Genre and Second Language Writing

260 Pages·2004·0.868 MB·

by  Ken Hyland

Genre and Second Language Writing
Series Editors
Diane Belcher (Georgia State University) and
Jun Liu(University of Arizona)
Available titles in the series
Peer Response in Second Language Writing Classrooms
Jun Liu & Jette G. Hansen
Treatment of Error in Second Language Student Writing
Dana R. Ferris
Critical Academic Writing and Multilingual Students
A. Suresh Canagarajah
Controversies in Second Language Writing:
Dilemmas and Decisions in Research and Instruction
Christine Pearson Casanave
Connecting Reading and Writing in Second Language
Writing Instruction
Alan Hirvela
Genre and Second Language Writing
Ken Hyland
Genre and Second
Language Writing
Ken Hyland
University of London
Ann Arbor
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Copyright © by the University of Michigan Press 2004
All rights reserved
Published in the United States of America by
The University of Michigan Press
Manufactured in the United States of America
∞ Printed on acid-free paper
2007 2006 2005 2004 4 3 2 1
No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, or otherwise, without the written
permission of the publisher.
A CIP catalog record for this book is
available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hyland, Ken.
Genre and second language writing / Ken Hyland.
p. cm. — (Michigan series on teaching multilingual writers)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-472-03014-0 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Rhetoric—Study and teaching. I. Title. II. Series.
P53.27H948 2004
808′.042′071—dc22
2004053687
ISBN-13 978-0-472-03014-9 (paperback)
ISBN-13 978-0-472-02976-1 (electronic)
Acknowledgments
This book results from a sustained interest in genre that owes
a great deal to the many excellent colleagues and friends who
have shared their ideas and texts with me over many years.
Among these I am particularly indebted to Sue Hood, Bev
Derewianka, Susan Feez, and Jim Martin in Australia, to John
Swales and Ann Johns in the United States, and to Chris Can-
dlin and Vijay Bhatia in Hong Kong. Their varied influence is
obvious on every page of this text, and I hope they find some-
thing in it they can all agree with. I am also grateful to Diane
Belcher and Jun Liu for coming up with the idea for this se-
ries and for asking me to contribute to it and to my research
assistant, Polly Tse, for sweet biscuits and sympathy during
the ups and downs of writing. Finally, my thanks go to my
wife, Fiona, whose love, encouragement, and conversations
about writing enormously enrich my life and my work.
Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following authors,
publishers, and journals for permission to reprint previously
published materials.
Michael Barlow, Athelstan, for a screenshot from “MonoConc
Pro.”
Butterworth-Heinemann for “Letter to the Editor,” from The
Laurie Taylor Guide to Higher Education, by L. Taylor, copy-
right © 1994. Reprinted by permission of Butterworth-Heine-
mann.
Cambridge University Press for adapted Figure 3.2 and Figure
5.2 from Second Language Writing, by K. Hyland, copyright
© 2003. Reprinted with the permission of Cambridge Univer-
sity Press.
vi Acknowledgments
Elsevier for “A Genre-Based Approach to the Teaching of Re-
port Writing,” pp. 1–13 (Appendix pp. 11–13) of English for
Specific Purposes, vol. 10, by S. Marshall, copyright © 1991.
Reprinted with permission from Elsevier.
Peter Knapp for figure from p. 152 of Context—Text—Gram-
mar: Teaching the Genres and Grammar of School Writing in
Infants and Primary Classrooms,by P. Knapp and M. Watkins,
copyright © 1994.
John Milton, Copulang, for a screenshot from “WordPilot 2000.”
National Centre for English Language Teaching and Research
(NCELTR), Macquarie University, Australia, for the following
figures:
“Deisigning a Course,” p. 79, from Focus on Speaking, by
A. Burns and H. Joyce, copyright © 1997.
“Description of a Narrative Structure,” pp. 225–26, from
Using Functional Grammar: An Explorer’s Guide, 2nd ed.,
by D. Butt, R. Fahey, S. Feez, S. Spinks, and C. Yallop, copy-
right © 2000.
“Teacher-Learner Collaboration,” p. 27; “Teaching Learn-
ing Cycle,” p. 28; “Assessment Checklist,” p. 131; “Sample
Analysis of Learner Descriptive Text,” pp. 132–34; and
“Objectives,” p. 134, from Text-Based Syllabus Design, by
S. Feez, copyright © 1998.
NSW Adult Migrant English Services, Australia, for excerpts
from CSWE test materials, copyright © 1987.
Routledge for figures from p. 126, and pp. 128–29 of Extend-
ing Literacy: Children Reading and Writing Non-Fiction,by D.
Wray and M. Lewis, copyright © 1997.
Mike Scott, Liverpool University, for a screenshot from
“WordSmith Tools.”
The University of Michigan Press for material from English in
Today’s Research World: A Writing Guide,by J. Swales and C.
Feak, copyright © 2000.
Acknowledgments vii
The University of Michigan Press for a figure from Genre and
the Language Learning Classroom, by B. Paltridge, copyright
© 2001.
Every effort has been made to contact the copyright holders
for permission to reprint borrowed material. We regret any
oversights that may have occurred and will rectify them in
future printings of this book.

Contents
Series Foreword by Diane Belcher and Jun Liu xiii
Introduction 1
1. Why Genre? 4
Genre-Based Writing Teaching 5
Why Genre Is Gaining Attention in L2
Writing Instruction 6
Advantages of Genre-Based Writing Instruction 10
Reservations about Genre Instruction 16
Genre-Process Connections 20
Summary 21
2. Perspectives on Genre 24
Approaches to Genre 24
Genre as Social Purpose: Systemic Functional
Linguistics 25
Genre as Situated Action: The New Rhetoric 35
Genre as Professional Competence: English for
Specific Purposes 43
Summary 50
3. Genre Knowledge 54
What Is Genre Knowledge? 54
Genre Knowledge and Schema 55
Knowledge of Shared Communicative Purposes 57
Knowledge of Text Conventions 63
Knowledge of Content and Register 72