Developing Strategic Writers through Genre―Based Instructions in College

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【Abstract】The college English Courses， required courses for non-English major undergraduates， have been implemented for almost three decades in China’s tertiary education. Classroom teachers， however， are facing a host of daunting challenges in writing instructions as college students perform poorly in national English test， known as CET. The paper advocates an explicit and effective genre-based pedagogy designed and developed by J.R. Martin and his “Sydney School”， an approach which supports teachers with tools for analyzing texts and scaffolding learning， and emphasizes visible teaching to enable students to succeed in English writing

【Key words】genre-based pedagogy； Sydney School； College English writing

Introduction

College English teachers face a daunting array of challenges these days. Among them I identify four major challenges that writing teachers face in everyday classroom. The National College English Test （hereafter CET） affects instruction， which presents the first challenge for College teachers， as the CET directly affected writing instruction for non-English majors. Along with CET committee’s reform for the Writing Section in 2005 and then 2011， concerns about Chinese college students’ English writing have remained among language teachers and scholars in China. The problem is not that most college students cannot write. What most Chinese students cannot do is write well.

The CET has created more problems for teaching writing in college. To begin with， it fosters a test-oriented attitude towards writing. To meet the benchmark of CET， students practice writing intensively by rote learning. Often， they practice or ask teachers for simulated writing tasks based on the CET-4 or CET-6. They also turn to private institutions to horn their test preparation skills where English teachers are encouraged to guess the essay topics in the forthcoming CET. In addition， CET emphasizes linguistic accuracy including correct grammar and vocabulary usage. When the correct linguistic forms is most valued rather than well-developed and cohesive thought， test-takers may habitually turn to memorizing model essays and crafted sentences as a cure-all. Another problem is that rote learning for test would undermine higher level cognitive thinking skills like critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

Closing thoughts

Writing in a second language is challenging but also rewarding. So is teaching writing. As the pedagogy is still evolving， writing teachers are an important link in this language development. Language teachers are learners themselves， so my purpose is to inform and support my follow teachers in learning and implementing explicit and effective writing instruction. When students see the teacher as a writer and not only their evaluator， they will be more engaged in the learning process

References：

[1]Bernstein，Basil.Class and Pedagogies： Visible and Invisible.London： Routledge，1975.Print.

[2]---.Class，Codes and Control： The Structuring of Pedagogica Discourse.Vol.4.London： Routledge and Kegan Paul，1990.Print.

作者介：施慧静（1982.10-），女，上海人，双硕士研究生，讲师，主要研究方向：跨文化交际，口笔译。