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Date Posted: 19:55:18 07/16/03 Wed
Author: Marcos Manso
Subject: TASK 11

Task 11 - Genre-based Approach

When we think about genre we might instantly have in mind particular genres such as mystery, comedy, fairy tale, autobiography, play, drama, short story, essays, reports, and summaries. These and other genres can help students of a second language understand how language works and how to use it appropriately and efficiently not only for communication through listening and speaking but also through reading and writing.

Specific genres have characteristic patterns of language features and typical structures which will serve to specific purposes. They can be identified by examining the structural organization of a text, as well as the linguistic features within it (Critchley, M.). A genre-based approach can be translated into EFL contexts by considering the nature of both the learning environment and the texts, and by placing greater emphasis on the development of vocabulary and other language features which may not be as urgent in a classroom of native-speaker children.

A genre approach requires that before attempting to write in a particular genre students should be exposed to the genre by reading, analyzing, and discussing examples of it. By exposing students to real extracts of genres from the beginning they will be able to create authentic genres themselves. This is important for once a text has been created it is difficult to insert a genre structure into it. Although it is important to let students be creative they will only understand how a particular genre is used in the target language if they are previously exposed to it.

As Gallagher points out, “a genre approach is not a matter of applying formulaic prescriptions of how a text should be structured. Instead, it is based on an analysis of how a text creates meaning in its context of use and then how this knowledge can be utilized by students to write in the same genre themselves.” It is essential that these texts should be carefully chosen and with a purpose in mind. It is also important to make them available to student as much as possible for native speakers are naturally in contact with them. This will allow students to deal adequately with language shifts of many kinds. The key word here is to greatly vary in choosing genres in authentic language.

A linguistic approach to reading and writing should go beyond the skills practiced in the traditional approaches, i.e., scanning the introduction and prefaces, examining the Table of Contents or headings, previewing sections, reading abstracts or summaries first, asking yourself questions, reciting important passages, and rereading or reviewing sections. It should guide students to find out what to look for, elicit them to think about what they find, and show how language is used to communicate ideas, in other words, students should be aware of what they are doing and be able to find meaning in the text. Moving from an “automatized” approach students will be lead to think critically about what they are reading and consequently tend to reproduce better the genres they have acquired as well as be able to write in each one of them.

Marcos Manso

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