GENRE, DISCOURSE, AND SECOND LANGUAGE RESEARCH

This chapter provides an overview of the concept of genre and details its value in understanding second language acquisition and discourse. The chapter begins with a description of genre’s history within applied linguistics and an introduction to key terms and concepts used in genre theory, such as discourse community, community of practice, rhetorical moves, conventions and variations, intertextuality, and genre knowledge. The chapter then outlines common research approaches within genre studies that have been important in understanding second language acquisition from both social and cognitive perspectives (e.g., text-based genre analysis, ethnographically oriented research, and case studies), followed by a presentation of studies that illustrate these approaches. The focus, in these discussions, is on the contributions of genre studies to second language research. The chapter concludes with a discussion of implications for second language learning and teaching as well as of future directions for genre-oriented second language research, including attention to increased crosslingual genre use and multimodality.