Supporting Bilingual Learners Through Genre Pedagogy
Many cultural dimensions of literacy learning remain implicit in instruction. For students who have home cultures that are different from the dominant culture, this can feel confusing.
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SFL genre pedagogy is an explicit approach to writing instruction that illuminates the (culturally) specific elements of writing--breaking down each genre into its purpose, organizational structure, and linguistic features. In this, culturally and linguistically diverse students are given the explicit tools to navigate many different types of writing that they encounter in schools.​
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Importantly, SFL genre pedagogy is not a tool for assimilation. It equips students with these tools while also helping them make informed choices about how and what they want to write based on who they are.
Learning With Support
Like baking, learning to be a strong writer in school contexts requires learning how to navigate a recipe. We wouldn’t just give bakers a bunch of ingredients and expect them to already know how to create pan dulce. Rather, bakers often learn by reading lots of different examples of recipes and trying them out, ideally with a more experienced baker. They do this until they master their bread or dessert and, ultimately, design their own recipes by making their own choices!​
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Genre pedagogy operates with the same approach. Through the Teaching and Learning Cycle, students learn the "recipe" of each genre including purpose, organizational structure, and linguistic features. They learn in supported, collaborative ways before they are expected to create a written composition independently.
Creating on Their Own Terms
Genre pedagogy helps students learn the "recipes" to different genres of writing.
SFL genre pedagogy supports students in learning the traditional text types they encounter in school (e.g., reports, arguments, fictional narratives, explanations). Just like when baking breads and desserts, these are cultural ways of engaging with language and texts. Typically, though, texts that students encounter in school have a monolingual, monocultural orientation.
SFL genre pedagogy is not simply aimed at students reproducing school-based forms of writing. The aim is for students to learn the basics of the “recipe” so that they can make creative choices with their own writing, bringing themselves fully to the task of composing. This is where the teacher plays an important role in elevating students’ multilingualism and multiculturalism in the process of writing.​​