Defining and Teaching Genre

Defining and Teaching Genre (Event # 3360)
TESOL Conference, March 31, 2004
Ann M. Johns, San Diego State University (ajohns@cox.net)

I. What are genres?
• “Genre” is an abstract, mental representation of a text type, situated within a community of readers and writers. Because genres are socially constructed, audience, community, context, writer’s role and other “social” features are central to our genre knowledge.
• All literate people have genre knowledge: of everyday texts (e.g., bills, political flyers), of sacred texts (e.g., the Koran, the Bible), and perhaps of pedagogical texts (e.g., school essays).
• Genres are purposeful, and their functions are at least partially determined by the context and community---as well as by the writer. Texts are written to get things done.
• Some genres, like some language registers, are valued more than others within a community. Community members name their valued genres and understand their purposes and conventions. (see Winsor)
• No texts are innocent. All discourses are ideologically driven—even, or especially, in educational and professional contexts.
• Generic conventions are subject, in most cases, to community constraints; writers can be both freed and restricted by the audience expectations for a genre. Thus:
? The macro-structure and register of a text are functional: they serve the purposes of the writer who generally operates within genre constraints. (Unless she is genre-bending.)
? What is present, and absent (“the silences”) in texts, including certain content or evidence for argumentation, is determined by genre and the immediate context—as well as by the writer.
? Extra-linguistic features such as headings, font size, and use of visual information may also be constrained by genre.
• In our changing world, an individual’s genre knowledge cannot be static: we must revise our knowledge to produce texts appropriate to specific situations.
• In addition, new genres are born, genres evolve---and they die when they are not longer of use to a community.

II. How have the various “genre schools” been classified in the literature? [Though now, there’s considerable cross-over, especially between the last two categories.] (Overviews; Hyon, 1996; Johns, 2002)
• The Sydney School (Australia)
? Important features: Systemic-functional theory (Halliday); texts as functional and social within the greater society; K-12 and adult migrant emphasis.
? Pedagogies, especially the Teaching-Learning Cycle. (See Christie, Derewianka, Feez, & Mackin, et. al.)
• English for Specific Purposes
? Important features: “moves” analysis (Swales 1990); genres within academic and professional discourse communities (Berkenkotter and Huckin, Bhatia, Hyland, Myers); contrastive genre studies (Mauranen, Melander, et.al.)
? Pedagogies devoted principally to graduate and professional study. (Paltridge, Swales & Feak)
• The New Rhetoric
? Important features: context supercedes text; ideology is central to theory. Extensive research in both academic (Bawarshi) and professional (Bazerman, Winsor, Schryer) contexts.
? Pedagogies: Some doubt about whether genres can be taught in the classroom (Freedman and Medway), but see Devitt (et. al.) and Coe.

II. How do “the schools” approach the teaching of genres?
• Sydney School Approaches (For an overview, see the chapters by Feez and Macken-Horarick in Johns, 2000.)
? Eight key genres for teaching: recount, information report, explanation, exposition, discussion, procedure, narrative, and news story. [Social purpose, social location, schematic structure, description of stages.] See Figure 1.
? The Teaching-Learning Cycle for instruction. See Figure 2.
• ESP approaches (See especially Swales and Feak)
? Generally focus upon advanced academic genres, e.g., the research paper.
? Text analyses, e.g., moves, stance/evaluation, directives (Hyland)
• New Rhetoric (Can genres be taught? See, especially, Freedman and Medway.)
? Focus upon context and ideology (including textual hegemony), not necessarily upon textual elements (or textual elements as realized in rhetoric, e.g., “arrangement”). Tend to see the Sydney School as overly formulaic.
? Texts as political; author’s Eros, pathos, and logos; Toulmin argumentation.
III. A few general pedagogical suggestions:
• For graduate or true ESP students, with narrow goals: Concentrate upon target genres; use Swales and Feak as guides.
• For post-secondary undergraduates and secondary students:
? Draw from, and expand upon the students’ genre knowledge.
? Analyze texts from genres written in response to situations.
? Promote rhetorical flexibility: explore the current rhetorical situation in light of genre knowledge.
? Infuse writing processes with invention strategies appropriate for the chosen/assigned genre. See Figure 3.
? Use analytical evaluation criteria appropriate for the genre.
? Encourage student reflection on genres, texts, situations, and text processing.

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C. Emerson & M. Holquist, Eds.). Austin: University of Texas Press.

Bawarshi, A. (2003). Genre and the invention of the writer: Reconsidering
the place of invention in composition. Logan, UT: Utah
State University Press.

Bazerman, C. (1988). Shaping written knowledge: The genre and activity of
the experimental article in science. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.

Benesch, S. (1995). Genres and processes in sociocultural contexts. Journal of
Second Language Writing, 4, 191-96.

Berkenkotter, C. & Huckin, T.N. (1995). Genre knowledge in disciplinary communities.
Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Bhatia, V.K. (1999). Analyzing genre: Language use in professional settings.
London: Longman.

Candlin, C. & Hyland, K. (Eds.). (1999). Writing: Texts, processes and practices.
London: Longman.

Christie, F. [Ed.]. (1990). Literacy for a changing world: A fresh look at the basics.
Hawthorne, Victoria: The Australian Council for Educational Research.

Coe, R.M. (1994). Teaching genre as process. In Freedman, A & Medway, P. [Eds.].
Learning and teaching genre (pp. 157-69). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann/
Boynton-Cook.

Derewianka, B. (1990). Exploring how texts work. Rozelle, NSW, Australia: Primary
English Teaching Association. (Distributed in North America by Heinemann.)

Devitt, A., M.J.Reiff, & A. Bawarshi (in press). Scenes of writing: Strategies for
composing with genres. New York: Longman Pearson.

Feez, S. (2002). Text-based syllabus design. New South Wales, Australia: AMES.
http://publications.ames.edu.au/content/detailpage.asp?categoryID=5&ProductID=69

Hyland, K. (2002) Genre-based pedagogies: A social response to process. Journal
of Second Language Writing, 12, 17-29.

Hyon, S. (1996). Genres in three traditions: Implications for ESL. TESOL Quarterly.
30, 693-722.

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Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

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writing, years 3-6. Sydney, Australia: Literacy and Education Research Network
of the New South Wales Department of Education, Directorate of Studies.
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Martin, J. R. (1993). Genre and literacy—Modeling context in educational linguistics.
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 13, 141-72.

Martin, J.R. (1985/1989). Factual writing: Exploring and challenging social reality.
London: Oxford University Press.

Mauranen, A. (1993). Contrastive ESP rhetoric: Metatext in Finnish-English economics
texts. English for Specific Purposes, 12, 3-22.

Melander, B., Swales, J.M. & Fredrickson, K. (1997). Journal abstracts from three
academic friends in the US and Sweden: National or disciplinary proclivities?
In A. Duszak [Ed]. Cultures and styles of academic discourse (pp. 251-72).
Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

Myers, G. (1992). Textbooks and the sociology of scientific knowledge. English
for Specific Purposes, 11, 3-18.

Paltridge, B. (2001). Genre and the language learning classroom. Ann Arbor:
University of Michigan Press.

Swales, J.M. (1998). Other floors, other voices: A textography of a small university
building. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Swales, J.M. & C. Feak (2000). English in today’s research world: A writing guide.
Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. (advanced)

Swales, J.M. & C. Feak (1994). Academic writing for graduate students: Essential
tasks and skills. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press

Winsor, D.A. (2000). Ordering work: Blue-collar literacy and the political nature
of genre. Written Communication, 10, 475-509.

English for Specific Purposes (Elsevier Publishers: http://contentsdirect.elsevier.com)

Figure 1: One example from the Eight Key Genres (Sydney School), Mackin-Horarick, 2002, p. 21.
“Explanation” (the genre)

Social Purpose
Accounts for how and why things are as they are. An explanation sets out the logical steps in a process. Social Location
Explanations are written by experts for textbooks, for nature programs, environmental leaflets, health-care booklets, and so on. Schematic Structure
{General statement ^
Implication
Sequence^
(State)} Description of Stages
General Statement: provides information about the phenomena to be explained.
Implication Sequence: sets out steps in a process or the factors influencing a phenomenon in a logical sequence.

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Figure 2: The Teaching Learning Cycle (Sydney School), Feez, 2002, p. 65.

Figure 3: Invention for an “infused” writing process (Johns, inspired by Bawarshi, 2003)

1. Invention: Using the prompt for your research paper, answer the following as you begin to write:
• What do I know about this assignment from the prompt?
o About the genre?
o About the audience and context?
o About content?
o About text structure?
o About style or register?
o About ways to pursue research?
o About references and referencing styles?
• What do I need to find out? What questions do I need to ask about the assignment? Whom should I ask?
• What methods will I use to answer my questions?
• How do I need to prepare for this assignment throughout the course?
• How will I organize the final paper?
• How will I plan my research process?
• How will I plan the writing process to make it manageable?
• Will I combine research and writing? If so, how?
• How will I assess my progress and the appropriateness of the paper for the assignment throughout my process?
• What are my strengths as an academic writer upon which I can rely to complete this paper?
• What will I need to improve in order to succeed with this assignment?

2. Peer evaluation of drafts: This follows from the invention strategies and can include questions such as:
• In what ways did the writer follow the prompt?
• How did the writer address the audience?
• Is the text appropriately organized? Does it follow the conventions of the genre? Should it?
• What comments can be made about the writer’s use of language?
3. Student reflection:
• What did I learn from this writing experience?
• How was this experience different from those I have had in the past?
• Which steps in my writing process worked—and which did not?
• What skills and abilities do I still need to work on?