In everyday life, the word “genre” is used for many forms of expression in many contexts. Movie critics refer to certain types of films as “genres”; music fans talk about “rock and roll” and “rap” as “genres.” There are parodies of genres in a variety of art forms, and there are artists of all types who defy the established generic rules. In literacy studies throughout the world, “genre” has also become an increasingly popular term. In this chapter, I discuss how the term “genre” is currently used in composition studies, and how the various theories of genre influence approaches to classroom teaching, particularly as applicable in English as a second language/English as a foreign language (ESL/EFL) contexts.

History and definition of the term

With its many applications within our cultures, “genre” has a variety of historical roots. In academic settings, “genre studies” has traditionally referred to analyses of works of literature, such as different types of poetry, novels, and literary essays. In these analyses, conventions of form, style, characterization, plot structure, and other features that distinguish a particular genre are analyzed, as are variations in conventions within a single genre across time. Today, many literature departments still organize their courses around this concept and all that it implies.

Recently, the term “genre” has been used to capture the social nature of oral and written discourse by various theorists and practitioners from applied linguistics, especially those working in Systemic Functional Linguistics, English for Specific Purposes, and, in North America, the New Rhetoric, drawing from rich theoretical discussions (e.g., Bakhtin, 1986; Halliday, 1985; Miller, 1984; Swales, 1990).