Applying Genre – Based Approach to Teaching Descriptive Writing on Online Learning

Abstract

This study concerns the implementation of the Genre Based Approach (GBA) in teaching English as an approach to improve students’ writing skill, especially in Descriptive writing in online learning. Therefore, this study was offered to analyze the teacher’s way in applying the GBA in teaching writing of a Descriptive Text in online learning and to find out whether the GBA can lead to students’ improvement in writing skill in online learning. The study employed a qualitative research design, embracing characteristic of a case study. The data were obtained from thirty six students of social classes of MAN Insan Cendekia Serpong. The data was conducted by classroom observation, interview, and collection of students’ texts which were analyzed using Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL). Despite some limitations, the findings revealed that the teacher succeeded in applying the GBA based on the stages suggested by the GBA theorists and improving students’ writing skill. The students learned to write at greater length, with a clear schematic structure and appropriate linguistic features, indicating students’ improvement in constructing the text organization. Linguistically the text produced by the students were much better than their previous writing. For practical purposes, it is recommended that English teachers apply the GBA in variety of contents especially in writing class. It is also suggested that further research be run in larger classes with other text types in order to get more comprehensive picture of the implementation of the GBA in teaching writing.