Genre

For today’s assignment we read Navigating Genres by Kerry Dirk. It is an essay about writing an essay and the exploration of genre. Dirk writes, “In other words, Bitzer is saying that when something new happens that requires a response, someone must create that first response. Then when that situation happens again, another person uses the first response as a basis for the second, and eventually everyone who encounters this situation is basing his/her response on the previous ones, resulting in the creation of a new genre.” This is a very interesting assessment of how new genres are developed and created. She goes on to say, “...genres are now viewed as even more than repeating rhetorical situations.” A good way to think of this is that genre has developed not only as a shortcut to repeating situations but has evolved into a way to serve a purpose or fulfill a goal by persuading people through writing. This is exemplified in Dirk’s examples, “knowing what a genre is used for can help people to accomplish goals, whether that goal be getting a job by knowing how to write a stellar resume, winning a person’s heart by writing a romantic love letter, or getting into college by writing an effective personal statement.”

We also read Teaching Critical Genre Awareness by Amy Devitt, which is much more complicated and written for other scholars. In the beginning Devitt writes, “The first and most important genre pedagogy, then, is the teacher’s genre awareness: the teacher being conscious of the genre decisions he or she makes and what those decisions will teach students.” Whereas Dirk wrote primarily about how to understand genre and make it work for your purpose, Devitt writes primarily about the methods and practice of teaching genre. Devitt talks about ways to take theories and classify new genres in a way that helps you to understand further genres. Devitt also stresses the rhetorical importance of genre, that we use specific genres to serve our writings purpose most appropriately so that the best outcome comes from our writing.

These articles have helped me to weed out the many different thoughts I had about genre. I have begun to have a better, well-rounded understanding of genre and its purpose for existence. By reading these articles I understand two different viewpoints, one from more of a student’s perspective and one from more a scholarly perspective. I understand now what is going through the mind’s of those who teach these concepts and how students can put them into practice and utilize them most efficiently.