In order to be successful in terms of reading, writing, socializing in communities where people want to attend, students both L1 and L2 need to know how-to employ the right language and discourse. One word that comes to mind when I start reading this week’s articles on genre is discourse community. Discourse community is a large concept with multiple applications in different contexts. The main idea is that students or anyone who want to be a part of that community need to practice and have to be accepted by members.
Discourse community does not entail only legitimate discourse in reading and writing. This also includes pragmatic competence in communication as well. Students need to know how to act and respond to different texts both visual and written in the acceptable manner. This pragmatic competence is also transferred from one context to another.
When we discuss about “genre”, I believe there are many meaning depending on repertoire of each individual. For me, when I heard the word “genre”, I always think about business writing, resume, cover letters, and writing from other disciplines (law, banking, religions, etc). After reading these readings, my definition has extended to academic-related activities (reading/writing/socializing) as well. It is true that students need to learn and ‘internalize’ ways to write, read, and intertextualize what they know into acceptable formats and forms. In this case, writing for publication is also considered as another genre for (future) professors to get used to and to know how to construct the arguments effectively.
One problem that I think I can relate to is the ‘form’, which students cannot avoid. This might be the issue that some readings discuss in terms of social or critical genre studies. Though some genre writings such as in business or in law have limited forms because these are high-stake writings, it can affect other people and businesses in negative or positive ways. However, if this form is carried to academic writing, I think what we are dealing with is only to disservice students, especially those who use English as their L2 because this means that students have no room for creativity and their backgrounds in the paper.
The process of gaining the legitimacy of the genre is complicated. It is even more so when it comes to transferring these skills from one context to another. I think it is somewhat like the ‘contact zone’ that people need to struggle to gain their legitimate discourse and voice they want to convey.
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Bee, I agree that focus on the form can limit students' potential in expressing themselves in academic writing. However, what about the situations when all the students want is the form? or when it is precisely the form that is being assessed in students' writing? or when students never use academic writing outside the writing class?
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