HEMAIS, Barbara. Genres in English language course books: teaching words and images. GONÇALVE, G. R; et alii (orgs). New Challenges in Language and Literature. Belo Horizonte: Faculdade de Letras da

UFMG, 2009.p 67-79.

GENRE-BASED APPROACH TO EFL TEACHING

Exposure to genres through teaching materials

Acquire genre knowledge Genre recognition Understanding of genre

structure and linguistic code Awareness of genre context Genre production for

professional, academic or social purpose Genre purposes Audience expectations Discursive practices preferred in

discourse communitiesKAY, S & JONES, V. New American Inside Out. Thailand: Macmillan. p.26

THE TEXTBOOK- A CLASSROOM GENRE

It functions communicatively as a source of instruction and information about how people do things in society (Davies).

It assures that learning actually happens in school. (Soares)

It is a tool for teaching the knowledge that is understood to be necessary for learner participation in society.

http://spiderdiaries.richmond.edu/margaret14/2012/01/09/textbooks-for-sale/

The ELT COURSE BOOK what needs to be learned about language is

organized and sequenced in the book in language topics or grammar points. It is arranged and illustrated in a series of sub-genres.

It contains a number of genres or sub-genres (letters, advertisements, postcards, forms, news articles, etc.).

Some of the genres are in written form and some are images.

Some genres have graphic features (font type, size, page layout, etc.).

Genres are used as a support for teaching and learning (topics for discussion).

Genres are used in a direct relation to a language topic (language items practice).

What is the difference between genre and subgenre?

?

http://www.vivaonlinelearning.com/BookDetail.aspx?Book=Real%20English%20CCE%20Edition&Type=ENGLISH

CLASSROOM GENRES They are not just ways of

communicating but also objects of teaching and learning.

They carry out activities in the genre system of the university (formal schooling, grades and diploma).

They are not to help learners perform in professional capacities. Instead, they should help learners become involved in the language learning system or in recognized language learning practices used in a discourse community of teacher and learner (Russel). I don’t agree with

Russel. I think classroom genres must help learners perform in real social communication.

•http://gcd.ie/gil-programmes/

CLASSROOM GENRES X GENRES USED IN ORIGINAL SOCIAL OR PROFESSIONAL CONTEXTS

Format and linguistic conventions may be adapted.

Genres may be presented in an incomplete form.

Learners will not understand the structure, purpose or linguistic features of the genre.

Classroom activities can be unrelated to “real life”.

I don’t agree. I think teachers should work with genres as close as possible to “real life”.

KAY, S & JONES, V. New American Inside Out. Thailand: Macmillan. p.64

MULTIMODAL AWARENESS “Learners need to develop a multimodal

communicative competence in order to be enabled to deal with the demands they encounter in the use of English”. (Terry Royce).

Books seem to depend on the visual appeal. They reflect the post-modern image-laden society.

The perspective of multimodality Observe the characteristics that formatting,

photos, graphics, colors, drawings and layout all have for making meanings.

Understand the intentions that inform visual representations and meanings in course book images.

Words and images can make different meanings.

Image realizes the same systems of meanings as words do, but the images do so “by means of its own specific forms, and independently”. (Kress and van Leeuwen)

•KAY, S & JONES, V. New American Inside Out. Thailand: Macmillan. p.36

PEDAGOGICAL FUNCTIONS OF THE IMAGES

What meanings are offered in the images on the pages of the books?

Are meanings explored in the activities of the book?

How are the images related to the meanings in verbal texts in the books?

What do the images actually contribute to the learning process?

Use of images in course books Images sometimes seem to merely

complement the verbal text. Activity with a tourist guide book

genre- Visual features of images are excluded. Chances for learning about the meaning of an image are unexplored.

KAY, S & JONES, V. New American Inside Out. Thailand: Macmillan. p.14

LEARNERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF THE LEARNING PROCESS

A course book task may guide the learner toward a particular language point or it may present a reduced version of a genre.

Learners may understand that the language learning experience is more controlled than they imagined and is about tasks rather than about genres.

The challenging for teaching English language would seem to be to identify the teacher’s role in the transfer of pedagogical genre knowledge to social and professional knowledge of genres.

http://www.articulate.com/rapid-elearning/how-do-you-communicate-with-your-e-learners/