Lyudmila's entry on genre analysis and writing research

Genre analysis is definitely a necessary activity to include in L2 classroom for promoting students’ ability to describe typical features of text collections and, consequently, to write certain genres more accurately and effectively. Certainly, genre analysis adds to a model of language use by reflecting on social, cultural, and institutional contexts in which this or that model emerged. This way both teachers and students learn “ways to handle conventionalized aspects of texts” (Genre Book 195). Clearly, if students engage in the analysis of the moves or functional stages of various genre texts, features that characterize those texts, and their communicative purposes, this will help to identify the key features of the texts and to gain knowledge how these texts express particular functions. Moreover, seeing the social, cultural, and psychological contexts in which a text was created, understanding the writer in terms of getting acquainted with his or her demographic background, social status, and sex, and seeing how the genre relates to the writer’s activities, will help writing students uncover features outside the text and see how these features influenced the way the text was written (GB 197). Awareness that all texts are influenced by the community and the situation in which they emerge remind us that writing is a social practice. Such knowledge of social and cultural practices to which a certain genre relates will make it easier for students to process and write a certain genre and also will make the texts more accessible for them. I believe genre analysis should be introduced to both L1 and L2 students as both struggle with the writing process, and raising awareness of “ how a genre is written and responded to in different situations” will help both in terms of “demystifying forms and patterns of texts that otherwise would be seen as arbitrary and conventional” ( GB 208). Therein, a genre-based pedagogy is a powerful tool for helping students get control over the texts, understand how texts are constructed and what the underlying motives for creating a certain text were. This fairly young discipline is much needed to be incorporated in both ESL classroom and mainstream classroom as knowledge of how language works in human interaction and, more importantly, how to apply this knowledge in writing is still something that students have to figure out on their own, and providing them with this knowledge has become a responsibility of a teacher as we are far beyond the composition theory, cognitive psychology, and traditional grammars. As for the research on writing, when reading about ethical issues that a research may involve I thought about a longitudinal research on feedback provision on grammar and vocabulary in terms of its effectiveness on L2 writing. I realized that it may be a very difficult experiment to put into life due to the fact that it is unethical not to provide a feedback to the control group for a long period of time. This is why, there hasn’t been a longitudinal study conducted yet, and the debate between Truscott and Ferris remains open. I felt like a pioneer that can tackle this issue, but now I see the difficulties that will inevitably come with a longitudinal study on that issue, and to tell the truth, I am stuck because I am not sure how I would address it. I can see that it is unethical not to provide a feedback for a long period of time as I can see students may become aggravated and demotivated and even lose interest in the study of English. Thus, so far, this debate remains open, and so far, Truscott wins.