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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 October 2012
The most important lesson for student writers to learn is that genres are socially real and that to participate effectively in a discourse community, one usually must adapt to (or around) readers' generic expectations. Students should learn to notice genres, to make sense of genres, and even to renovate genres (Coe, 1994, p. 165).
In the previous chapter it was suggested that considering texts as examples of genres encourages the study not only of the structure and content of written discourses, but of how these internal textual elements interact with other texts and social and cultural forces in particular contexts. In this chapter some of these social and cultural forces are discussed. Using familiar examples of genres, I first note some of the interactions between culture and text. Then, I turn to academic texts, professional faculty genres, and a genre more familiar to students, the textbook. By using these varied examples of texts realized through shared knowledge, I shall demonstrate why a discussion of the social construction of texts is vital to the classroom.
In this chapter, I will discuss the following questions:
How can practitioners use “homely” discourses to introduce students to concepts of genres and to the social forces that influence situated texts?
What are some of the features of professional faculty genres that can influence academic classrooms?
How can we encourage the study of pedagogical genres, especially the textbook, in promoting the development of socioliteracies?
“Homely” texts
In this section, I will discuss genres that should be familiar to all readers of this volume, named texts that cross linguistic and cultural lines. These genres are not high-flown or literary; instead, they are what Miller (1984) calls “homely” discourses, the texts of everyday life. If we assist our students in viewing the homely texts around them as genre exemplars, and thus socially constructed, we can enable them to view academic discourses as socially constructed as well.
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