Genre-Based Approach
The Genre-Based Approach (GBA) to language and literacy teaching was developed primarily by the "Sydney School" in Australia during the 1980s-90s, led by J.R. Martin, Joan Rothery, and Frances Christie, drawing on M.A.K. Halliday's Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL). Genre is defined as a "staged, goal-oriented social process" -- a recognisable text type shaped by its social purpose (e.g., recount, explanation, argument, report).
The Teaching-Learning Cycle
Rothery (1994, 1996) formalised the Teaching-Learning Cycle (TLC), the pedagogical backbone of genre-based instruction:
- Deconstruction (Modelling) -- The teacher introduces a model text. Learners analyse its social purpose, staged structure, and key linguistic features (e.g., register, cohesive devices, grammatical patterns typical of the genre).
- Joint Construction -- Teacher and class collaboratively produce a new text in the target genre. The teacher scaffolds heavily, making rhetorical and linguistic choices explicit.
- Independent Construction -- Learners produce their own text in the genre with decreasing teacher support.
Some versions add a preliminary stage of Building the Field (activating topic knowledge) before deconstruction.
Why It Matters
The Sydney School developed GBA specifically to address educational inequality. Research showed that disadvantaged and L2 learners often lacked implicit knowledge of the genres valued in schooling and assessment. Making genre conventions explicit -- rather than hoping learners would absorb them -- was a deliberate equity strategy.
Influence
GBA has shaped EAP, IELTS writing instruction, and L2 writing pedagogy globally. It contrasts with Process Writing by insisting that what is written (genre knowledge) matters as much as how it is written (composing processes).