Whose job is it to teach different genres?

Seyran Erdogan

Sabanci University, Istanbul

seyran@sabanciuniv.edu

Outline

• Background & rationale

• Survey

• Conclusions and issues

• Q and A

Background

• An English-medium university in a non-

native context

• English requirements on entry

• School of Languages

- mostly monolingual classes

- low language competency level on entry

- lack of EAP writing experience

Writing in SL

Past 5-paragraph essay

Now paragraph development &

synthesis of multiple texts

two new genres in top level:

* Historical thinking & response writing

(as prep for SPS 101-102)

* Poster project

(as prep for PROJ 102)

Freshman

• Eng 101 & 102 Essays

• SPS 101 Essays

Rationale

• Are these genres enough?

• Which other genres should be taught?

• When should they be taught?

• Who should teach them?

Survey

• Same questionnaire to 2 different groups

(pre-faculty & freshman + adjunct)

• Total number of responses in each group:

Pre-faculty 20

Freshman + Adjunct 7

Responses

Q1 What comes to your mind when you hear

the term ‘EAP genres’?

Prep School Teachers

Out of 20 teachers

• 1 – what EAP stands for

• 1 – faculty names

• 1 – type of reading & writing expected

• 1 – content of readings

• 1 - writing skills expected

• 1 – what EAP covers

• 2 – nothing

• 2 – parts from Genre based approach

• 8 – different EAP genres

Freshman Teachers

• 1 – 1st time (guessed correctly)

• 3 – EAP genres

• 1 – different styles

• 1 – different skills

• 1 – academic discourse/literacies, EAP,

transfer of skills, interdisciplinarity,

competence

Q2 Do you think learning to write different genres is

necessary for our students? Why or why not?

Prep School Ts

YES – 17

NO – 3

Yes * needed for future (16)

* good for language study (1)

No * present approach okay (2)

* too much focus on EAP already (1)

Freshman Teachers

• Yes – all

• As a preparation for future

Q3 Which genres do our students need to learn? (list taken from www.uefap.com)

Prep School Teachersgenre # %

Essays 17 85

Reflective writing 16 80

Reports 14 70

Writing conclusions 13 65

Research proposals 13 65

Research results 12 60

Literature reviews 12 60

Brief research reports 11 55

Research discussions 10 50

Introductions 10 50

Dissertations & theses 10 50

Research abstracts 6 30

Research methods 6 30

Case studies 5 25

Book reviews 5 25

Freshman Teachers

genre # %

Essays 7 100

Reports 6 86

Brief research reports 6 86

Research proposals 6 86

Research results 5 71

Literature reviews 5 71

Reflective writing 4 57

Writing conclusions 4 57

Introductions 4 57

Research methods 4 57

Research discussions 3 43

Dissertations & theses 3 43

Research abstracts 3 43

Case studies 3 43

Book reviews 0 0

comparison

genre rank P % F % rank

Essays 1 85 100 1

Reflective writing 2 80 57 4

Reports 3 70 86 2

Writing conclusions 4 65 57 4

Research proposals 4 65 86 2

Research results 5 60 71 3

Literature reviews 5 60 71 3

Brief research reports 6 55 86 2

Research discussions 7 50 43 5

Introductions 7 50 57 4

Dissertations & theses 7 50 53 5

Research abstracts 8 30 43 6

Research methods 8 30 57 4

Case studies 9 25 43 6

Book reviews 9 25 0 7

Q4 Which genres do students need to learn

in the prep school?

Prep Teachersgenre # %

Essays 18 90

Reflective writing 15 75

Writing conclusions 10 50

Introductions 10 50

Brief research reports 8 40

Reports 5 25

Literature reviews 4 20

Research results 4 20

Research methods 2 10

Research discussions 2 10

Research abstracts 1 5

Research proposals 1 5

Book reviews 1 5

Case studies 1 5

Dissertations & theses 0 0

Freshman Teachers

genre # %

Writing conclusions 6 86

Essays 5 71

Introductions 5 71

Brief research Reports 4 57

Reflective writing 3 43

Reports 2 29

Research results 2 29

Research discussions 2 29

Research methods 2 29

Research proposals 1 14

Literature reviews 1 14

Research abstracts 1 14

Case studies 0 0

Book reviews 0 0

Dissertations & theses 0 0

comparison

genre Rank P % F % rank

Essays 1 90 71 2

Reflective writing 2 75 43 4

Writing conclusions 3 50 86 1

Introductions 3 50 71 2

Brief research reports 4 40 57 3

Reports 5 25 29 5

Literature reviews 6 20 14 6

Research results 6 20 29 5

Research methods 7 10 29 5

Research discussions 7 10 29 5

Research abstracts 8 5 14 6

Research proposals 8 5 14 6

Book reviews 8 5 0 7

Case studies 8 5 0 7

Dissertations & theses 9 0 0 7

Q5 Who should teach EAP genres post-

prep?

Prep teachers:

English teachers: 10

TAs : 3

CIAD/ACC : 5

Both Eng Teachers and TAs 1

Whoever is more equipped 1

English Teachers

- know about the students’ background knowledge and

needs.

- can define and explore what each genre involves.

- can help with organization and language

TAs

- know the content.

- will need practice/training.

CIAD/ACC

- can help with extra support.

- not all courses have TAs working on them.

Freshman Teachers

English teachers : 5

TAs : 1

CIAD/ACC : 1

English Teachers

- are most qualified and experienced.

- will be doing what their job entails.

- can guide students when formulating an argument,

sorting out details, etc.

TAs

- lack know-how and capability to teach genre specific skills

CIAD

- is overstretched already

Conclusions

There is a need for

- awareness raising.

- a larger scale needs analysis.

- finding the right people to teach new

genres

- keeping it all manageable.

Issues & challenges

• Teachers’ competency in non-TEFL

subjects / tasks

• Capabilities of TAs’ as writing teachers

• Priorities

• Time

• Student profile

• Faculty-prep collaboration

• Manageability

Futures of genres in SL

• New book paragraph writing

of SL summary paragraphs

response paragraphs

essays

• Freshman essays

response writing

• Do you manage to teach a variety of EAP

genres in non-native contexts? How?

• When do you introduce each genre?

• More importantly, who teaches different EAP

genres?