From Curriculum Demands to Genre Pedagogy: Bilingual Adaptation of Reading to Learn for an L2 Lesson Planning

Abstract

Reading to Learn (R2L) is a literacy methodology and teacher development program inspired by Systemic Functional Linguistics. Recently, it has been adapted for second/foreign language courses with bilingual teaching (KARTIKA-NINGSIH; ROSE, 2021; RAMÍREZ, 2020; KARTIKA-NINGSIH, 2016). Although R2L has successfully expanded worldwide, its impact on textbooks, school programs, and educators has also been uneven. To describe how these conceptual inconsistencies play out, this article contrasts a textbook methodology partially informed by genre theory when applied in an L2 English class in Colombia with a recent bilingual adaptation of R2L in an L2 Spanish class in the United States. This latter case is based on genre theory and R2L pedagogy (ROSE, 2018a) and bilingualism approaches (RAMÍREZ, 2020; LESSOW-HURLEY, 2005; LABERGE; SAMUELS, 1974). Findings reveal a prominent pedagogical gap between the reading and the writing sections of the partially informed genre-based methodology but a robust linguistic scaffold in the bilingual R2L experience. The resulting recount exemplifies detailed and annotated lesson planning for teachers interested in thoroughly applying the latter methodology, especially for L2 settings. Preceded by some similar interventions, this experience confirms that the integration of both native and foreign languages within the R2L methodology makes it a promising approach.