The effect of expository text structure on text-based interest: Problem-based exposition (the linguistic aspect)

Abstract

The article presents a linguistic approach to the study of the emotiogenicity of expository texts. The purpose of the work is to identify linguistic resources that contribute to readers’ interest in expository texts with problem-based exposition. Expository texts from Russian textbooks for secondary schools are used as material for the study. The problem-based exposition is a pattern of text structure organized as “problem and solution”. It consists of two parts: the first part (“problem statement”) describes a problematic situation associated with a lack of students’ knowledge; the second part (“solution”) presents a way to solve it. Since the problem situation is a part of educational communication, the problem-based exposition involves the contextualization of textual content. For this, expository questions and authorization tools are often used because they allow for expressing the problem situation and the mental activity of an addressee. The emotiogenicity of expository texts with problem-based exposition primarily depends on the degree of contextualization. The contextualization makes it possible to present the textual content as being personally significant for the reader, to arouse the reader’s desire to find out something new about an object of interest, and to engage them in the cognitive process. At the same time, the emotiogenic potential of the problem-based exposition depends on the content characteristics (constraints, engaging themes), as well as on the addressee’s factor, in particular their genre expectations.