A Functional Linguistic Perspective On Developing Language

This volume offers a comprehensive account of language development from a Systemic Functional Linguistic (SFL) perspective, integrating theory and data from a wide range of research studies. The book begins by taking an in-depth look at SFL theory and its focus on texts, highlighting the metafunctional nature of language and the ways in which individuals’ repertoires of meaning-making resources develop as they interact with the world and with others. Grounded in an SFL approach, the successive chapters consider in turn the key stages of language development, from infancy to school settings to additional, second, and foreign language learning contexts. Each chapter incorporates a range of SFL studies to demonstrate shifts in language development across these stages, but also the discussion of other functional perspectives to examine the ways in which these different approaches inform one another. A concluding chapter considers the implications of these studies for future research as well as for pedagogical practices in literacy teaching. In its consideration of the relationship between SFL theory and its application to language development, this book will be key reading for students and scholars in Systemic Functional Linguistics, language and education, and literacy studies.

This book is about how language is used in the context of schooling. It demonstrates that the variety of English expected at school differs from the interactional language that students use for social purposes outside of school, and provides a linguistic analysis of the challenges of the school curriculum, particularly for non-native speakers of English, speakers of non-standard dialects, and students who have little exposure to academic language outside of schools. The Language of Schooling: A Functional Linguistics Perspective builds on current sociolinguistic and discourse-analytic studies of language in school, but adds a new dimension--the framework of functional linguistic analysis. This framework focuses not just on the structure of words and sentences, but on how texts are constructed--how particular grammatical choices create meanings in the different kinds of texts students are asked to read and write at school. The Language of Schooling: A Functional Linguistics Perspective *provides a functional description of the kinds of texts students are expected to read and write at school; *relates research from other sociolinguistic and language development perspectives to research from the systemic functional linguistics perspective; *focuses on the increasing linguistic demands of contexts of advanced literacy (middle school through college); *analyzes the genres typically encountered at school, with extensive description of the grammatical features of the expository essay, a gatekeeping genre for secondary school graduates; *reviews the grammatical features of disciplinary genres in science and history; and *argues for more explicit attention to language in teaching all subjects, with a particular focus on what is needed for the development of critical literacy. This book will enable researchers and students of language in education to recognize how the grammatical and discourse features of the language of schooling construct the content areas, role relationships, and purposes and expectations of schools. It also will enable them to better understand the nature of language itself and how it emerges from and helps to maintain social structures and institutions, and to apply these understandings to creating classroom environments that build on the strengths students bring to school.

This book is about how language is used in the context of schooling. It demonstrates that the variety of English expected at school differs from the interactional language that students use for social purposes outside of school, and provides a linguistic analysis of the challenges of the school curriculum, particularly for non-native speakers of English, speakers of non-standard dialects, and students who have little exposure to academic language outside of schools. The Language of Schooling: A Functional Linguistics Perspective builds on current sociolinguistic and discourse-analytic studies of language in school, but adds a new dimension--the framework of functional linguistic analysis. This framework focuses not just on the structure of words and sentences, but on how texts are constructed--how particular grammatical choices create meanings in the different kinds of texts students are asked to read and write at school. The Language of Schooling: A Functional Linguistics Perspective *provides a functional description of the kinds of texts students are expected to read and write at school; *relates research from other sociolinguistic and language development perspectives to research from the systemic functional linguistics perspective; *focuses on the increasing linguistic demands of contexts of advanced literacy (middle school through college); *analyzes the genres typically encountered at school, with extensive description of the grammatical features of the expository essay, a gatekeeping genre for secondary school graduates; *reviews the grammatical features of disciplinary genres in science and history; and *argues for more explicit attention to language in teaching all subjects, with a particular focus on what is needed for the development of critical literacy. This book will enable researchers and students of language in education to recognize how the grammatical and discourse features of the language of schooling construct the content areas, role relationships, and purposes and expectations of schools. It also will enable them to better understand the nature of language itself and how it emerges from and helps to maintain social structures and institutions, and to apply these understandings to creating classroom environments that build on the strengths students bring to school.

This book describes the discourse of biology from a systemic functional linguistic perspective. It offers a detailed description of resources based on text analysis. The description reveals co-textual patterns of language features, their expressions through grammatical resources, as well as their functions in the disciplinary context. The book also applies the description to analyse student texts in undergraduate biology, revealing characteristics of language and knowledge development. Although the discussion in this book focuses on the discourse of biology, both the language description and the descriptive principle can be used to inform the examination of knowledge in academic discourse in general, making this key reading for students and researchers in systemic functional linguistics, discourse analysis, English for academic purposes, applied linguistics, and science education.

Researching Language in Schools and Communities is designed for those who intend to carry out and / or study research in children's language development, teaching English as a second language, children's literature, casual conversation, social class and language variation, classroom discourse, reading processes, teaching writing, literacy and curriculum area learning, critical literacies and related areas. The contributors are among the foremost researchers in these fields. In this book they introduce approaches to help investigate such areas in applied langauge research using systemic functional linguistics (SFL). A key purpose of this text is to facilitate the further engagement of language researchers with SFL perspectives, encouraging more collaborative transdisciplinary work across different fields of study and theoretical approaches in projects of mutual concern. The first two chapters outline the key aspects of SFL descriptions of the relationships between language and social context and the inter-related descriptions of text structures and grammatical systems. This provides sufficient background to enable those coming new to SFL to make productive, critical use of the research reviewed, studies described and advice on project design provided in the following chapters. Nevertheless, the book is an introductory resource and particular attention has been paid throughout to the extensive provision of clear references to more elaborated accounts of the important issues discussed.

"The first edition of this Handbook is built on surveys by well-known figures from around the world and around the intellectual world, reflecting several different theoretical predilections, balancing coverage of enduring questions and important recent work. Those strengths are now enhanced by adding new chapters and thoroughly revising almost all other chapters, partly to reflect ways in which the field has changed in the intervening twenty years, in some places radically. The result is a magnificent volume that can be used for many purposes." David W. Lightfoot, Georgetown University "The Handbook of Linguistics, Second Edition is a stupendous achievement. Aronoff and Rees-Miller have provided overviews of 29 subfields of linguistics, each written by one of the leading researchers in that subfield and each impressively crafted in both style and content. I know of no finer resource for anyone who would wish to be better informed on recent developments in linguistics." Frederick J. Newmeyer, University of Washington, University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University "Linguists, their students, colleagues, family, and friends: anyone interested in the latest findings from a wide array of linguistic subfields will welcome this second updated and expanded edition of The Handbook of Linguistics. Leading scholars provide highly accessible yet substantive introductions to their fields: it's an even more valuable resource than its predecessor." Sally McConnell-Ginet, Cornell University "No handbook or text offers a more comprehensive, contemporary overview of the field of linguistics in the twenty-first century. New and thoroughly updated chapters by prominent scholars on each topic and subfield make this a unique, landmark publication."Walt Wolfram, North Carolina State University This second edition of The Handbook of Linguistics provides an updated and timely overview of the field of linguistics. The editor's broad definition of the field ensures that the book may be read by those seeking a comprehensive introduction to the subject, but with little or no prior knowledge of the area. Building on the popular first edition, The Handbook of Linguistics, Second Edition features new and revised content reflecting advances within the discipline. New chapters expand the already broad coverage of the Handbook to address and take account of key changes within the field in the intervening years. It explores: psycholinguistics, linguistic anthropology and ethnolinguistics, sociolinguistic theory, language variation and second language pedagogy. With contributions from a global team of leading linguists, this comprehensive and accessible volume is the ideal resource for those engaged in study and work within the dynamic field of linguistics.

This book explores the nature of knowledge, language and pedagogy from the perspective of two complementary theories: systemic functional linguistics, and Bernstein-inspired sociology. Bernstein's sociology of knowledge makes a distinction between horizontal and vertical discourses as ways in which knowledge is transmitted in institutional settings, with teachers as agents of symbolic control. Systemic functional linguists have explored educational discourse according to similar hierarchies, and by bringing the two perspectives together this book shows the impact of language on knowledge and pedagogy. The contributors examine the different structures of knowledge and the flow of information within the school context, but also according to language in early childhood, literacy, English, the social sciences, science and mathematics. The result is a progressive and dynamic analysis of knowledge structures at work in educational institutions. Language, Knowledge and Pedagogy makes a major contribution to linguistics, applied linguistics and educational theory. It will be of interest to researchers working in these areas.

This book represents the first collection of studies on Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) which brings together a range of perspectives through which CLIL has been investigated within Applied Linguistics. The book aims to show how the four perspectives of Second Language Acquisition (SLA), Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), Discourse Analysis, and Sociolinguistics highlight different important aspects of CLIL as a context for second language development. Each of the four sections in the book opens with an overview of one of the perspectives written by a leading scholar in the field, and is then followed by three empirical studies which focus on specific aspects of CLIL seen from this perspective. Topics covered include motivation, the use of tasks, pragmatic development, speech functions in spoken interaction, the use of evaluative language in expressing content knowledge in writing, multimodal interaction, assessment for learning, L1 use in the classroom, English-medium instruction in universities, and CLIL teachers’ professional identities.