TCE Moodle Discovering Genre in Action
Although genre theory is not new and teachers have been teaching genre for a long long time, Dean (Genre Theory) has invited us to think of genre as action. I think genres, being naturally unstable, do not have to be intentionally destabilized by a teacher. We just have to explore the natural instability and mix it up creatively (not for the purpose of disruption but rather new constructions). Students will often resist attempts at destabilization, believe it or not. A lot of them want that five paragraph rigidity because it is comfortable and easy. The challenge is...how do we teach it that way? It is so easy to talk about genre in English class and let a genre settle into a solid form that students follow. Students often want a form to fill out, and teaching genre the old fashioned way encourages them to follow society's prescribed models. I think the easiest way to teach genre is to talk about how it is changing due to digital technologies, to talk about genre, not as a solid form, but as a living breathing organism (in "action"). Of course there is nothing wrong with following a format to achieve a goal, but mostly these goals are bureaucratic ones.
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