In Communicative ELT (English Language Teaching), text genre analysis is essential to uncover the social and the cultural basis of language. The notion of genre has largely drawn the attention of many scholars. It is incontestable that a genre-based approach to teaching greatly improves learners’ skills, not only in academic settings, but also in professional scenarios. A genre--oriented approach to language teaching incorporates an understanding that language is purposeful and that structures emerge from use. Additionally, there is an increasing recognition of the relevance of taking into consideration language varieties, text--types, and text genres while designing reading and writing language programs. As Martin (2002) points out, genres have been defined as staged, goal-oriented social processes. In these terms, as a level of context, genres represent “the system of staged goal-oriented social processes through which social subjects in a given culture live their lives”. In ELT, the concept of text genre sheds light on the influence of the context of culture on language. From that viewpoint, every culture structures particular ways of achieving communication goals in a given context through the production of written and oral texts. The fact that English is considered the predominant language for communicating research findings makes it paramount that users of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) develop proficiency in research English across the skills of reading and writing. In order to be part of the scientific community, EFL researchers need to understand “the social processes by which knowledge about reality and the world are made”, that is, they need to be able to understand several genres that are part of academic social practice. Failure to understand written genres as social action may result in instruction that encourages the creation of texts to fit formal requirements, as opposed to the practice of achieving social goals. Technology also plays a role in assisting second/foreign language (L2) writing instruction. The Internet, social networks and digital media may provide EFL learners with greater opportunities for meaningful and authentic language use, which are usually interactive, social and multimodal. Learners can interact with other speakers of the language from different parts of the world, write blogs or create webpages and profiles in social networks and produce both written and oral language with a targeted community of speakers in mind.

(Available: http://www.scielo.br. Adapted.)