Developing a Culturally-Relevant Genre-Based Writing Course for Distance Learning

Abstract

Learners with seemingly adequate linguistic abilities sometimes write in ways that are inappropriate in particular situations. This impacts on the intended communicative purpose, and for exam takers, the outcome is underperformance. This paper outlines the development and implementation of a short distance writing course that was designed to improve writing through a genre-based approach to second language writing (K. Hyland, 2005) and evolved using good non-native writing samples as exemplar texts (Tribble, 2005) to draw attention to language, in this case for IELTS exam writing. A key element of the course was the submission of multiple drafts, thus allowing a dialogue to develop, which in turn encouraged participants to consider how to come closer to genre expectations of organization and structure as well as improving the accuracy and sophistication of their texts.