GENRE ANALYSIS OF THE READING PASSAGES IN TWO HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH TEXTBOOK SERIES IN VIETNAM

Phuong Thao Nguyen

Abstract


The notion of genre has been the topic of discussion by school curriculum designers and textbook writers. As an attempt to provide more findings to the scant research on genre in Vietnam, this study, employing genre-based content analysis, examines the range of genres of the reading passages and their generic features in two series of high school English textbooks: Tieng Anh Grade 10, 11, 12 (TA) and Solutions Grade 10, 11, 12 (SG). The results indicated a variety of genres in the textbooks but the spread is uneven, with certain genres being more dominant. The topics were also found to be varied, with the TA series being slightly more suited to Vietnamese students’ immediate needs. The detailed analysis of selected texts showed they all generally displayed many features of the established patterns of the typical genres. Nonetheless, the TA’s repetition of conventional structures in more complex genres might not help sensitize students to real-life authentic texts while the SG’s deviated structure might pose difficulty for some learners. These findings suggest several implications for textbook writers and teachers.

Keywords


Reading passages, genre analysis, textbook evaluation

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References


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