HyperNew: Writing Pedagogy Misrepresented As Linguistic Theory

Martin & Rose (2007: 195):

While hyperThemes predict what each phase of discourse will be about, new information accumulates in each clause as the phase unfolds. In written texts in particular, this accumulation of new information is often distilled in a final sentence, that thus functions as a hyperNew to the phase. HyperThemes tell us where we’re going in a phase; hyperNews tell us where we’ve been.

Blogger Comments:

This is misleading, because it misrepresents writing pedagogy as linguistic theory. To be clear, 'hyperNew' is Martin's (1992) rebranding of 'paragraph summary'. The only texts that include a paragraph summary are written texts where the writer conforms to this writing principle.