Longitudinal Study of EFL Students Using the Systemic Functional Linguistics Method (original) (raw)
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Modern Journal of Studies in English Language Teaching and Literature
Many Japanese university students' English writing skills are insufficient despite completing at least six years of English language instruction before entering university. Several researchers have explored this topic. A corpus-based approach to this field, for example, has improved the understanding of the writing skills of learners of English. In Japan, the recent developments in corpus linguistics have enabled instructors and researchers to analyze English linguistic features written by Japanese EFL learners. For example, Mizusawa (2015) referred to the Japanese EFL learner Corpus, a collection of junior high and high school students' English essays, to investigate the linguistic features, such as lexical density, grammatical intricacy, and semantic variations framed by systemic functional linguistics (SFL). This paper aimed to examine English academic writings written by 38 Japanese university students. Their writings were analyzed in terms of lexical density and semanti...
Teaching L2 Writing through the Use of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL)
Indonesian Journal of English Language Teaching (IJELT), 2018
Systemic functional linguistics along with genre has been applied in Indonesia since the implementation of the 2006 English curriculum. This paper explores how systemic functional linguistics (SFL) of the textual grammar of message, hereafter Textual Meaning, helps the students enhance their critical response to text they created. To put ideas into a written form is something that students feel so difficult. Moreover, they have to give a response to text they read or write critically. As Halliday suggested that textual meaning gives students’ ideas how to develop their texts not only of its content but also its coherence. According to Hammond et.al (1992) SFL has a number of tenets that make it particularly useful as a basis for developing literacy programs. This theory has been used by many linguists to analyze variety of texts through the use of context of situation and one of them is textual meaning/grammar. The idea of textual grammar including thematic progression and cohesion not only assists the students but also potential readers and writers to build their critical skill and to evaluate their own works. The data of this study were gained from twenty students’ hortatory texts where students were given a certain topic to write. In analyzing the data, the researcher applied a framework of textual meaning proposed by Butt (2000). Meanwhile, the findings of this study show that most students could edit their own writings or others using thematic progression and cohesive devices. In addition, they can make a clear information flow which is created a coherent text by employing both of them. Moreover, by applying them, the students also can share and develop their critical response to the topic given through its theme and thematic displayed in the text critically.
2013
Teaching Writing Informed by SFL: “I never would have thought of doing that...” Tracy Hodgson-Drysdale Dissertation Director: Maria Estela Brisk Writing is an essential tool for creating meaningful communication and as such it must be taught beginning in elementary school. Although in the past 100 years writing has become more common in our everyday lives, methods of teaching writing and teacher education have not kept pace with changes (National Commission on Writing, 2003). As a result, teachers are underprepared to teach writing and do not teach it enough (Gilbert & Graham, 2010). The goal of this study is to understand how teacher-researcher relationships can facilitate the development of a teacher’s knowledge of the theoretical foundations of teaching writing through systemic functional linguistics (SFL) and the teaching and learning cycle (TLC), and how that understanding affects the implementation of meaningful writing instruction that supports bilingual students as they
A Systemic Functional Linguistics-based Analysis of Students’ Problems in Writing Exposition Text
Proceedings of the Eleventh Conference on Applied Linguistics (CONAPLIN 2018), 2019
Among various texts taught in secondary schools, exposition text is considered one of the most challenging texts to be learned by students. Informed by Systemic Functional Linguistic theory, this study seeks to investigate what problems encountered by students in writing exposition. To achieve that, a sample of students' writing therefore was purposively taken to be analyzed using SFL Framework. The results of the analysis identified several challenges encountered by students in writing exposition text including the use of impersonal pronoun to create more objective feeling and attitude toward the issue being discussed and the use of proper structure to show plurality. In term of textual metafunction analysis, the challenges are in the form of the use of proper conjunctions (including internal and causal conjunction) to create strong connections between clause and the proper organization of Theme-Rheme in thematic progression.
A Genre-Based Approach to Writing Instruction in EFL Classroom Contexts
This study explored how 14 foreign-language writers at a university in Japan changed their genre awareness of discussion genre texts (particularly argumentative essays) during a 15-week systemic functional linguistics course consisting of text-based writing lessons assigned as part of a teaching and learning cycle. To obtain in-depth quantitative and qualitative insights into changes in the students' awareness of genre and writing skills, pre-and post-surveys and self-reflection written texts were administered and analyzed. Twelve previously proposed criteria (covering generic structure, lexicogrammar, and multidimensional analyses of attitudes and performance) were used to analyze the self-reflection texts. The preliminary results showed that the students' understanding of generic structure and lexicogrammar improved, especially their comprehension of the second and third paragraphs of the target genre text. The preliminary results of the correlation analysis illustrated that the increased understanding of lexicogrammatical features, such as textual meaning, interpersonal meaning, and experiential meaning, was related to their self-efficacy and confidence in their writing skills. The preliminary analysis results indicated that that applying a teaching and learning cycle and a genre-based approach to writing instruction has the potential to enhance EFL students' awareness of generic structure and interpersonal meaning in writing argumentative essays.
TEFLIN Journal - A publication on the teaching and learning of English, 2015
This article reports on the results of a study aiming to investigate whether systemic functional linguistic genre pedagogy (SFL GP) can help students develop their writing ability in English and the students' opinions about the teaching program using SFL GP. The study was conducted in one semester with 19 student teachers taking a writing course on argumentative texts, in the English Department at a state university in West Java, Indonesia. The texts in focus were Exposition, Discussion and Response to Literary Works, but in the interests of space, the article will centre around Exposition. The study used a qualitative case study research design with data collected from participant observations for 16 meetings, analysis of students' texts collected over the program, and questionnaires distributed at the conclusion of the program. The results indicate that despite some aspects that still need improvement, SFL GP can generally help students develop their writing ability. Observation data show students' writing skill improvement supported by students' texts which depicts good control of the schematic structure and linguistic features of the texts in focus. Finally, questionnaire data reveal students' consciousness of improved writing skill and positive responses to each activity in the program. Based on the results of the study, it is recommended that SFL GP be implemented in other contexts in Indonesia and other countries.
2017
Xiaodong ZHANG, Beijing Foreign Studies University, China This paper explores how the interpersonal constructs (i.e., appraisal system, speech function) of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) afford the analysis of one novice Chinese English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) teacher's writing beliefs and practices. Specifically, by analyzing the Chinese EFL teacher's writing belief discourse and teaching discourse (obtained, respectively, through interviews and observations), the study shows how the Chinese EFL teacher's beliefs about the importance of linguistic form and text flow in writing were mapped to his writing instruction. The discourse analysis also demonstrates that the EFL teacher's writing-belief discourse and classroom discourse are both contextually shaped by his schooling exposure and self-agency, while his teaching practices were further conditioned by his students' English proficiency and shyness. The study concludes, that, firstly, the Chinese EFL teacher's writing practices arise (albeit indirectly) through his beliefs, and that, secondly, SFL offers a useful framework for discursive exploration of teachers' beliefs and practices. The study suggests the role of effective self-agency and teacher education in reshaping teachers' beliefs so that they can better act upon their beliefs when offering writing instruction.
2021
Guided writing instruction is a widely used scaffolding strategy. Nevertheless, most of the Mandarin as a Foreign Language (MFL) students have struggled with their guided writing essays. All the information in the guided writing essay is presented in the form of keywords. Initially, the students were still unsure what to write about using the keywords provided and they were unsure where to begin writing, especially in an online MFL course. This study aims to investigate the adapted Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) writing approach to guided writing instruction in an online MFL communicative course. Whiteboard.fi is used as an online tool to guide the students throughout the writing process. The SFL writing approach includes three categories of language aspects relevant to meaning-making that are organised step by step: ideational, interpersonal, and textual. A single group experimental design was used for the pre-test and post-test. This study includes twenty MFL students from ...
Incorporating Systemic Functional Linguistics in the Unlock English Teaching Program
International Journal on Studies in Education (IJonSE), 2020
This research attempts to develop a supplementary writing teaching method that is compatible with the Unlock intermediate level students at Birzeit University. The purpose of the study is to also provide writing instruction regarding four general writing needs and for such students: understanding genre, using clause and sentence structure for chosen text types, developing a sense of audience, and writing coherently. The study is based on the framework of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), and the writing instruction is provided through two teaching methodologies, Joint Construction and the Logical Tree. The sample of this study is 54 intermediate-level students of the Unlock program, 27 of whom comprised the control group, the remaining 27, the experimental group. Frequency tables were utilized to calculate the sum of the cohesive and structural devices used. Overall, the results revealed more use of the measured variables in the experimental group than in the control. In the experimental group, devices of nominalization, contrast, addition, reason, register, and voice were used 115, 34, 27, 49, 92, and 27 times, respectively. However, in the control group, the same devices were used 58, 19, 11, 19, 35, and 12 times, respectively. The researcher recommends further research be conducted on larger samples of different levels of English proficiency in order to identify additional needs and provide a more representative assessment.