Inquiring into A Teacher’s understanding of Genre-based Pedagogy

Abstract

Teaching English through texts is one of the keys focuses of the current Indonesian education curriculum, Kurikulum Merdeka, which has been informed by systemic functional linguistics (SFL) and genre-based pedagogy (GBA). This approach highlights the importance of teachers' roles in achieving the objectives of the curriculum. In view of this, teachers' understandings of genre-based pedagogy become of prime importance in achieving a successful teaching and learning process. Due to the limited studies on this topic, the present case study explores one novice teacher's conception of genre-based pedagogy and how her understanding of the concept evolves throughout her professional journey. Through a series of interviews, this study reveals that the teacher's understanding of genre-based pedagogy evolved within three distinct phases, which were classified into (1) the early years of teaching, (2) growing awareness through continued academic and professional experience, and (3) genre-based pedagogy in practice. It was evident that the teacher's understanding of genre-based pedagogy within the three phases was greatly influenced by the contexts in which she studied and taught. This study emphasizes that in order to develop teachers' understanding of genre-based pedagogy, it is imperative that they be given ample exposure to theory and practice.