Genre in the Classroom

Book excerpt: For the first time, the major theoretical and pedagogical approaches to genre and related issues of social construction are presented in a single volume, providing an overview of the state of the art for practitioners in applied linguistics, ESL/EFL pedagogies, rhetoric, and composition studies around the world. Unlike volumes that present one theoretical stance, this book attempts to give equal time to all theoretical and pedagogical camps. Included are chapters by authors from the Sydney School, the New Rhetoric, and English for Specific Purposes, as well as contributions from other practitioners who pose questions that cross theoretical lines. Genre in the Classroom: *includes all of the major theoretical views of genre that influence pedagogical practice; *takes an international approach, drawing from all parts of the world in which genre theory has been applied in the classroom--Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, the Middle East, the United States; *features contributors who are all both theorists and classroom practitioners, lending credibility and authenticity to the arguments; *combines theory and practice in every chapter, showing how particular theoretical views influence classroom practice; *grounds pedagogical practices in their own regional and theoretical histories; *openly discusses problems and questions that genre theory raises and presents some of the solutions suggested; and *offers a concluding chapter that argues for two macro-genres, and with responses to this argument by noted genre theorists from three theoretical camps.