The present paper puts under examination the effects of Genre Based Approach (GBA) on 9th grade students from a city in the Caribbean coast of Colombia. The purpose of the study is to analyze how GBA affects reading comprehension and writing by comparing the students' results before and after the execution of the approach. GBA was implemented in six sessions using instruments for data collection that included tests, questionnaires and interviews. The genres selected for the study were anecdotes and recounts, which are the type of texts used in the English section of national exams in Colombia. The overall findings show that students' reading comprehension, writing, motivation and autonomy improved after the implementation of GBA; as a result, the students were able to understand, explain and recreate the genres that were part of the study.