Chris Anson

Is Writing Overrated?

From an instrumental perspective, the production of writing is dwarfed by its consumption: one person or a small team can write instructions for assembling a piece of furniture that thousands of consumers read at the point of assembly. A single writer can create a report of a significant event that reaches a mass audience. Far more books are read than are written. In the context of this imbalance, have academics elevated writing, and its teaching, beyond the pragmatic needs of readers? Do we need so many writers, especially as generative AI takes greater control of text production? This presentation will explore the myths and the realities informing the value of writing.

Chris M. Anson is Distinguished University Professor of English at North Carolina State University and former director of its Campus Writing and Speaking Program. A leading scholar in writing studies, he has authored 19 books and more than 150 articles. Anson has held national leadership roles and delivered hundreds of invited talks worldwide, earning numerous awards for research, teaching, and contributions to writing education.

Oana Maria Carciu

Genre Networks: A Generative Myth? Towards a Genre Interconnections Perspective in Research and Teaching

Genre network theory (GNT, Pérez-Llantada, 2025) proposes that in digital environments, academic genres operate as interconnected nodes in complex, adaptive systems, rather than as isolated text types. This talk suggests that ‘genre network” is a generative myth for EAP: a conceptual framework that enables a holistic account of genre-base academic and research communication in the digital age.

This talk proceeds in three parts. First, I review scholarship on genre research and teaching, tracing the shift from single-genre analysis toward a networked-oriented perspective. Second, I present findings from a recent corpus study of add-on genres accompanying the research article: impact statements and plain language summaries. I examine how linguistic resources are redistributed and reorganized in the network to address different audiences, and I address the methodological challenges specific to working with networked rather than single genres (e.g. corpus compilation online, representativity, balance, among others). Third, I discuss the implications of a genre network perspective for EAP practice. Reframing genre pedagogy around interconnected genres requires developing academic writers’ capacity to craft, navigate and respond to genre networks rather than master isolated genres through a genre network awareness raising approach.

Reference:

Pérez-Llantada, C. (2025). Tackling complexity. Genre interactions in digital media environments. Journal of English for Research Publication Purposes 6(1), pp. 146-168.

Oana Maria Carciu is Lecturer in ESP at the University of Zaragoza, Spain. Her research interests include English for Academic Purposes, identity in academic writing and interculturality, digital genres and genre pedagogy, corpus linguistics. She has co-edited the volume Digital genres for professional and academic communication. Mapping research and practice (with Rosana Villares, Routledge, 2026).