Week 4 SFL and Language teaching

A theory of SFL is based on a functional view of language that focuses on the analysis of authentic products of social interaction (texts:written and oral), considered in relation to the cultural and social context in which they are negotiated.

Context concerns the Field (the subject matter, and the topic being spoken/written about), Tenor (the social roles and relationships between the participants), and Mode (the type of the text that is being made) (Burns and Knox, 2005)/

Metafunctions of language is divided into three components:

Ideational Metafunction: the propositional content, "Field" is expreseed through ideational grammar.

Interpersonal Metafunction: concerned with exchange structure, expression of attitude, "Tenor" is expressed through interpersonal grammar.

Textual Metafunction: how the text is structured as a message, "Mode" is expressed through textual grammar.

SFL involves learning how to use the language in a way that makes sense to other people who speak the language.

To me, SFL seems a bit hard to manage for teachers who do not have many teaching experiences. For example, it may have difficulties linking text and grammar in practice. In fact, most of prescribed books are designed based on traditional grammar, rather that SFL.

Reference

Burns, A. & Knox, J. (2005). Realisation(s); Systematic-functional linguistics and the language classroom. In N.Bartels (ed), Applied linguistics and language teacher education, pp.235-259. New York: Kluwer Academic.