CEI- UFMG

Genre and discourse- Teachers note.

It is observed clearly that the approach proposed in Paltridge text is not anchored in
teaching grammatical structures isolated from their context of use . The focus becomes the
language conceived as a social activity, connected in different genres .
In Chapter 4, Paltridge demonstrates the genre can be a principle for english learning. The
author gives good types of how to use genre techniques. The author examines how
different aspects of genre knowledge-context-discourse and language-can be analysed in
the language-learning classroom.
For this specific activity our group thought of advanced students and chose a journalistic
and literary gender. The text 1 was extracted from the New York times website. The
cybermedia or the updated Internet media have will of mediation between facts and public,
and uses criteria and journalistic skills, multimedia, interactivity, hypertext (Salaverra,
2005).
Our group also chose the Science Fiction or Classical literature genre from Harry Potter
novels. For this specific activity our group was guide by the Paltridge suggestion of
Comparing and contrasting categories of genre and text types.
According Paltrigde Students can be presented with a number of category of genres and text
types and asked to select the appropriate categories for particular texts. In this way, the
students will be able to compare differences among the texts and make comparisons.
Based on Paltrigde ideas this activity was conceived to encourage learners to consider
cross-cultural differences in writing texts.
Teachers should lead students to reflect about the context of the text production: the
subject, who wrote it, what the purpose of the writer, what kind of genre is inserted in the
text.
Paltrige also relates that Identifying generic structure and text structure components is
also a suggestion for teaching analysis of genres. We understand that the discursive skills
are developed by analyzing the textual structure: how the text is organized , the typology
(narrative, descriptive, expository, etc.), Non-verbal elements that are part of this structure,
in the case of written texts.
What we realize about Paltrige propose is that the language skills of the student are
developed through genres of their daily lives and that make sense to him. The use of
authentic material, specially from online newspaper will encourage students to think more
profoundly about the reality that surrounds them. We agree with Rocha (2006, p.286 ),
which emphasizes that "the play, songs and stories are the facts/social events through
which many of the experiences of the imaginary world of children are organized and that,
therefore, include up significantly in childhood."
On the other hand, is believed that adolescent literature, as exemplified in Harry Potter is
built around the idea of relationships with other people. The genre aspect is focused on a
group of people who are developing their own identities and their identities in relation to
other people.

References

ROCHA, C. H. Provises para ensinar LE no Ensino Fundamental de 1. a 4. Sries: dos
parmetros oficiais a objetivos dos agentes. 2006. 340 f. Dissertao (Mestrado em
Lingstica Aplicada) Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem, Universidade Estadual de
Campinas, 2006.


SALAVERRA, Ramn (coord.), Cibermedios. El impacto de Internet en los medios de
comunicacin en Espaa, Sevilla, Comunicacin Social Ediciones y Publicaciones, 2005.

PALTRIDEGE, B. 2001. Genre and the Language Learning Classroom.

Activity reference

The New York Times, online newspaper. A Mostly Quiet Effort to Put Saudi Women in
Drivers Seats, By BEN HUBBARD. Extracted 26/10/13 from:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/27/world/middleeast/a-mostly-quiet-effort-to-put-saudi-women-in-
drivers-seats.html?ref=world&_r=0


J. K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Chapter 2, p. 14.