Genre Knowledge Research Articles

From the Editors

From the Editors

Working memory and background knowledge - Cognitive science in the design classroom

This article discusses two universal principles from cognitive psychology, and proposes some ways in which those principles relate to graphic design. The two most important principles are first, the strict constraints of working memory, a function which persists for only a few seconds, and second, the finding that perceptions and meanings are mediated by the cultural knowledge of viewers, including their knowledge of design conventions and genre. Better de-signs are likely to emerge from the designer’s familiarity with these psychological and cultur-al principles. Visual examples, including maps and student projects, illustrate how the two principles are useful for classroom instruction.

The Development of Content Knowledge Through Teaching Practice

Research on the unique nature of teachers' subject matter knowledge and how this knowledge interacts with other domains of the knowledge base for teaching has been an extremely productive field of inquiry since the mid 1980's. In particular, Shulman's (1987) construct of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) has been taken up by researchers to describe the subject specific knowledge of teachers in a variety of disciplines. Yet while this concept has been widely applied to describe expert teachers' knowledge, much less research has examined how PCK develops in and through teaching practice. To address this need, the present study examines how one teacher's understanding of a pedagogical genre developed through her first semester of teaching a post-secondary second language (L2) writing class. Drawing on a sociocultural theoretical (SCT) perspective, this study traces the development of a single subject matter concept, points of analysis,as it emerges in teaching activity, is mediated by the teacher's interactions with her students and the researcher, and is eventually incorporated into her knowledge of the analytic essay genre and how to teach it.

Genre performances: John Swales' Genre Analysis and rhetorical-linguistic genre studies

Although scholars have studied some sources of variation within genres, the variation that is each individual performance of a genre requires further investigation. In Genre Analysis, John Swales combined rhetoric and linguistics to explain genre as grounded in shared communicative purposes and discoverable through text analysis. Although the disciplines differ in some of their purposes and settings, they share the difficulty of helping students advance beyond simplified understandings of genre to the complex decisions needed to address particular situations. Building from a rhetorical-linguistic genre studies and using metaphorically the linguistic concepts of competence and performance, this article proposes that genre theory and instruction should account for genre performances as well as genre competence. Genre theory can then better address such issues as identity, affect, and cognition. Genre instruction can lead students to examine not just similarity within a genre but also differences, in both communicative event and individual language-users. The uniqueness of each performance also affects assessment of genre knowledge and transfer, complicating the ability to assess genre competence through genre performance. Considering genre performances as well as competence within a rhetorical-linguistic genre studies allows genre scholars and teachers to address the fact that genre-in-use is simultaneously unique and shared.

Genre analysis as a pre-instructional, instructional, and teacher development framework

The framework of genre analysis described in Swales (1990) has become arguably the most influential one for analyzing EAP learners' target discourse and for developing learner-responsive EAP materials at the pre-instructional stage. What other roles can genre analysis play in EAP teaching and learning? In this paper, I present multiple excerpts from a student's genre analysis tasks and from my own analysis of the same journal article introduction that the student analyzed. I look closely at one ‘incident' in which the student interpreted a statement in the genre exemplar as the authors' attempt to “create a gap of study.” Elaborating on this ‘incident,’ I argue that the genre analysis framework conceptualized by Swales (1990) can function simultaneously at three interacting levels: as a framework for analyzing learners' target discourse at the pre-instructional stage, as a framework for guiding learners to learn EAP writing during instruction, and as a framework for EAP teachers to continuously deepen their genre knowledge and their knowledge of students' target genres. I conclude by proposing two future research directions: focusing on studying learners who use genre analysis to learn EAP and focusing on learners' real needs in genre analysis research projects.

Sequential Patterns: A new Corpus-Based Method to Inform the Teaching of Language for Specific Purposes

Abstract: In this study, we present an original study that aims to show how pedagogically important lexico-grammatical patterns, which are typical of certain genres, can be identified and taught at every educational level, in particular for learners of French for Specific Purposes. These patterns, called Sequential Patterns, constitute a more powerful paradigm than lexical bundles or P-frames because they combine different levels of abstraction (word forms, lemmas, POS tags). As they are typical of a textual genre, some of these items reveal abstract phraseological dimension of texts.Keywords: Sequential Patterns, Teaching of Language for Specific Purposes, Lexical Bundles, P-frames, PhraseologyIntroductionThe goal of this paper is to present a new approach to language description based on corpus investigation techniques. This approach consists in identifying lexico-grammatical units that are characteristic of genres. These units are called They combine different levels of abstraction (word forms, lemmas, POS tags), which provide more or less generic patterns. For instance: To N; he V N of his ADJ N; N V a/an ADJ N for N; N is that, etc. Such patterns, as will be argued in this study, represent a link between lexis, grammar, usage and texts. Some of them should be regarded as phraseological or formulaic units, despite their abstract nature. For example, French sequential pattern le N comme N de le N de le N (the N as N of N of N) is typical of genre philosophical essays:1 la question de l'etre, comme question de la possibilite du concept (Derrida)Lit (lit. means that we provide literal translations of French examples). The question of being, as question of possibility of concept2 la revolution comme condition de la realisation de la jouissance (Onfray)lit. revolution as condition for realization of enjoymentThis abstract pattern is under-used in other genres such as political debate or oral conversation (The term genre is used here to refer to a recurrent social practice, characterized by a set of conventional and organized constraints on production and interpretation). It invariably expresses characterization of a (philosophical) concept (question of being, revolution). In this way, a relatively fixed form, although generic in nature, carries out a constant function: It is a reproducible syntagmatic unit, which has a relative syntactic and semantic stability. It constitutes a way of speaking, a manner in which words or phrases are used in a particular genre. For these reasons, we consider this pattern as a phraseological unit. Phraseology is thus defined in this study as the preferred way of saying things in a particular discourse (Gledhill, 2000).We hypothesize that identifying significant sequential patterns in a given genre is useful and important for language teaching because it can facilitate both text recognition and production. Since process of learning a language must be seen as process of acquiring relevant patterns which codify conventions of use of language in context, we assume that sequential patterns are part of these relevant units and as such, must be used as basis for materials design and curriculum development. Teachers should draw attention to Sequential Patterns in class and use them as basis for explicit instruction.In framework of this new approach to language description, this paper aims to contribute to our understanding of efficacy of genre-based teaching for building learners' genre knowledge and improving their L2 writing and reading abilities. The focus of this paper will be on French for Specific Purposes (FSP) and teaching of written scientific texts.The article begins with a review of previous inductive corpus research on lexico-grammatical patterns: Lexical bundles and P-frames. …

Teaching Structured Authoring and DITA Through Rhetorical and Computational Thinking

Background: The diffusion of component content management and structured authoring workflows and technologies in technical communication requires that instructors of documentation courses determine effective ways to teach component content management to students who may initially be intimidated by authoring environments and structures, such as the Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA). This teaching case describes how component content management and DITA were integrated into the Creating User Documentation course of an undergraduate professional writing program. Research questions: How can instructors of technical and professional writing best teach English and humanities students to operate within a structured authoring workflow? How can computational abstraction be combined with students' previously acquired genre knowledge to ease their adoption of the DITA to create technical documentation? Situating the case: The development of this course was informed by literature from a variety of scholarly and industry sources, which reveal connections between DITA, computational thinking, and Rhetorical Genre theory. Specifically, the concept of “layers of abstraction” guides the development of the course's structure, allowing students to separate and independently process the various aspects of a structured authoring workflow. How the case was studied: The case was studied informally through the experience of the authors as they developed and taught the course, through informal discussions and structured interviews with industry professionals, and through student reflections from discussion forum posts from Fall 2012 through Fall 2013. About the case: Initially developed with a focus on print manuals and online help, the course began teaching topic-based authoring in the mid-2000s; however, most enterprise-level editors and tools were cost-prohibitive for students and faculty. Furthermore, many computing concepts associated with structured authoring were intimidating for an audience of students in an English department. An affordable solution was adopting the open-source DITA standard, using free trials or open-source editors. The intimidation factor was minimized by designing the course around five layers of abstraction that draw on students' previous rhetorical knowledge: Layer 1: Developing quality documentation, Layer 2: Separating content from design, Layer 3: Authoring granular content with XML, Layer 4: Authoring and linking Component Content Management modules with DITA, and Layer 5: Single-sourcing and content reuse. This case discusses each layer of abstraction, the associated assignments for each layer, and the results of each layer based on student feedback. Results and conclusions: Although the course is not universally loved by students, it has seen many successes and provides a much-needed foundation in component content management and structured authoring for students who might become technical communicators. The teaching team has learned to avoid overemphasizing coding and automation in structured authoring, maintain a solid grounding on writing principles and good technical communication requirements, and draw upon students' existing knowledge of genres and their constraints.

The oral case presentation: toward a performance-based rhetorical model for teaching and learning

The oral case presentation is an important communicative activity in the teaching and assessment of students. Despite its importance, not much attention has been paid to providing support for teachers to teach this difficult task to medical students who are novices to this form of communication. As a formalized piece of talk that takes a regularized form and used for a specific communicative goal, the case presentation is regarded as a rhetorical activity and awareness of its rhetorical and linguistic characteristics should be given due consideration in teaching. This paper reviews practitioners’ and the limited research literature that relates to expectations of medical educators about what makes a good case presentation, and explains the rhetorical aspect of the activity. It is found there is currently a lack of a comprehensive model of the case presentation that projects the rhetorical and linguistic skills needed to produce and deliver a good presentation. Attempts to describe the structure of the case presentation have used predominantly opinion-based methodologies. In this paper, I argue for a performance-based model that would not only allow a description of the rhetorical structure of the oral case presentation, but also enable a systematic examination of the tacit genre knowledge that differentiates the expert from the novice. Such a model will be a useful resource for medical educators to provide more structured feedback and teaching support to medical students in learning this important genre.

The CEFR perspective on genre information in French for specific purposes textbooks

In the past twenty years, the results of genre-based studies have been introduced into programmes of languages for specific purposes and even genre-based approaches have been used to teach languages for specific purposes. At the same time, the CEFR has been recognised as an important tool and reference in the process of materials design. However, the relationship between these two powerful frameworks has not been fully explored. In this article, we aim to analyse this relationship in order to reveal how genre knowledge is presented through written texts and through tasks included in textbooks. Based on the results of qualitative text analysis, we argue that the integration of the CEFR and genre perspectives yields valuable information concerning the role of genres at different CEFR levels and in different domains. We offer an insight into the genre identities portrayed in French for Specific Purposes textbooks and identify the possible types of gaps that may arise when the user’s professional identities are considered through the genres included in textbooks.

Before and after Lightfoot/León. Using rich pictures to illustrate an educational journey through the world of opera and ballet

In this article, we describe part of an action research project carried out during a classroom-based art course at a higher education institution. We gave the students themed collaborative drawing assignments, with the purpose of achieving a rich picture of what they associated with the notion of “going to the opera”. They completed assignments before and after attending a guided tour and a ballet performance at a famous opera house. We aimed to address two main research questions: a) How can the students’ understanding of opera and ballet develop through their experience of a ballet performance? and b) How can drawing activities in the classroom support collaborative learning and the students’ personal development? The data gathered involved three main elements: 1) the rich pictures themselves, 2) the teachers’ observations of the students and 3) the students’ reflections on the process. The study points towards a significant transformation of the students’ representation of the concept of opera, as illustrated in their drawings. We discuss how the students’ drawings may reflect their development in terms of attitude and their newly acquired knowledge of an artistic genre they knew little about, and suggest new avenues for further research.

소설 읽기에서 장르 지식의 탐구와 소설교육의 내용

소설 읽기에서 장르 지식의 탐구와 소설교육의 내용

From Screen to Screen: Students’ Use of Popular Culture Genres in Multimodal Writing Assignments

As digital media have created the opportunity to compose multimodal texts, there has been growing attention paid to how best to define and teach genres such as videos or podcasts, to writing students. What has gone largely unexamined, however, is the influence of popular culture genres on students’ conceptions of and approaches to composing multimodal texts. Yet much of students’ engagement with texts outside the classroom revolves around popular culture, whether offline in the form of film and television or online with digital media such as online video and computer games. This essay explores, through student interviews and textual analysis, how student responses to multimodal assignments in college writing courses draw on popular culture genres, both explicitly and implicitly, in ways that students find unremarkable, but of which their instructors are often unaware. We must make productive use of the connections–and tensions–created when students’ employ their knowledge of popular culture genres for multimodal projects.

Genre fiction readers: a quantitative exploration of provided construct ratings

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to adapt a repertory grid technique to investigate fiction readers’ attitudes and beliefs, with a specific focus on minority ethnic fiction. Design/methodology/approach – The study required participants (n=36) to rate on a seven-point Likert scale a series of 16 provided constructs, using ten main elements, namely, the reader of ten fiction genres. Statistical tests investigated participant agreement across construct ratings, where on average fiction readers are rated on a construct continuum, and the extent to which public library work experience affected participants’ perceptions. Findings – Findings were revealed regarding the perceived characteristics of the readers of ten fiction genres, including minority ethnic fiction. The readers of Asian and Black British fiction were similarly rated, but certain exceptions were also noted which had not been reported in previous research. Although intraclass correlations indicated that ratings were consistent for the more established fiction genres, there was little agreement regarding minority fiction. Research limitations/implications – The research was potentially limited by the ethnic homogeneity of the sample population and the gender imbalance of same, and (in some cases) a lack of knowledge of minority fiction genres. It was felt that the repertory grid was an effective technique via which to build a rich profile of the fiction reader. Practical implications – This research could inform the development of fiction collections, and its detailed examination of fiction reader profiles could be adapted in three specific ways, as described in the paper. Originality/value – Little previous research has been conducted to differentiate between readers of different fiction genres, and less still for those of minority ethnic fiction genres.

Effects of Prior Genre Knowledge on Elementary School Students’ Descriptive Writing Ability

Effects of Prior Genre Knowledge on Elementary School Students’ Descriptive Writing Ability

Expressing criticality in the literature review in research article introductions in applied linguistics and psychology

In order to shed further light on the writing of literature reviews in research-reporting texts and, in particular, writer stance in this type of text, this study examines the expression of criticality in the literature review that occurs in the Introduction sections of academic journal articles in two social science disciplines: applied linguistics and psychology. Using the social genre/cognitive genre model of the author to frame the investigation (Bruce, 2008a), the literature reviews that occur in the Introduction sections of 15 academic journal articles from each discipline are examined for ways in which they communicate a critical viewpoint. The findings show systematic use of three generic elements to establish this type of stance: recursive use of content-structuring moves, the metadiscourse device of attitude markers and a concessive contrast relation between propositions. There are differences between the two samples in the frequency of occurrence of the latter two elements. Overall, what emerges is that the expression of criticality through the literature reviews of these texts appears to draw upon the discourse competence and specifically the genre knowledge of expert writers.

A PROCESS-GENRE APPROACH TO TEACHING WRITING REPORT TEXT TO SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

: This study is aimed at exploring whether a process-genre approach (PGA) teaching steps can help develop senior high students’ writing skills of report text based on schematic structures and linguistic features analysis. A descriptive research design embracing case study characteristics was employed (Nunan, 1992; Cresswell, 2012). The data were gained from teaching process and students’ texts analysis. The basic framework of process-genre approach is the synthesis of teaching steps in genre- and process-based approaches (Badger & White, 2000; Emilia, 2010). Students’ texts were analyzed in terms of Report text’s schematic structures and linguistic features using SFL GBA frameworks (Linguistic and Education Research Network, 1990; Gerot & Wignell, 1994; Halliday, 1994; Anderson & Anderson, 1997; Christie, 2005; Feez & Joyce, 2006; Hyland 2007; Emilia, 2012). The results show that, to some extent, PGA helps students develop writing skills of Report text specifically on the genre knowledge, writing process, and feedback from peers and teacher which was observed from the teaching process and schematic structures and linguistic features analysis. Nevertheless, it is figured out that the low-achieving students need longer modelling and teacher-student conference stages. This study is expected to contribute towards teacher’s understanding in implementing and overcoming problems related to PGA in EFL classes in Indonesia, especially in emphasizing the modelling stage for the low-achieving students and in teaching other genres and language skills. Keywords : Process-based approach, genre-based approach, process-genre approach

Situating Transnational Genre Knowledge

Scholars have recently begun to conceive of literacy practices as drawing from resources that are simultaneously situated and extracontextual. In particular, studies of transnational literacy affirm the importance of both locality and movement in literacy studies. Continuing this inquiry into the situated and dispersed nature of transnational literacy, the author investigates the distinct effects that shuttling between national contexts have on the accumulation and use of genre knowledge. Specifically, through a case study of one Third Culture Kid student writer, the author reports on how her genre knowledge develops in response to transnational relocations between Italy and the United States and the way this transnational genre knowledge informs her writing of a high-stakes in-school genre. This case illustrates the value of rhetorical genre studies for understanding the situated and dispersed nature of transnational literacy and begins to outline the distinctiveness of transnational boundary-crossing practices.

Learning to write for publication in English through genre-based pedagogy: A case in Taiwan

Abstract There has been a debate between explicit instruction and implicit acquisition of genre regarding genre-based pedagogies. However, relatively few studies have investigated the extent to which explicit instruction shapes students' genre knowledge development by scrutinizing their learning trajectories. This study examined a Taiwanese Ph.D. student's genre knowledge development in a genre-based research writing course. This study collected and analyzed students' oral interaction data and their multiple drafts, and found that explicit genre instruction on rhetorical moves and linguistic features helped the student gain formal knowledge, process knowledge, and rhetorical knowledge, albeit to different degrees. The findings of the study support explicit genre instruction in shaping novice EFL scholars' knowledge of writing for publication in English. In contexts like Taiwan, where publishing articles in indexed journals has become a Ph.D. graduation requirement, a genre-based research writing course featured by explicit and systematic instruction may be highly beneficial.

Reading Thematically Related Texts to Develop Knowledge and Comprehension

When literacy instruction uses books selected on the basis of thematic content, it can foster the attainment of literacy goals while developing readers’ knowledge. This paper provides a rationale for the use of thematically-related texts in literacy instruction and describes some thematic units that have been a part of literacy intervention research with struggling readers. Examples illustrate how to begin with simple texts, read multiple texts on a topic to develop knowledge, include a more challenging, culminating text, and use themes to develop useful genre knowledge. Tips for teachers who wish to develop their own content themes are suggested.

How do Writers Evaluate their Own Empirical Research? A Genre-based Inquiry into Economics Journal Papers

Genre literature has indicated that academic discourse communities commonly uphold established conventions with regard to the writing of research articles in their respective disciplines. Recent studies have also acknowledged that disciplinary differences exist in the writing of research articles, and this has resulted in numerous investigations into the specific genre features of this text type in various academic fields. An interesting area which has been identified in past research is a rhetorical move that evaluates the study being reported. To date, however, this move on self-evaluation has not been examined at length in a core academic discipline such as economics. Using the latest Swalesian move-step analytical framework, this study aims to analyse the communicative functions of this move in empirical economics research articles and identify its constituent steps. The textual analysis of this investigation was triangulated by a qualitative analysis of spoken data elicited from specialist informants in the field of economics. Our results indicate that self-evaluation of a study is, by and large, a principal or quasi-obligatory move although each of its three steps is optional in economics research reports. These three constituent steps collectively play a pivotal role in putting the research into perspective for the reader after research results are presented. The findings of this study have contributed to the advancement of genre knowledge in that they have shed some light on how instructors can design relevant teaching materials aimed at helping learners to foreground the value of their studies in the later portions of their research reports.