A contemporary handbook – selected issues of the genre’s evolution

Agnieszka Rypel

Uniwersytet Kazimierza Wielkiego w Bydgoszczy

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to show how general transformations occurring in culture influence education, and, ipso facto, the change of a school handbook genre model. A textbook, similar to many other genres, is not homogenous in the intergenre aspect. That is why it is difficult to study the evolution of one prototype genre. Therefore, a canonical model of a Polish language handbook for secondary schools, as well as its alternating and adaptive models, have been chosen as the research object. It may be concluded from the comparative analysis of various textbooks that a basic feature distinguishing these versions is a communicative intention. Its change is conditioned by transformations in the way a subjective role of a student and teacher, handbook’s recipients, is understood.