Cheng-hua Hsiao
Taiwan International ESP Journal ；
10卷1期 (2019 / 04 / 01) ， P19 – 44
Grounded in genre theory and research (Hsiao & Yu, 2012; Kwan, 2006; Swales, 1990), this study explores a genre pedagogy at the graduate level focusing on literature reviews (hereafter LRs), since there is currently a paucity of published classroom-based research in this area. A set of LR teaching materials was designed to help students become aware of the text structure and features, and develop strategies to reproduce these features in their own LR writing. The teaching methods consisted of three inter-connected stages: (1) helping student writers conceptualize the move structure; (2) requiring them to identify the moves in sample LRs, and (3) comparing and contrasting high-rated and low-rated LRs in order to understand what moves are needed for a quality LR, and (4) then asking them to use the features they have learned in their LRs. The focal students were interviewed on the process they adopted in writing a literature review after the intervention. The findings, based on a generic structure analysis of focal students’ LRs, are evidence of the strengths of this instructional design and provide suggestions for genre-based pedagogy, which will be useful for thesis writing teachers.