Research has shown that a genre approach to academic writing grounded in systemic functional linguistics (SFL) can give teachers the metalinguistic awareness necessary to deconstruct the language of academic writing. However, teachers require considerable training to gain full control of an SFL-based genre approach, and the influence of this approach is still in its infancy in British Columbia (BC). This case study investigates a BC high school ELL teacher's approach to writing instruction to determine 1) how the participants conceptualized academic writing and genre, and 2) how their conceptualizations impacted their practice as writing teachers. The findings showed that the base level of training required to teach certain ELL courses did not prepare the participant with the explicit understanding of the linguistic characteristics that distinguish the genres students were being asked to write.
TopIntroduction
In high school classes, writing plays an important role as both a learning outcome and a mode of assessment. Teachers across content areas ask students to write in numerous different genres to demonstrate control of these genres and understanding of subject content. The stakes are high when it comes to writing tasks and they only grow as graduation approaches. This is especially true for English language learners (ELLs) who, in addition to learning a new language, may not have had previous exposure to the academic genres teachers ask them to write.
The documented struggles faced by BC ELLs have highlighted the need for an effective approach to academic writing instruction. Derwing and Toohey (2008) conducted an investigation of graduation rates in 4 urban BC schools and discovered that ELL graduation rates were 60%, 18% percent lower than their non-ELL peers. Similarly, Garnett (2010) disaggregated the graduation statistics by ethno-cultural background, and found that that certain minoritized groups did not fare well. For instance, less than half of Filipino, Vietnamese and Spanish speaking students who began to receive ELL support after starting high school graduated. Garnett concluded that by ignoring differences across the ELL student body, significant inequalities were erased. In a recent study on academic language use in persuasive essay writing among 95 8th and 9th grade ELLs of Chinese backgrounds in BC secondary schools, Zhang (2021) found that the ELL adolescents, despite the fact that they had been living in Canada for more than seven years, still scored below their native English-speaking peers on aspects of academic language, suggesting further instructional needs in academic writing for this population.
Given the stakes of academic writing and the challenges faced by ELLs, how should teachers be approaching academic writing instruction? Research has demonstrated that a genre approach to academic writing grounded in systemic functional linguistics (SFL) can help teachers to better communicate the language requirements necessary for ELLs to overcome some of the challenges they face when it comes to academic writing (Cullican, 2006; Humphrey & Macnaught, 2016a; Rose, 2015; Schulze, 2011). The focus of the genre approach on explicit instruction that attends to the specific language features of academic genres can be beneficial for high school ELLs. A genre approach to academic writing can offer students an awareness of language that makes it possible for ELLs to deconstruct the language of academic texts so that they can better meet the expectations of the audiences of academic genres. For example, both Huang (2004) and Gibb et al., (2020) showed how attention to lexicogrammar resulted in students meeting the register expectations in science writing. In social studies writing, Spycher (2007) showed that through discourse analysis and focused attention on particular features of academic language, “teachers working with [ELLs] can support accelerated progress in academic writing proficiency” (p. 252).
In part, the success of the genre approach demonstrated in research has been a result of the systematized way in which writing instruction is delivered. Numerous studies have demonstrated that ELLs are more likely to have success with disciplinary academic language when teachers apply an SFL-based TLC (Gibbons, 2003; Humphrey & Macnaught, 2016b; Schulze, 2011; Spycher, 2007). Especially noteworthy were the findings of Rose (2015) who reported that the use of a genre-based TLC corelated with accelerated literacy development: Students progressed on average one grade level over the course of an action research intervention with 20% of students improving by 2 grade levels.
Although the genre approach has proven successful, barriers to its implementation exist. For instance, metacognitive genre knowledge has proven difficult for preservice teachers (Negretti & Kuteeva, 2011) while incompatible curricula and traditional conceptions of grammar at the school and district level remained an obstacle for in-service teachers Gebhard et al., 2013. The level of support and training needed for educators to apply an SFL-based genre approach have also been noted as obstacles to a sophisticated understanding and implementation (Humphrey & Macnaught, 2016b).
It is against this context that this case study was designed to examine what a high school teacher in the district knew about the theories that underpin the genre approach and how their understanding of these theories impacted academic writing instruction. This chapter sought to answer the following research questions: