Process-genre Approach And Its Application In The Teaching Of English Writing

In the present thesis, the author studies the role of genre in the teaching of writing. The students under the study are the senior students in Wuxi Teachers' College, majoring in English Teaching.First of all, the author analyzes the present theories in the teaching of writing. Then, the author briefly introduces the theories of genre. For quite a long time, genre remains a fuzzy concept. Until now, a lot of research has contributed to the rhetorical concept of genre on social lines. Some scholars consider genre as dynamic, participatory, situated social actions which is a recognizable communicative purpose(s) identified and mutually understood by the members of the professional or community in which it regularly occurs. This makes the discourses of the same genre have the same schematic structure and this schematic structure, in turn, affects the content and the style of the discourses. However, the scholars also believe that people can still have their own creativity in making discourse under the basic generic structure.Genre analysis, therefore, aims at the studies of the communicative purposes of a discourse and the language using strategies. By analyzing genre, we can answer this question: why people tend to use these words and this style rather than others when constructing a certain type of discourse. In analyzing genre, besides from the perspective of linguistics, people also do analysis from the social and psychological perspectives.Secondly, the author analyzes the present situation in English writing classroom. Presently in China, English teachers often adopt theproduct-based approach to teach writing. In the writing classroom dominated by this approach, linguistic knowledge is primarily emphasized, with both teachers' and students' attention focused on the appropriate use of vocabulary, syntax and cohesive devices. However, this approach has its obvious weak points. Since grammar has a central role, the process skills, such as planning a text are given a relatively small role, and that knowledge and skills that students bring to the classroom are undervalued. This may lead to the result in which the students may begrammatically correct in composing an essay without making any sense in general view. Clearly, this approach cannot work effectively in helping the students develop their writing competence. Still, there is another approach used by some teachers, that is, process approach. Compared with the product approach, this approach put much emphasis on the writing process rather than product. Classrooms dominated by this approach will be like this: The teachers tend to neglect or even abandon grammar. The focus is on quantity rather than quality. The writers are encouraged to write down their ideas in any shape or form without worrying too much about correctness. There is a third approach: genre approach, which develops with the theories of genre. But it still has its shortcomings. The process-genre approach proposed by Badger and White (2000) of Stirling University in Britain is such a comprehensive model which is intended to exert the effectiveness and minimize the disadvantages of one another.Thirdly, the author gives a concrete teaching model based on genre analysis in the writing course. In this part, the author discusses the feasibility of applying this model to the teaching of writing and the stepsmay be employed in the teaching process, which includes analysis of a typical model text of a genre, imitating/joint construction of the genre, writing skills training, imitating writing, independent writing and revising/editing of the draft.Fourthly, the author compares and analyzes the results of the two surveys and researches, which are carried out before and after the experimental teaching.To conclude, process-genre approach has more advantages than the traditional approaches and is better at building up students' confidence in writing and improving their writing habits.