A multidirectional model for tertiary-level disciplinary writing

Abstract

Genre approaches to academic writing are still enjoying wide support among pedagogues and applied linguists in the UK, US and Australia. However, genrebased pedagogies have been widely criticised for their explicit teaching of discourse structure and their emphasis on lexis and grammar. This article aims to demonstrate that the foundational principles of genre approaches are reconcilable with postmodern ways of reasoning and with most post-process approaches in language teaching. It is suggested that current method and postmethod pedagogies share an underlying component structure; they only differ with regard to their emphases. Based on the notion of ‘principled pragmatism’ a multidirectional, genre-focused model for teaching and learning academic writing in a tertiary education context is designed and justified.