Building Genre Knowledge - Christine Tardy Second Language Writing

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in part by the discussions themselves, as they listened to the reactions of others. As I later traced the writers’ cover letter practices, the classroom discussion re-emerged in interesting ways through both their texts and their comments, as I shall illustrate in the next section.

      Cover Letter Knowledge Building: Four Cases

      Each of the four writers experienced the résumé/cover letter assignment uniquely, according to their own prior experience and immediate needs. In order to best capture some of these distinctions, I describe their experiences individually, beginning with Chatri and then Yoshi, the two writers who made no use of the cover letter genre outside of the classroom. Next, I describe John’s experience, which included a very immediate need to write a “request cover letter” during the semester he was enrolled in WCGS. Finally, I provide a more detailed description of Paul’s experiences, over a six-month period in which the cover letter became an increasingly important and more high-stakes genre for him.

      Chatri: Writing Text, Forming Preferences

      Of the four writers, Chatri seemed to be the least immediately invested in the cover letter. Because he already held a stable RA position and was obliged to return to a Thai university upon completion of his PhD, he did not foresee any immediate situations in which he would write such a letter. Again, Chatri had not heard of a cover letter before WCGS, but after the class sessions in this unit had finished, he was able to give a very general description of the use and rhetorical goal of the genre, describing it as a letter that covers a résumé and introduces a candidate. He had also developed some understanding of the letter as a linked genre. He distinguished the résumé and cover letter in terms of the work they required of the reader, explaining that the reader must infer meaning from a résumé, but the writer does this task for the reader in a cover letter. The letter that Chatri composed for WCGS was written in response to a year-old job posting on Honda’s website. In his conference with Michele, he explained that he could not actually apply for the position, and that it was “just for the class” (Conference #3, October 2, 2002).

      In the relatively short space of time in which the class focused on cover letters, Chatri developed an awareness of what kind of subject matter should be included and in what order. He described it as something like a template:

      Okay, the format is the first paragraph should be introduce myself, I’m a student, or what I want, why I write the letter. Just only I think three sentence is okay. And then the next paragraph is try to tell about my experience or tell that why my qualification is okay for this position. Actually, this can try from the CV, but I think just write only short paragraph to tell about me. And then the ending paragraph is just, I think it’s typical that, “Okay, I feel that your company is really good. I hope that you will accept me.” Or something like that. (October 2, 2002)

      After writing his first draft, but before receiving feedback on it, Chatri was still unsure about some of the genre’s conventions of form. For example, he didn’t know the meaning of “enclosure” written at the bottom of the page or whether he should include his signature in the space between “Yours sincerely” and his printed name. Chatri also did not know whether to introduce himself by name in the first sentence. With this issue he differentiated between a paper-based cover letter, in which he thought it was appropriate to begin by stating his name, and an electronic cover letter, in which he thought he should not include this information. Chatri’s questions here give a sense that he is still trying to make sense of the genre as it is used for real purposes. Without any experience reading or writing cover letters to actually obtain a job, he can only make guesses at this point about the appropriacy of various formal conventions.

      In discussing some of the sample texts distributed in WCGS, Chatri illustrated his emerging rhetorical understanding, including the roles that readers and writers may play when encountering the genre. For example, he commented on one sentence from a sample cover letter that he felt was inappropriate and may anger the reader: I will follow up next week by phone to see if we can set up an interview.

      Chatri: I don’t think it’s suitable. I think that he [is trying to] convince someone to meet this guy, “Okay, I will call you to ask about the result of my application.” Because I think it’s- [if] someone don’t interest this guy, he just ignore, not contact, and that’s it.

      Chris: So you wouldn’t do that?

      Chatri: I will not do it! [laughing] Sometime I think it will make this guy angry, I think. (October 10, 2002)

      He also ventured some guesses regarding the reading practices surrounding the genre. He felt that as an employer, he would likely read only the first paragraph of the letter to look for key information:

      Everyone knows that the [cover letter] is just an introduction, and what’s important is CV. Because it’s easier to look in the CV. We don’t have to read the sentence, just, “Okay, PhD, okay, from this school, master from this school. What’s the work experience? And how many publications, and which publications?” And for my case, I would read only this. (October 2, 2002)

      Chatri’s reading practices, as he described them to me, may not be typical. In some contexts—such as academic job searches—the cover letter may be quite important to readers; however, what Chatri illustrates here is a growing awareness of how the CV and cover letter genres work together and how they may be read for a given purpose. His description above also reflects some of his own values about what is important in judging a candidate’s qualifications. For example, it may be notable that Chatri did not refer to the cover letter’s role as a writing sample or a glimpse into the character of the job candidate. At this point, he seemed to view the cover letter primarily as a functional document that helped guide the reader through the CV.

      During the three-week class unit on résumés and cover letters, then, Chatri was just beginning to form an understanding of the genre. He had developed a template-like awareness of the form and content, preferences for some forms over others, and some nascent knowledge of the procedural practices around the genre. However, he focused very little on rhetorical context when discussing the cover letter with me or Michele, and he did not distinguish between academic and business cover letters as he had with the CV/résumé. Neither did he focus heavily on the intended action of the cover letter—that is, self-promotion. While Chatri seemed to have this overarching purpose in mind, he lacked an urgent need to shape his letter to a specific audience for a specific position. Because this assignment constituted Chatri’s first exposure to the genre, it is likely that he would extend his knowledge through subsequent exposures and practices.

      As Chatri developed his understanding of cover letters, classroom activities in WCGS played an important role. Because he had not encountered cover letters previously and did not seek information about them outside of class, the discussions and texts from WCGS served as his primary resource for knowledge development of this genre. Although some of this knowledge may have been developed by applying his knowledge of other genres (like résumés), WCGS provided an opportunity for him to make these connections. Through classroom discussion and activities, Chatri learned a basic structure for a cover letter and developed a sense of readers’ reactions to different writing styles and approaches to the genre, thus helping him to develop some knowledge of the genre’s form, rhetorical strategies, content, and procedural practices.

      By far Chatri’s most important strategy for learning about cover letters, though, was the use of sample texts. Chatri explained that he referred to the samples from class to determine the format of his first draft. He said the most difficult parts to write were the opening and closing paragraphs; to facilitate this challenge, he referred to two sample letters, borrowing their discursive structures as well as specific textual fragments. Figure 3.3 illustrates the extent of Chatri’s textual borrowing in his opening paragraph, with the underlined sentences adapted from a sample cover letter for a job in industry. The overall structure of the two texts is identical, and many of Chatri’s sentences can be traced directly to the sample letter.

Sample Cover Letter from WCGSI am a PhD candidate in Biomedical Engineering (degree anticipated June 1999). I am writing in response to the Biomaterials Engineering position posted on your company’s web site. I understand that you seek a candidate who has experience prototyping of an implantable drug delivery device, as well as with

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