The question of whether written genres can be learned through explicit teaching or can only be acquired implicitly through writing in authentic contexts remains unanswered. The question is complicated by the different parameters associated with teaching genre to first- or second-language learners, to children or adults, in settings in which the…

This research seeks both to describe Chinese genres found in a range of school subjects and to develop models of pedagogical principles for their teaching. Thus far, most of the research has been devoted to the teaching of genres for first and second language teaching, though there is a developing interest in research into the teaching of genres…

Conversational styles can sometimes cause conflicts on problem-solving writing teams. In self-defense, students often resort to blaming and shaming around conversational styles, which can just worsen unproductive group behaviors, limiting idea exchanges and deflecting attention from substantive issues and onto what is often labeled "personality…

Recognizing that writing is perhaps more crucial to law than to any profession, the Southwestern University School of Law began an interdisciplinary writing program in 1979. The legal communication skills course is a mandatory part of the first-year curriculum, continuing for two semesters and awarding three unit credits. The course strives to…

The place of poetry in teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) and the role of linguistics are considered. It is suggested that poetry teaching has a place in advanced EFL learners' progreams as a means of extending the learners' knowledge of the language and increasing their sense of appropriateness and sensitivity to language use. The value…

A series of three experiments obtained objective measures of skilled and unskilled writing that was prepared in response to a potentially hostile audience. The principal differences between the two groups of writers were that skilled writers were far more likely than unskilled writers to go beyond the narrow constraints of the task, to generate…

Although the middle class child may come to school with a fairly large and useful vocabulary, teachers must be concerned with the extension of that vocabulary beyond its present limits. While the language of the middle class child is probably not an important concern in the choice of reading methods or the selection of word lists, it does have…

Although many would like to see the monolithic structure of society altered to allow cultural pluralism to flourish, it should be realized that for at least the next generation, large segments of minority citizens will remain in a socially and economically disadvantaged status, penalized because their life styles and languages differ from the…

Discusses two computer programs designed for third-year university-level Spanish composition classes. The programs are based on the process model of composing and consist of pre-writing, writing, and revision. (SED)

Urging that the technical student be taught the kind of English which he will encounter in his classes and textbooks, the author uses examples from chemistry textbooks to illustrate the kind of situation and the language material found in one particular area of study. To be continued in a later issue. (FWB)

Suggests that because the new methodological emphasis in intermediate-level foreign-0language courses has shifted from translation-based learning, which utilized literary texts extensively, to communication-based learning, literature has been overlooked as a viable tool of instruction. Argues that this shift does not allow students to develop an…

Genre-based approaches to curriculum delivery have been applied to primary, secondary, tertiary, and graduate programs. This article takes this approach one step further and shows how such an approach was applied in conceptualizing a funded staff-development program at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. (Author/VWL)

This paper describes a collaborative project that sought to combine teacher development and illuminative research. Eight teachers on a general English course, working in pairs, observed each other's lessons and then held discussions, which were recorded and analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. Published coding systems were used by the…

Before students can select words effectively for speaking, they must understand the value of word choice and the difference between written and spoken language. Once students appreciate effective word selection, they can label their own strengths and weaknesses in language and improve significantly by reading, listening, experimenting, and using a…

The teaching activities presented in this document have been selected from a series of language study units prepared for teachers by the Queensland Language Development Project task force as part of the Studytalk project. They focus on inquiring into some of the varieties of language most accessible to teachers and students. In each of the three…