Synchronous (Onsite) Educating Students to Understand Genre: Awareness Rather than Acquisition more

Sat, Apr 29, 12:30-14:30 Asia/Seoul

Research, both recent and established, advises basing some language courses on genre, with a view to how it can empower learners to function in modern society. However, a distinction has been made between 'genre acquisition' and 'genre awareness' (Johns, 2008). The latter emphasizes ‘educating’ students to understand genre rather than just ‘training’ them: it develops "the rhetorical flexibility” that is more essential when learners come across new, unfamiliar, and/or hybridised genres, as opposed to simply reconstructing texts, usually based on a standardised sample of that genre in a very formulaic manner. However, teaching students to actually become genre-aware is challenging. In this poster, I will describe one such attempt, describing the course, its goals, and some example activities. Some representative work and subsequent reflections from the students are shown to demonstrate the relative success this course/activity had in achieving 'genre awareness'. Hopefully, this presentation will provoke thought and discussion, and encouragement.