Teaching Writing Using Genre-Based Approach: A Study at a Vietnamese University

This paper presents an exploratory study of using the genre-based approach in teaching a writing module focusing on writing letters for first-year English majors at a university in Vietnam. The aim of the study was to collect data from questionnaires and test results with a focus on learning the students’ perceptions of this approach in learning the letter genre and what they benefitted from the most from this approach. The analysis reveals that under genre-based instruction the students’ awareness and understanding of the features of the letter types were noticeably enhanced. The results indicate that for low-level learners organization of ideas, awareness of context and paralinguistic features were the issues they could gain control over upon the instructions. However, linguistic resources including grammar and vocabulary still remained problems that need a longer and more focused approach to develop. The findings also highlight the value of L1 background knowledge in learning writing in a foreign language.