Abstract

Increasing global migration has led to a growing number of students learning school subjects through a second language, which raises concerns about educational equity, particularly in socioeconomically disadvantaged contexts. In response, language-focused pedagogical approaches across the curriculum have gained attention, emphasising language as central to subject learning. Genre pedagogy is one such approach, aiming to make the language demands of school subjects explicit through attention to subject- and genre-specific linguistic resources. Previous research presents mixed findings, suggesting that while genre pedagogy holds potential for supporting students’ literacy development, embedding the approach in practice may be challenging. This points to a need for greater insight into how teachers understand and engage with genre pedagogy when it is implemented across subjects at a whole-school level. This case study examines teachers’ perspectives on implementing genre pedagogy as a language-focused pedagogical approach across the curriculum. It is situated in a comprehensive school in Sweden with a history of low school results, serving a linguistically and socioeconomically diverse student population, where the language of instruction is a second language for the majority of students. Genre pedagogy was introduced to enhance student learning through explicit subject- and genre-specific language instruction. Drawing on survey data collected at two points in time and focus group interviews, the study explores teachers’ beliefs, interpretations, and reflections on genre pedagogy and its implementation. The findings show that most teachers perceived genre pedagogy as beneficial for students’ literacy development, particularly in relation to text structure, vocabulary, and overall language proficiency. However, teachers often associated genre pedagogy primarily with writing, and implementation varied considerably. Many reported selectively implementing elements of genre pedagogy that they considered feasible within their subject areas and existing practices. The study highlights the complexity of implementing genre pedagogy across the curriculum and underscores the importance of sustained professional development and organisational support in linguistically diverse school contexts.  

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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.