Rapport — how the weight it carries affects the way it is managed

Victor C. K. Ho

doi:10.1515/text.2011.007

Article

Rapport — how the weight it carries affects the way it is managed

Victor C. K. Ho

Published/Copyright: March 4, 2011

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From the journal Volume 31 Issue 2

Abstract

This paper discusses the management of rapport by a group of English-language teachers through their request e-mail discourse. The group was regarded as a community of practice consisting of two types of members—core and peripheral. The paper explores and compares the ways the core and peripheral members managed rapport while making requests through e-mails. It is argued that to the two types of members, rapport weighed differently and was thus managed differently by differential manipulation of three aspects of the macro-structure of the discourse including (i) the blending of discourses, (ii) the generic structure of the request e-mails, and (iii) the rhetorical approach chosen. The observed differences in rapport management are explained with reference to the career prospects and duties of the e-mail authors.

Keywords:: e-mail; rapport management; interdiscursivity; community of practice; move; rhetorical approach

Address for correspondence: OEE 1203, Language Centre, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong <victorho@hkbu.edu.hk>.

Published Online: 2011-03-04

Published in Print: 2011-March

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Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/text.2011.007

Keywords for this article

e-mail; rapport management; interdiscursivity; community of practice; move; rhetorical approach