Compare and Contrast PRODUCT,

PROCESS & GENRE approach.

Product Approach

The main focus was put on sentence structures as a support for the
grammar class.
Is used to highlight form and syntax and the emphasis was on rhetorical
drills (Silva, 1990)
Students are normally told to write an essay imitating a given pattern.
It focuses on the written product rather than on how the students should
approach or see the process of the writing.
It is a teacher-centered as teachers become the arbiter of the models
used (Brakus, 2003).

Strengths Weaknesses
Enhances students' writing
It is considered as the current

proficiency. traditional rhetoric (Matsuda 2003).

Not only for imitation but also for It devalues the learners' potential.
exploration and analysis

Process Approach

It focuses on how a text is written instead of the final outcome.

Has a major impact on understanding the nature of writing and the way
writing is taught (Hyland, 2003).
It emphasises the importance of a recursive procedure of pre-writing,
drafting, evaluating, and revising.
Involves introducing techniques that help students discover and get into
the topic.
Teachers has a role of facilitators.

Strengths Weaknesses
Discussion and feedback from readers
Ignores the issues of register and

would help learners revise the drafts. careful argumentation, and in

promoting the author's purposes

while minimising understandinhgs of

role, audience, community.

Genre Approach

It considers writing as predominantly linguistic.

Places a greater emphasis on the social context in which writing is
produced.
Considers that writing pedagogies should offer students explicit and
systematic explanations of the way language functions in social contexts
(Hyland, 2003).
Involving investigating the texts, and contexts of students target
situations, encouraging reflection on writing practices, exploiting texts
from different types of genre, and creating mixed genre portfolios.

Strength(s) Weaknesses
Emphasises on the interactive Teachers are actually not helping the
collaboration between teacher and students as students are not able to
student. express their own ideas or may be too
dependent on the teacher.
 Do you think the eclectic approach - process-genre

approach as proposed by the author is more practical/

effective in improving the teaching of writing? why?

Can this approach be applied in the context of teaching

young learners?

What is the eclectic approach in writing?

It is the writing that involves knowledge about language (as in product and

genre approaches), knowledge of the context in which writing happens and

especially the purpose for the writing (as in genre approaches), and skills in

using language (as in process approaches)

Practicality?

In the classroom, teachers need to replicate the exampled situation (genre) and

then provide sufficient support for learners to identify the purpose and other

aspects of the social context.

Students will be able to draw on their knowledge (vocabulary, grammar,

organization, etc).
Students will be able to redraft, proofread and revise their work before

finalizing their end product

This helps in student's long term improvement.

Application on the teaching of writing

Students should be allowed to see how texts were written differently,

according to their purpose, audience, and message in the classroom.

Students should be able to go through a process of multiple drafts instead of

turning in a finished product right away.

Teachers must provide responses to the ideas or feelings that students are

trying to express through writing.

Teachers, as assistants, assist learners by making their writing
more effective in terms of choosing the correct genre, determining the

purpose, and using adequate language.

As evaluators, teachers give their comments on the learners’ strength,

weaknesses, and overall performance, in order to assist them write efficiently

in the future.