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Date Posted: 20:59:34 07/17/03 Thu
Author: Júnia Resende de Freitas
Subject: Task 11

Task 11
In this week, I am going to explain what a genre-based approach is. In order to do my task I researched in the recommended websites and I took information from http://personal.cityu.edu.hk/~enhyland/lectures_1-10.htm and from http://langue.hyper.chubu.ac.jp/jalt/pub/tlt/00/jul/gallagher.html.
First, according to the first site that I mentioned, http://personal.cityu.edu.hk/~enhyland/lectures_1-10.htm, “Genre is used in many different senses (at least 6) and is often problematic.” And the author says “It is customary to distinguish three broad approaches to genre, each of which conceptualises and analyses genre in a different way.” I am going to quote these views because I think it is important for us (learners and future teachers). These views are: a) “A Systemic Functional view: a genre is defined as a staged, goal oriented social process. This involves the interaction of participants using language in a conventional, step-wise structure, b) An ‘ESP’ perspective: a genre comprises a class of communicative events linked by shared purpose recognized by the members of a particular community. These purposes are the rationale of the genre and help to shape the ways it is structured and the choices of content and style it makes available, c) A ‘New Rhetoric’ view: gives less emphasis to the form of discourse and more to the action it is used to accomplish, seeking to establish the connections between genre and repeated situations and to identify the way in which genres are seen as recurrent rhetorical actions.” After this, the author gives us a hint (I considered his idea a hint about this subject) that is : Genres thus provide us with resources for getting things done in all areas of life. We all have a repertoire of appropriate responses we can call on to engage in recurring situations, from shopping lists to job applications. Genre analysts have sought to elaborate many of these for the better understanding and teaching of ESP.”
Second, the next information is from http://langue.hyper.chubu.ac.jp/jalt/pub/tlt/00/jul/gallagher.html. The author exemplifies the theme, Genre-based approach, saying, “a genre-based approach to writing is of particular relevance to Japanese students of English. The focus on sentence-level grammar in Japanese English education is legendary in our field, and although they still have problems 'within' the sentence, it is "above" the sentence that presents the greatest challenge for students, particularly when they are placed in a school environment in which they are required to create "whole" texts such as essays, reports, and summaries, to mention just a few most typical genres in college settings. The students often produce incoherent texts which also lack the cohesion necessary for these kind of genres. Attempts to work from the student's text toward the genre often fail because matters of correction are paramount in many writing programs, not the creation of authentic genres.” The author continues “it also is difficult to insert a genre structure into a text after it has been created; a little like trying to insert a recipe into a dish that was created without reference to one. In much the same way as the ingredients, procedure and flavor define a dish, the creation of a text is the result of a combination of linguistic resources for a particular communicative purpose.” And, he says that a consequence of this is that “an integral aspect of a genre approach is working with texts from the beginning; authentic texts that represent genres that are used outside the language classroom. Quite often, in dealing with the complexities of teaching writing to second-language students of English, it is possible to get so caught up with matters of process and correctness that the importance of modeling language in use can be overlooked. A genre approach requires that before attempting to write in a particular genre, the students have been exposed to the genre by reading, analyzing and discussing examples of it. The interconnection between reading and writing is stressed in most language programs, though often the genre of the reading is different to that which the students are required to write. For example, students might be asked to write a critique of a short story, without having first had the genre of a critique modeled for them. In this case, of course, the source text will supply the students with language that enables them to write the critique, but the generic features of a critique would clearly not be evident in the short story itself. It should be pointed out also that 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.”
Third, I can say that now it is possible to introduce the idea of Genre-based approach. According to Sunny Hyon “genres are abstract, socially recognised ways of using language. When writing we follow certain conventions for organising messages because we want our reader to recognise our social purposes.” So, I can say that Genre based approach is based on genres that are studied in context of use. The author says “typical authentic texts crucial” and this “will give learners an awareness and a meta-language for identifying areas to work on in their language learning.” (http://personal.cityu.edu.hk/~enhyland/lectures_1-10.htm)
To sum up, the Genre based approach it is not an easy approach to understand but I think I got the basic ideas of this task, as I proved above.

Junia Resende de Freitas

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