Teaching Writing in Higher Education: A Pedagogical Experience with the ‘Flow Chart Description’ Macro-Genre

Abstract

This article presents evidence in favor of teaching and writing across the curriculum, following a genre-based explicit approach, and an adjunct teaching model. This is done by reporting an experience that was carried out with students enrolled in the Computer-based Tools and Programming for Engineering and Science course, being offered at a university in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Tis experience had to do with developing the Flowchart Description macro-genre. Firstly, the macro-genre is characterized from the perspective of systemic functional linguistics, particularly the Sydney School, which made it possible to precisely delimit the object of teaching. Secondly, the foundations of the teaching process were presented. Thirdly, a discussion of the results obtained from the implementation of a rubric or evaluation matrix was provided, which weighed participants' performance in the production of both their first draf and their final version. Lastly, the theoretical, methodological, and didactic options supporting the writing model currently deployed at this university were shown and issues to be addressed in future experiences were discussed.