Which approach identifies writing as a social activity with power relations and social conventions?

Which approach identifies writing as a social activity with power relations and social conventions?

• A. Genre approach
• B. Process approach
• C. Coherence
• D. Adverbial

Answer: (A)

Writing is a social activity that unfolds within specific communities, with expectations, norms, and power relations shaping what counts as good writing. The genre approach treats genres as social practices: communities develop recurring patterns for structure, purpose, and stance that encode shared conventions. This view asks you to consider who the audience is, what the writing is supposed to do in that context, and how social dynamics—who has authority, what counts as credible evidence, and what language choices position the writer—shape the text. Because it foregrounds audience, purpose, and social conventions, it sees writing as participation in a discourse community where genres provide the rhythm and rules for communication.

By contrast, the process approach centers on the writer’s internal steps—planning, drafting, revising—emphasizing how writing develops over time rather than how it functions in a social setting. Coherence is about the logical flow and connection of ideas within the text, a concern of structure and clarity rather than social context. Adverbial is a grammatical term referring to modifiers, not a theoretical lens on how writing operates in society.