Genre-based strategies for integrating critical and creative thinking in Engineering and Journalism

Abstract

In this paper we propose genre-based strategies for integrating two key lifelong competencies, critical and creative thinking, in Engineering and Journalism. In both disciplines there is a need to apply professional expertise in various contexts and to communicate with different audiences. Drawing on previous studies, we sketch a basic needs analysis in these professional fields, point to major learning obstacles, and provide guidelines for collaboration between language and content teachers in English-medium instruction settings. In such collaboration, genre is simultaneously the hub, the framing structure, and the shared middle ground between content and form and even between disparate disciplines. Our goal is an integrative pedagogy that merges the acquisition of disciplinary content and procedures with the practice of ‘soft skills’ and the ability to transform and interrelate knowledge. Our contention for both Engineering and Journalism is that by allowing students to understand genres and explore their potential, we can provide them with learning experiences in which critical thinking and creativity are engaged.