An ESP Genre-based Approach to the Teaching of Reading

Abstract

This article aims to present the work done with a group of undergraduate students of ‘Technology in Normalization and Industrial Quality’ at CEFET/MG, during the first semester of 2005. The subject matter English for Specific Purposes was planned and taught within the theoretical principles provided by the Australian theories on textual genre. The main aspects considered were: the collective knowledge construction, the complete interrelation between texts and their social roles, and Halliday’s contributions related to the concepts of language and text (1978) and to the context of culture (1989). The learning assessment was socialized and continuous, carried out through several informal classroom activities and two formal written assignments. It seems that the students feel more motivated and show major progress in developing their reading skills at courses of English for Specific Purposes when these courses are taught using a textual genre approach.