A study of genre based pedagogy to develop pre-cadets’ critical writing skill through exposition genre

This study reports on the investigation of generic structure (organisation) and clause complexes (language use) in selected exposition essays written by pre-cadets at a military school in the 2020 academic year. The exposition genre writing tests were applied as the main data collection in this study. The purpose of the study is to compare and contrast their writing before and after SFL genre-based instruction. The study employed a pre- and post-test essay, writing assignment, questionnaires and reflective journals to explore students’ development and learning satisfaction with the instruction. The detailed analysis of sample of essays compared to pre-test essays showed that pre- cadets could write their post-test exposition essays more clearly than their pre-test essays due to the fact that their post-test essay included all of the basic elements of exposition genre mentioned in the literature (orientation,preview, thesis, statement of position,arguments, point elaboration restatement and reiteration). The clause complexes in students’ essays were categorised based on their interdependent and logico-semantic relationship. In regard to the interdependent relationship, the clause complexes were categorised in parataxis and hypotaxis. The projection (locution and idea) and expansion (elaboration, extension and enhancement) were analysed according to the logico-semantic relationship. The findings showed that various mixed-typed clauses were mostly found in high proficiency learners whereas the extension parataxis were the dominant clauses in low proficiency learners. Interestingly, critical thinking skill was developed during SFL genre-based instruction according to students’ journals. SFL genre-based instruction has provided them with more opportunities to analyse texts, construct an argument and join clauses in a logical relationship. Therefore, it is possible to implement critical genre-based in EFL educational contexts. Furthermore, students had positive attitudes towards SFL genre-based instruction. The study suggested that it is beneficial for students to apply linguistic resources and understand typical generic structure as mentioned in Systemic Functional Linguistics to develop their critical writing ability.