The term ‘genre’ first came into the field of second-language (L2) writing and, in turn, the field of English for specific purposes (ESP) in the 1980s, with the research of John Swales, first carried out in the UK, into the introduction section of research articles. Other important figures in this area are Tony Dudley-Evans, Ann Johns and Ken Hyland, who have argued for the value of genre in the teaching of L2 academic writing. ESP genre analysis is a development of text linguistics and the description of academic genres, moving from a focus on lexicogrammatical features to rhetorical moves and, later, to a focus on rhetorical context (see Swales Reference Swales, Flowerdew and Peacock2001 for a review). Systemic functional genre analysis (typically called the ‘Sydney school’) is a development of research such as that of Longacre (Reference Longacre and Brend1976) and Labov & Waletzky (Reference Labov, Waletzky and Helm1967) and their analyses of the discourse structures of texts. Jim Martin and Joan Rothery are two important figures in the early development of systemic functional genre analysis; their work became the basis for the Disadvantaged Schools Project in Sydney (see Rose & Martin Reference Rose and Martin2012 for a history). As an approach to the teaching of writing, genre-based pedagogy came into prominence in the US, in part as a response to process writing, which, it was felt, did not realistically prepare students for the demands of writing in academic contexts (Horowitz Reference Horowitz1986). Genre-based pedagogy in Australia has a similar history and was a reaction to whole language and process writing, which were dominant in the teaching of writing in Australian schools at the time.

In ESP genre work, genre refers to a class of communicative events, such as academic essays, research articles, theses and dissertations. The discourse structures of texts in ESP genre studies are typically referred to as moves, which may include a number of steps. In systemic functional work, genres are more often described in terms such as descriptions, procedures, recounts or expositions. These micro genres combine with each other to form part of larger texts or macro genres, such as academic essays or research reports. In the US, the work of Carolyn Miller has been especially influential in rhetorical genre studies (see timeline entry, 1984, and Freedman & Medway Reference Freedman and Medway1994; Artemeva Reference Artemeva2008; Artemeva & Freedman Reference Artemeva and Freedman2008) where genres are seen as part of the social processes by which knowledge about reality and the world are made. Genres, in this view, both respond and contribute to the constitution of social contexts, as well as the socialisation of individuals. Miller (1984: 165; see timeline) argues that genres ‘serve as keys to understanding how to participate in the actions of a community’ and that the failure to understand genre as social action turns activities such as writing instruction from ‘what should be a practical art of achieving social ends into an act of making texts that fit formal requirements’, a view that has important implications for genre-based teaching.

In this timeline, I trace the history of genre and genre-based teaching in the area of L2 writing in English in university settings through key work that has been influential in its development. Some of the work I have included is more theoretical, having contributed to the development of ways of thinking about and researching genres, while some is more practical, with a focus on the teaching and learning of academic genres. I apologise, at the outset, for work that has been omitted; the timeline only allows for a limited number of entries, a limit that has been hard to keep to in a field which has seen so much work, by so many, in the past 30 or so years.

There is less reference in this timeline to rhetorical genre studies as this work (mostly) does not focus on L2 writing, although the work of Miller, Berkenkotter & Huckin and Devitt has been included as it has had an impact on ESP L2 writing research and how people in this area view the notion of genre and its pedagogic application. Systemic functional genre work (the ‘Sydney school’) is also included; although its original focus was on writing in schools, it has more recently moved to academic writing as well, as will be seen in the entries in the timeline.

More general reviews of genre and books on the teaching of genres have also been omitted from the timeline, although these will also be of interest to readers. They include Feez (Reference Feez1998), Paltridge (Reference Paltridge2001, Reference Paltridge, Cummins and Davison2007, Reference Paltridge, Paltridge and Starfield2013), Hyland (Reference Hyland2004, Reference Hyland2007, Reference Hyland and Chapelle2013), Tardy (Reference Tardy2006, Reference Tardy, Hyland and Paltridge2011a, Reference Tardy, Belcher, Johns and Paltridge2011b, Reference Tardy2011c), Bawarshi & Reiff (Reference Bawarshi and Reiff2010), Swales (Reference Swales2011) Rose (Reference Rose, Gee and Handford2012) and Rose & Martin (Reference Rose and Martin2012).

The following themes, labelled in the righthand column of the table, are covered in the timeline:

• A Genre theory and analysis

• B The teaching and learning of genres