The effects of a genre-based pedagogy that exploits connections between reading and writing

Although reading and writing are interconnected language skills (Clark, 1996; Conrad & Biber, 2001; Fitzgerald & Shanahan, 2000), their interrelations are rarely addressed in educational contexts. This situation is likely to impede students’ literacy development. Therefore, the importance of raising awareness of the interconnections between separate language skills has been emphasised (Hendrix & Van der Westen, 2018; Meesterschapsteams Nederlands, 2018). Genre-based pedagogy is suggested as a means to foster this awareness. The aim of my project is to test whether a genre-based pedagogy that exploits the connections between reading and writing improves the aforementioned skills, and genre knowledge and awareness. Genre-based pedagogy provides a solid framework for connecting reading and writing in secondary school as it enables students to understand texts in a broader societal context. Common elements in the different genre schools (Bawarshi & Reiff, 2010) are explicit teaching of genre characteristics, discussion of ways in which genre characteristics contribute to the meaning and effects of texts, and discussion of genre boundaries (Swales, 2009). Two genre-based lesson series focussing on news articles and columns have been piloted (2018-2019) and will be implemented in Dutch secondary schools (2019-2020). The subjects are 15- to 16-year-olds in grade 10. Classes will be randomly assigned to the news article or the column, thereby functioning as each other’s control group. Pre- and post-tests to assess reading and writing abilities in both genres will be administered as well as questionnaires regarding genre knowledge and awareness. For both conditions, two distinct genre elements are the focus of instruction: the use and effects of adjectives and adverbs, and the use and effects of figurative speech. These elements have different functions and effects in the two genres. Students will learn to recognize, interpret and use these features in reading and writing