An Examination of Written Genres in English Language Textbooks in Japan

Abstract

Drawing on a systemic functional linguistics genre paradigm, this article examines model writing texts in two types of English teaching and learning materials for high school students in Japan: public and commercial textbooks. A corpus of 73 texts was created. This article aims to identify what genres are provided as model texts to teach and learn English writing in these textbooks. It further aims to identify the schematic structures of the genres identified. It was found that, in the commercial textbooks, only a limited range of genres was provided while, in the public textbooks, a variety of genres such as Information reports, Everyday procedures and Sequential explanations was included. In relation to text structures, different ways of constructing the Argument stage in argumentative genre texts were found in the two types of textbooks. Pedagogical implications for English writing instruction in Japanese high schools are suggested.Keywords: systemic functional linguistics, genre, schematic structure, intercultural rhetoric, high school textbooks, second language writing. IntroductionThe notion of genre has been playing an important role in the teaching and learning of English writing. Since Jim Martin and his colleagues (see e.g., Martin, 1980;Martin & Rothery, 1981;Rothery, 1980) investigated genres of texts for students in kindergarten, primary, and secondary schools in Australia from the perspective of systemic functional linguistics (SFL) (see e.g., Halliday, 1994), many researchers have explored genres in academic settings (e.g., Christie & Derewianka, 2008;Humphrey et al., 2012;Martin & Rose, 2008;Woodward-Kron, 2002). Many previous studies show that the synergy of genre and L2 writing instruction contributes to an improvement in the English writing proficiency of L2 learners (see e.g., Bunch & Willett, 2013;de Oliveira & Lan, 2014;Emilia & Hamied, 2015;Harman, 2013). In the Japanese context, for example, Yasuda (2011) reports that a genre-based writing course in a Japanese university enhanced the learners' awareness of genre variations and improved their English writing proficiency. The studies listed above focused on the effectiveness of a genre-based pedagogy or the products of writing by L2 learners.In Japan, university entrance examinations provide an enormous motivation for students to learn English (see e.g., Doyon, 2001;Tachibana et al., 1996;Taguchi et al., 2009). Textbooks which are used to prepare for these examinations play an important role for English language learners and teachers in Japan. Shizuka (1996) argues that the choice of model texts presented to Japanese high school students is influenced by the content of those examinations. In this article, the model texts in textbooks are examined Hideo WatanabeThe Journal of Asia TEFL Vol. 14, No. 1, Spring 2017, 64-80 65 using the notion of genre developed by Martin (1984). In Japanese high school English classes, the materials that are used to teach English writing are textbooks, which must be approved by the Ministry of Education, Cul...

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Untitled

“…Genres have been played an important role in L2 writing education (Watanabe, 2017). As a different genre can give a different impact on the linguistic features of texts (Young & Polio, 2017), the importance of genre factors cannot be dismissed in L2 writing research.…”