Item Details

Genre-based literacy programs: contextualising the SLATE project

Issue: Vol 7 No. 1-3 (2011)

Journal: Linguistics and the Human Sciences

Subject Areas: Writing and Composition Linguistics

DOI: 10.1558/lhs.v7i1-3.5

Abstract:

This paper positions the work of the SLATE project within the general theoretical framework of the genre-based literacy programs often referred to as the ‘Sydney School’. The School’s general approach to genre is outlined, including the way it positions genre theory as part of a systemic functional model of language and semiosis. The paper reviews the ways in which this genre theory has been used to analyse texts, renovate curriculum and design pedagogy with a view to providing all students with access to academic literacy. The importance and challenges of embedding literacy programs of this kind within subject areas and disciplines is canvassed in relation to functional linguistic perspectives on field and social realist sociological work on knowledge structure. Finally the challenges faced by the SLATE project in adapting Sydney school initiatives to an on-line environment are introduced.

Author: James R. Martin

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