From analysis to pedagogic applications: using newspaper genres to write school genres

Abstract

This paper discusses the possibility of using newspaper genres and genre-based pedagogy to teach intermediate ESL learners to write school genres. Students’ typical writing problems reveal the inadequacy of the typical composition classroom instruction. Then two texts regarded as typical representations of the editorial and the school argumentative essay are analysed to demonstrate the different extents to which they resemble and differ from each other. It suggests newspaper genres can be used as resources to write school genres provided that students’ linguistic awareness is developed by using a series of metalinguistic activities. Students need to be made aware of text–function relationship, generic conventions, as well as overlaps and distinctions between genres. Transferability of genre knowledge from one genre to others is possible if students learn how to use metacognitive and discursive procedures in new situations and genres.