Resumen de Approaching the essay genre: A study in comparative pedagogy
A study was designed to compare two methodologies for teaching essay writing inEnglish to Spanish university undergraduates. Students in the first group (textualanalysis, TA) analysed the linguistic features of the essay genre and practised aspectsof the relevant language in a series of focused exercises. Students in the second group(rhetorical analysis, RA) carried out various pedagogical tasks to encourage an in-depth understanding of rhetorical functions within the essay. Pre-test paragraphs andfinal essays were assessed to determine the progress made by individual students andthe quality of the final product. There were improvements in both groups, the gains being statistically significant in both cases. The RA group made greater progress overthe course of the programme, and wrote better final essays. Although these resultscannot be taken to vindicate top-down methodologies for teaching written genres,they provide some insights into the complexity of teaching writing at university level.It is logical for teachers in an EFL context to focus closely on the linguistic andtextual aspects of writing, but they must not ignore the rhetorical dimensions of thewriting task, which are arguably more important for the overall quality of the written product.
