Analysis of the organizational and informational value of links in psychology and geology popular science hyperarticles

Résumé 0

Genre analysis has greatly influenced the teaching and learning of English for Specific Purposes (ESP). Because of its impact, the Internet has become an interesting setting to study the use and development of genres and to assist learners in understanding hypertexts as well as their distinctive element: the link. Following Hammerich and Harrison's taxonomy (2002), this article analyzes the organizational and informational value of this key element in psychology and geology articles. The study revealed that, from the organizational angle, there might be a tendency to economize on the use of strongly authored links, and that, from the organizational angle, the enhancing function was found most frequently, thus limiting the multimedia potentialities of this environment to personalize texts. This might indicate that, in the sample of hyperarticles, there is a strong bias toward economizing some of the features that make hypertexts unique and distinctive.