Genre Approach Applied to Oral L2 Learning

This week I was thinking about genres as a teaching method, and I came across an article that might apply the genre method to oral communication.

Friedenberg and Bradley (1981) suggest a method for teaching English quickly, focusing on communication skills for basic survival. To teach them focused topics effectively, the researchers explore the adaptation of the of micro-counseling approach. This is a method that has been used to teach counselors specific techniques through the use of role playing in the classroom. Friedenberg and Bradley suggest using the micro-counseling approach to include attention to vocabulary, sentence structure, and culture to allow ESL students to practice basic survival and vocational skills.

This approach doesn’t require the students to be literate, which makes this slightly different than the genre approach discussed in this week's readings. However it is similar in that the teacher encourages the student to consider their audience, message, and delivery before crafting their discourse. Instead of writing genres, the class is practicing speaking genres. The results of this study demonstrate that students learn by doing, therefore if they never practice a particular type of conversation (e.g. words to use when in a restaurant, or words to use in a job interview) they may never master them.

This is similar to genre approach that in that students are encouraged to consider their ends and create the means. Hyland defines the genre approach as “purposeful, socially situated responses to particular contexts and communities” (2003, p. 17). Using role-playing, the dialogue allows the students to continuously craft responses and the conversation changes. This idea of using social realities is also encouraged in the written genre approach.

The one aspect that Friedenberg and Bradley cover that Hyland does not is a specific example of how this approach could be used effectively in the classroom. I would have liked to see a sample of how genre writing could be used in the classroom from Hyland (an example like So gave) however I understand that this article was meant to just introduce genre approach. Also, Hyland mentions, “genres are not overbearing structures which impose uniformity on users” (2003, p. 23). This might be a little more difficult to translate to the role-playing strategy that Friedenberg and Bradley suggest using because the teacher is required to create a scenario for the students to work within. Their language choice may change depending on how the conversation goes, but it is still within a construct that might not be compatible with Hyland’s idea of genre.

Personally, I agree with Friedenberg and Bradley’s approach. When I was taking a foreign language student in high school, I remember using the role-playing strategy to try to sharpen skills and language. I personally feel like it was an effective way to get students to think critically about what they are saying and why they are saying it. However, to enhance their argument, I wish the authors would have conducted original research instead of using the research of others (such as Savignon 1972).

Friedenberg, J. and Bradley, C. H. (1981). Communication skills for the adult ESL student: A microcounsling approach. Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) Quarterly, 15(4), 403-411.

Hyland, K. (2003). Genre-based pedagogies: A social response to process. Journal of Second Language Writing, 12(1), 17-29.