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Integrating process and genre into the second language writing classroom: Research into practice

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2013

Juval V. Racelis
Affiliation:
Arizona State University, [email protected]
Paul Kei Matsuda
Affiliation:
Arizona State University, [email protected]

Abstract

The field of second language (L2) writing has moved beyond the false dichotomies between process- and genre-based pedagogies perpetuated in the 1980s and 1990s, but there has still been little research on how the two are actually reconciled in the classroom. Consequently, L2 writing instructors are left with an incomplete picture, unsure how to incorporate such research into their own classrooms. This paper describes how one teacher, Juval, encountered the research on process- and genre-based pedagogies and negotiated his understanding of this research into his practice. Alongside Juval's voice is the voice of a teacher educator, Paul, setting these frameworks in the context of larger developments in the field of L2 writing. Their discussion takes Juval from his initial view of writing as a grammar-elicitation task to his resort to research for answers to the complex needs of his students. With further support from colleagues, Juval reaches a place where the two pedagogies are not only reconciled but work together to prepare his students for their writing tasks. His narrative chimes with the experience of many L2 writing teachers and should inspire novice and experienced teachers to reflect on their relationship with theory and research.

Type
Thinking Allowed
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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