells about the details story that happens in the past. Different
from recount, narrative is more complicated because it brings the story to life and contains actions of the participants in struggling conditions. In the narrative
genre, the unusual thing creates a complication which is further evaluated in the evaluation, and it will finally be overcome in the resolution ibid.
The sequence of activity of the story genre can be seen in the table below:
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Table 2.9 Story Genre
Types of story genres
Activity
Recount A record of events
Anecdote Crisis
Reaction Exemplum
Incident Interpretation
Narration Complication
Evaluation Resolution
Adapted from Martin 1992; in Santosa, 2010: 79
2. Factual Genre
