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Genre awareness for the novice academic student: An ongoing quest

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2008

Ann M. Johns
Ann M. Johns*
Affiliation:
San Diego State University, USAajohns@cox.net
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Abstract

Genre, the most social constructivist of literacy concepts, has been theorized and variously applied to pedagogies by three major ‘schools’: the New Rhetoric, English for Specific Purposes, and Systemic Functional Linguistics. In this paper, I will discuss my long, and ongoing, search for a pedagogy drawn from genre theories for novice academic students. With others, I am trying to find or develop an approach that is coherent and accessible to students while still promoting rhetorical flexibility and genre awareness. I will first define and problematize the term genre. Then, I will briefly discuss what each of the three genre ‘schools’ can offer to novice students – as well as their pedagogical shortcomings. Finally, I will suggest two promising approaches to teaching genre awareness: learning communities and ‘macro-genres’.

Type
Plenary Speeches
Information
Language Teaching , Volume 41 , Issue 2 , April 2008 , pp. 237 - 252
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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