The place of genre analysis in international communication

Writing is most probably the most difficult skill for ESL/EFL learners to master. It is difficult not only because it requires junior writers to generate and organize ideas in a language other than their mother tongue but also because it forces them to present their already generated and organized ideas in such a text form that is understandable to readers from a wide range of socio-cultural backgrounds as well as to the native speakers of English. Therefore, the question of how to teach writing in a second/foreign language has been at the center of attention for a good number of researchers and educators over the past decades. Attempts at determining how to teach writing, and what to teach in writing courses, have resulted in the development of teaching methods, materials, and procedures which are based on an analysis of different genres, and the quest is still going on. This paper provides a brief overview of genre analysis, discusses the notions of Genre Constellations, Genre hierarchies, Genre chains, Genre Sets, Genre Networks, and Subgenres, and elaborates on the relationship of genre analysis to international communication.