Teaching Students How to Write to Different Genres
Students often have a difficult time learning to write different genres because they are used to writing more reflective assignments in which the audience is their teacher. One key to understanding genres such as business writing, technical writing, journalism or creative writing is knowing the conventions of each genre. You also need an understanding of your audience and the reasons the audience is reading the work.
Other People Are Reading
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Business Documents
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Business writing is a new and unfamiliar genre for many students. The audience for business documents is usually managers, who typically skim documents to find the information that they need to make a decision. Students should learn how to organize key information in a way that will make it easier for the reader to find it. In addition, people reading business information tend to be educated, which means students should write to a more educated reading level.
Technical Documents
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People read technical documents to complete a task. As a result, they are not interested in background information or detail. Technical documents should contain clear language as well as short sentences and graphics to help the user complete the task. Students need to learn these conventions as well as how to analyze and write for an audience. For example, users of a high-end photo editing program will have different needs than users of a basic cell phone.
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Journalism
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Journalistic writing might be easier for many students to tackle because they are more familiar with it. However, journalism has specific conventions students must learn, such as putting the most important facts at the top of a news article. Unless students are writing a specific type of news article, such as a piece for a financial newspaper, the audience is more general. This means students must take care to write more clearly, and for an audience with a reading comprehension level between sixth and eighth grade.
Fiction, Creative Non-Fiction and Poetry
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Students often gravitate toward creative genres because that is what they like to read. It's important that students understand the conventions of writing creative pieces before they can begin. For example, writing a short story involves character and plot development, and writing poetry involves the use of imagery and sometimes the use of a rhyme scheme. Once students master these basic conventions, they can begin to think about appealing to different audiences or markets.
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References
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