ABSTRACT
One of the key concepts in ESP is “genre”. To understand why this concept appeared in linguistic communication, the chapter starts with a look at the basic reasons for human communication: for creating and sustaining relationships and for effectively transmitting information in public spheres. The latter form of communication is for conducting activities in business and professional fields. As the types of communication necessary become established, repeatedly used forms, or genres, appear. These genres can be deconstructed by an OCHA approach to examine the PAIL of a genre. OCHA refers to observing the genre features, classifying them, hypothesizing about their usage and then applying them. What is to be observed is the PAIL, or purpose, audience, information and language features, of the genre.
