Learning to write for publication in English through genre-based pedagogy: A case in Taiwan

Abstract

There has been a debate between explicit instruction and implicit acquisition of genre regarding genre-based pedagogies. However, relatively few studies have investigated the extent to which explicit instruction shapes students' genre knowledge development by scrutinizing their learning trajectories. This study examined a Taiwanese Ph.D. student's genre knowledge development in a genre-based research writing course. This study collected and analyzed students' oral interaction data and their multiple drafts, and found that explicit genre instruction on rhetorical moves and linguistic features helped the student gain formal knowledge, process knowledge, and rhetorical knowledge, albeit to different degrees. The findings of the study support explicit genre instruction in shaping novice EFL scholars' knowledge of writing for publication in English. In contexts like Taiwan, where publishing articles in indexed journals has become a Ph.D. graduation requirement, a genre-based research writing course featured by explicit and systematic instruction may be highly beneficial.