Teaching Writing in Rural Thailand: Considering New Perspectives

Abstract

This article reports on a practical writing workshop for Thai teachers of English in a rural Thai setting. The teachers were participants in a Certificate in TEFL course sponsored by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA and taught by the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization, Regional Language Centre (SEAMEO RELC). The genre approach to teaching writing is proposed as a way of helping teachers look beyond structural elements like vocabulary, punctuation, and spelling. The social functions and language choices of three important genres of writing, Description, Anecdote, and News Item, are examined in the article. The principles and practices may be generalizable to similar situations, that is, places where English is taught as a foreign language.