Genre-based approach

Genre-based Approach to Language Teaching

Background

The notion of genre derives from a series of action research projects implemented

by teachers and functional linguists in Australia during the past three decades. It was

originally

defined

as

a

staged

goal-oriented

social

process,

emphasizing

a

series

of

phases

of

meaning

making

that

are

designed

to

accomplish

something

through

interactions

with

others.

This

notion of genre

was

later

given much

emphasize as

a

crucial layer within the functional model of language and this function of genre helps

to lay a foundation for the oncoming genre-based literacy practices. According to the

functional

model

of

language,

genre

reveals

the

way

in

which

a

particular

culture

manages

to

coordinate

different

and

recurrent

language

resources

to

construct

particular

meanings

that

are

valued

within

the

specific

cultural

context.

This

idea

implies the complex processes we have to undertake before concrete social purposes

are realized. And these complex processes, to a great extend, entails large amount of

texts and conversational interactions.

In recent

years this concept of genre has been

expanded

to

include

all

purposeful

uses

of

language.

Many

researchers

working

within

different

genre

approaches

have

come

out

with

a

consensus

that

genres

are

social

practices

that

have

evolved

to

enable

us

achieve

our

goals

(Martin,

1985;

Painter,

2001,

as

cited

in

Derewianka,

2003).

In

the

field

of

genre

study,

there

are

several theoretical trends and they can be put along a continuum. At one end of this

continuum lie those who express major interests in such contexts as social, culture and

1

history (Hyon, 1996; Flowerdew, 2002; Hyland, 2002; Johns, 2002). There are other

researchers positioning themselves within the New Rhetorical School (Miller, 1984;

Bazerman, 1994; Freedman & Medway, 1994), focus their studies on the way genres

either realize certain social cultural purposes or form particular frameworks through

involvement

into

varied

contexts.

At

the

other

end

of

this

continuum

is

the

group

dealing

with

discourse

analysis,

focusing

on

pedagogical

exploration

on

enhancing

students

’

communicative competence in their future professional and academic areas.

In

line

with

them

are

those

who

are

doing

English

for

Specific

Purposes

(Swales,

1990;

Dudley-Evans

&

St

John,

1998),

specifically,

probing

into

varied

genres

like

literature review, job applications, business letters, governmental documents, and so

on.

What

’

s

worth

special

mention

is

those

who

are

located

at

the

middle

of

this

continuum

and

find

a

place

connecting

the

social

cultural

context

with

specific

linguistic features, that is, the school of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL). This

group

and

the

central

concepts

have

greatly

influenced

the

design

of

school

curriculum

and

syllabus

and

have

become

the

mostly

probed

area

regarding

genre

study and genre-based English language teaching.

Approach: Theory of language and learning

In the tradition of genre theory, language is granted with practical connotations. In

general,

language

symbolizes

a

series

of

rhetorical

choices

regarding

the

particular

social

cultural

context

within

with

it

is

used

for

communicative

purposes.

Choices,

therefore,

are

results

of

varied

social

aims

competing

with

each

other.

The

2

particularity of the dealing with language in

genre

theory lies

in

its combination

of

grammatical

features

with

contextual

factors.

For

example,

when

we

make

specific

grammatical choices, we tend to take into consideration three relevant notions, namely,

the

themes

of

texts

(field),

interaction

between

participants

(tenor),

function

of

language

(mode).

Hylliday

(1975)

initiated

this

system

of

grammatical

features

of

language

in

terms

of

early

childhood

language

acquisition.

Later

he

put

forward

a

model of language in order to argue the constructive role of language in people

’

s life,

which is termed as social semiotic (Halliday, 1978). This model stresses three facets

of

role

that

language

plays

in

social

interactions.

Accordingly,

language

serves

a

systemic

function

in

that

it

provides

systems

of

linguistic

resources

to

realize

meanings.

This

systemic function is

mostly

reflected in

the system

of mood, where

people find rich sources for making both imperative and indicative statements. Users

involved

in

varied

roles

and

interactions

with

their

counterparts

make

different

linguistic choices so as to construct varied meanings. Thus language is deemed to be

polysystemic

because

of

these

many

linguistic

systems

engaged

at

the

same

time.

(Christie,

1999).

Language

serves

a

functional

role

in

that

it

indicates

the

social

cultural purpose for which it comes into being undoubtedly.

The school of systemic

functional

linguistics

further

categorized

the

function

of

language

into

three

metafunctions,

they

are,

“

the

ideational,

to

do

with

the

experiences

represented

or

constructed

within

language;

the

interpersonal,

to

do

with

the

nature

of

the

relationships of persons in using language; and the textual, to do with the organization

of

language

as

coherent

messages.

”

(Christie,

1999,

p.

759)

This

symbolizes

the

3

simultaneous

linguistic

choices

as

well

as

the

three

metafunctions

realized

when

people use language.

Finally, language is

taken

as text

that bears meaningful social

cultural

purpose.

Therefore,

text

can

never

be

understood

without

looking

at

the

particular

context.

In

other

words,

“

text

is

known

only

because

of

the

context

that

gives it life;

conversely, context

is

known only

because of the text

that

realizes

it.

”

(Christie,

1999,

p.

760)

As

Malinowski

(1923)

contended,

the

nature

of

a

text

is

decided by the context of situation.

Theory of learning genres originated from Bakhtin (1986) who attached learning

of genres with the acquisition of a first language. In other words, language acquisition

starts from the acquisition of a particular genre, where we obtain necessary ability to

process

a

communicative

activity

within

the

generic

context.

Genre

theory

of

L2

learning has been

fundamentally

laid out

by Melrose (1995) and

Lock

(1996), who

related

L2

acquisition

to

learning

the

ability

to

process

systemic

choices

and

make

effective

meanings

in

using

a

language

that

is

different

from

one

’

s

first

language.

Therefore, it is a progressive journey from handling limited choices regarding lexis,

structures, and so on to

constructing meanings with a larger number of options that

are

preferable

to

varied

contexts.

Vygotskian

learning

theory

put

language

learning

within

a

context

of

shared

understanding.

Pedagogically,

teachers

retrieve

to

a

scaffolding position during classroom instructions and guide learners gradually to the

linguistic

resources

that

are

deemed

most

necessary

for

them

to

take

part

in

communicative social activities.

4

Design:

Objectives,

syllabus,

learning

activities,

role

of

learners,

teachers,

and

materials

The primary rationale for genre-based approach in English language teaching is its

strengths

in

teaching

writings

especially

to

ESL

(English

as

Second

Language)

students.

Instead

of

emphasizing

merely

on

the

meaning

of

language,

genre-based

approach combines text meaning with the practical operation of language at the text

level.

It

is

also

a

development

of

the

former

phonemic

perspective

on

language

whereby language meaning is separated from the social cultural context and confined

within the lexical and sentence level. In this sense, genre-based approach is embraced

as a promising methodology in cultivating learners

’

communicative language ability

in

the

real

social

community.

The

general

principle

for

practicing

genre-based

approach

lies

in

that

learners

are

expected

to

be

involved

into

various

classroom

activities that can naturally guide students to make use of the genre knowledge they

have been exposed to. Therefore, one crucial role for the language teachers is to select

and

create

a

particular

context

during

the

planning

process

so

that

students

may

be

encouraged to take conscious effort to learn the target genre.

The objective of the genre-based approach, in line with the concept of scaffolding

(Bruner, 1978), is to project ESL teachers and learners into a classroom environment

featuring shared responsibility between teachers and learners through varied language

teaching

processes.

Concretely,

teachers

initiate

classroom

activities

with

a

role

of

introducing necessary knowledge and backgrounds,

while students

are positioned at

the

beginning

more

in

a

knowledge

receiver

’

s

role.

However,

with

the

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