Teaching Genre through Descriptive Analysis
Susan Tanner
susantanner@lsu.edu
This presentation will explain an approach to teaching genre forms that focuses on process, rather than product, and on descriptive rather than prescriptive instruction. Traditionally, genre is taught through prescriptive instruction where a scholar of a particular genre (e.g. an appellate brief) gives explicit instructions about the common features of the form. This type of instruction provides comfort to both students and professors because it, arguably, communicates the most amount of information in the least amount of time. But prescriptive instruction tends to focus on near rather than far transfer and therefore may not always be the most effective method for teaching real-world genres. In this presentation, I introduce the “Comparative Genre Analysis,” an assignment developed by a researcher in writing pedagogy, Joanna Wolfe, which I have adapted into a series of small assignments to be deployed in a legal writing classroom. It asks students to create their own “how-to” manuals for how to write memos and briefs in order to practice the skill of learning how to write in a new genre. The objective is to increase far-transfer and give students the skills to apply to the new genres they will be asked to learn in practice.
Q: How will students learn new writing tasks after they graduate?
“The best writers are good readers”
As we know, we are tasked with fitting a lot into one year of instruction
There are too many genres to teach
Studies show students have difficulty transferring their skills
One solution: give students a “toolkit” to employ in all future writing situations
Tracy Norton calls this a Modular approach
A toolkit can be valuable for near transfer
But it can fail to prepare for far transfer
Solution #2: Teach Genre like they do in WAC/WID
Useful where the genres are unknown to the professor
Useful where the student will have to adapt to many different types of writing
Especially useful for professional writing situations where authors have to tailor their work to specific audiences
The Comparative Genre Analysis Essay
Stems from work from John Swales, Joanna Wolfe and others
Has students focus on genre features among several models (either among one genre or across multiple)
Has been shown to be more effective in the long term than directly teaching the features of one genre
In essence, we teach students the scientific method for understanding written genres
Collect information
Form hypotheses
Test hypotheses & receive feedback
Refine methods through doing, with feedback
My contribution: Descriptive Analysis Assignments
Rather than essays, students must perform the work of genre comparisons as simple assignments
Trains students in how to work with models
The drawbacks
Students hate it. They would rather be told what to do and be certain about it
My research in another context shows that the short-term gains are reduced in favor of long-term gains
The benefits
Integrates well with Socratic (guide on the side) methods
Encourages intellectual curiosity and productive struggle
Less risk of replicating misinformation or particularities
Focuses on the process new lawyers will employ
Greater far transfer
How is it done?
Rules & Org Assignment
Simple E-memo
Complex E-memo
Capstone Assignment
Integrates Wolfe’s work on CGA with Ryan Roderick’s work on resilience
Students must narrate their process
Students document that they are working through the steps
By the end of the semester, students have created their own how-to manual
fall -> a guide for writing a memo
spring -> a guide for writing an appellate brief & guide for learning new genres
Capstone was designed to focus on process
Learning how to write
Learning how to overcome challenges
Metacognitive knowledge has been shown to increase transfer
Capstone process
Students are asked to work on it every time they draft (they don’t)
Students are asked to bring it with them every time they meet with me (they do)
End of fall -> a guide for writing a memo
End of spring -> a guide for writing an appellate brief & guide for learning new genres
Student Results (preliminary)
Thank you!