English Language Teaching in its Social Context

5GENRE-BASED APPROACHES TO WRITING 205of the text, such as the predominant use of the present tense, the focus on an individualparticipant and the use of primarily ‘being’ and ‘having’ clauses. At the end of this segment ofthe lesson, the learners were asked to construct their own letters in response toCommonwealth Employment Service (CES) advertisements, which had also been read anddiscussed in a previous lesson. Each group was given a sample advertisement (secText 3 below)and asked to choose a scribe who would record the text as it was produced.The account whichfollows described how one group of three learners went about constructing their text.The group was composed of three female learners; Katia, who was Chilean; Zorka, whowasYugoslav; and Susanna, a Czech. All three were in their 20s and had post-high schooleducation, two having been nurses and one a teacher in her own country.They had all indicatedthat job-seeking was a priority for them and were highly motivated to improve their languageskills so that they could eventually find employment. Susanna was nominated to scribe thejointly negotiated text and what she wrote was closely monitored by the two other membersof the group. The letter they wrote was in response to the following advertisement:Text 3: CES job advertisementMechanicWoolloomoolooGeneral Repair Work on Jaguars8 a.m. ~ p.m.$Award ~ NegotiableAge: 25+Tradesman MechanicExp. On Jaguars6052-a/ 531 kcsMotor repairsDespite their limited proficiency in English, the group employed a wide range ofstrategies during the joint construction activity. The following extract illustrates how theycollaborated to produce their text:Classroom transcript 2Su: I am writing to apply . . . (writing)Ka: Ofthe job . . .Zo: Excuse meSu: About the job . . .Zo: Of? Of the job?Su: AboutKa: About. . . about. . . of. . . of. . .Zo: No . . . for the . . . for the jobSu: For the job . . . (writing)zo: Of. . .Ka: Motor mechanic(Susanna writes, then reads aloud)Su: I am writing to apply for the job . . . (compares with model) in the CES today . . .Ka: In the service station . . . in the newspaper . . . Spanish . . . newspaper