Marmara Elt Resources

Genre in the Foreign Language Classroom ( written by Kim Bradford-Watts )

In the EFL situation, we find ourselves working from both directions: we pick and choose specific genres as the need arises, and we also work from generic values. On the way, we occasionally stop and explore genre colonies more closely, depending on student needs. This is as it should be, since much of our teaching involves the development of pathways of use for the learner with limited exposure to the target language. One component of the development of such a network is the laying of infrastructure, or generic values. Another part is the development of specific regions of this infrastructure, which involves the greater specification of context (specific genres and genre colonies).
In an example of how to prepare a genre-based course for first year university conversation classes in Japan, Bradford-Watts (2003) basically describes a top-down approach. In the following example of using a genre approach in teaching interviewing and survey reporting genres in second and third-year classes, I am describing the use of both top-down and bottom-up approaches. In the first class of the year, students interview each other and record everyone’s names, birthdays, interests and contact details. Prior to the activity, we brainstorm ways of approaching people unknown to us, ways of asking questions, and ways of thanking people. This is done in a very general manner, and can be used in a great variety of settings. This is a top-down approach, and the generic value is “interviews.”

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One of the most involving ways of discovering what is really hapening in the world of the classroom is to experience it as a learner yourself.Numerous accounts of teachers becoming learners appear in the literature.In a 1987 article,Tim Lowe describes an experiment in which a group of teachers became learners in a part-time course in Mandarian.The language teacher,teacher-learners, and an observer all kept diaries.It was a real experience for all participants;sharing impressions from their diaries helped them discover that many more things were happening in the classroom that they had ever realized.

Question Tags Using Verbs ‘could’, ‘would’ and ‘should’
Add an appropriate question tag to the end of each question.
For example: They wouldn’t listen, would they?
1. You should get a refund if the concert doesn’t happen, _________________
2. The learners who finish first could do some extra reading practice, ___________
3. You should never switch off a computer without first closing it down, ___________
4. You’d be annoyed if I talked all the way through Coronation Street,_____________
5. I couldn’t take you out for dinner tomorrow night, ____________________
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Test Your Grammar Skills – Question Tags Using Verbs ‘be’, ‘do’ and ‘have’ (Present Tense)
Add an appropriate question tag to the end of each question.
For example: It is getting hot in here, isn’t it?
1. You are not having an early lunch today, __________________
2. John usually gets the bus to college, ______________________
3. Harry Kanell  hasn’t got a job at the moment, ________________
4. I think Raul is right-we work well together, __________________
5. Michael and Harun know that the time of lesson has changed, __________

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