The View of Systemic Functional Linguistics in EFL/ESL Classroom

When we mention the definition of genre， its three views： SFL， The New Rhetoric and ESP will be inevitably referred to. But it is obvious that in EFL/ESL class， for children learning English and ELLs whose first language is not English， they are always required to read and write about unfamiliar topics in class. They will experience the process from intrapersonal to interpersonal activities to achieve the goal of internalization. During the period， they have to experience the grammar and language learning. From this， Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistics （SFL） can support teachers and linguistically diverse students as they negotiate the language demands of Schooling.

For my own experience， I always focus on grammar construction in class， but it achieves a few. From an SFL perspective， grammar is not understood as a set of decontextualized rules teachers should drill and practice as a way of teaching students to use language “correctly” or “properly”. Grammar as a dynamic system of linguistic choices that students learn to use to accomplish a wide variety of social， academic， and political goals in and out of school（Cope& Kalantzis， 1993）.

Due to my former teaching experience， it seems that I am prone to go to extremes， I get used to two approaches in my class， activity-oriented design and coverage， an approach in which students march through a textbook， page by page （or teachers through lecture notes） in a valiant attempt to traverse all the factual material within a prescribed time （Grant Wiggins& Jay McTighe， 2006）. The former one easily makes students focus on the participation of the activities， but ignore the intelligence purpose. The latter one is a prevalent problem existing in high school in China. When content is “covered”， the students is led through unending facts， ideas， and readings with little or no sense of the overarching ideas， issues， and learning goals that might inform study（Grant Wiggins& Jay McTighe， 2006）.

For these problems existing in teaching， we do need a new approach to solve them. Traditional approach toward teaching focuses on the linguistic diversion， which emphasizes the knowledge of linguistic facts and textual conventions， but ignores its sociocultural dimensions. However， SFL， as a rich and sophisticated methodology has developed to provide both first and second language learners with access to socially valued genres through an explicit grammar of linguistic choices （Hyland， 2004）. SFL takes the view that a set of systems for creating meanings in social contexts is far wider than most linguistic theories as it is concerned with the ways we use language as a resource for communication rather than with rules for ordering grammatical forms （Hyland， 2004， p.25）.

Therefore， for genres in SFL are the rhetorical structures fundamental to various forms of communication in a culture. As EFL/ESL teacher， if we take the SFL view of genre in our class， helping students set themselves in certain social context. Then the class instruction will go far， the interrelationships between language and culture can be deepened.

一、Register

Texts are seen as being connected to particular contexts at two levels： register and genre. In our class， we deliver our teacher’s discourse to students， which will be different from our daily discourse. In class， students create a text they first make choices in register along three broad dimensions： field， tenor， mode（Hyland， 2004， p. 26）. If the student chooses the scientific field， the text will contain predicable features of lexis and grammar.

Thus， when we language teachers teach writing， the task of writing will be set the mode（written， spoken， etc.）， the field（a certain vocabulary）， and tenor（the teacher is likely to be the only reader）. Under certain social context， the student needs to make a genre choice to construct his/her own essay. As teachers， we need guide the students by using genre-based approach to help them recognize that different types of texts are distinguished by different pattern of words， sentence structure， and grammars.

二、Context of culture& Context of situation：

The notion of context refers not only to a physical place where the genre is found， such as an office or classroom， but to various non-linguistic factors and events influencing the writer （Hyland， 2004， p. 77）.

Personally， in my second language reading and writing， I will help students recognize the text functions under the cultural context， for reading the isolated text is not enough. They should read and write texts as an instance of human activities. Meanwhile， there are also some physical and emotional factors may affect environment， such as their attitude to the topic， the time and space they occupy while writing， the degree of stress created by the situation， and the kinds of resources available （Hyland， 2004）. All these non-linguistic factors may make some difference to students. So the cultural context still makes an important role in the writing process.

In term of the cultural context， we should not neglect the importance of students’ cultural backgrounds， and we need to discover the learners as much as possible. All the information about students， such as age， family background and etc. will be important components supporting the teacher to analyze the present and target situations.

Present situation analysis refers to information about learners’ current abilities， their familiarity with writing process and written genres， their skills and perception （Hyland， 2004， p.95）. In my own context， before I deliver the writing task to students， I need to ensure my course can operate successfully in the local context， taking students’ cultural contexts for granted. The writing course set should fit for the students’ levels. Meanwhile the writing course should correspond to target situation located in its immediate environment.

The target situation analysis thus concerns the learner’s future roles and the linguistic skill and knowledge required to perform competently in writing in this context （Hyland， 2004， p.95）.Under this context of situation， teacher should guide the student in a proper way， and students need to set their immediate context which can comply with their need. In this context， teachers can assist students to collect the product-oriented data， identify the contexts of language use， and observe the language events in these contexts （Hyland， 2004， p.96）.

三、Conclusion

In EFL/ESL classroom， we teachers can teach students under different contexts complying with their own needs. More， teacher can guide student to make their choices on text types， taking students’ proficiency for granted. Considering the close collaboration among teachers， learners， and institutions， language teachers can set their own goals under students’ present and target situation.

For me， I need to know under the pressure of high-staked examination in China， it is still a long journey for me to think about how to set up my goal to fit for the students’ target situation under cultural contexts.

Reference：

[1]Cope， B.， &Kalantzis， M. （1993）. The powers of literacy： A genre approach to teaching writing. Pittsburgh： University of Pittsburgh Press.

[2]Wiggins， G. & McTighe， J. （2006）. Understanding by design. Upper Saddle River， New Jersey： Pearson Education， Inc.

作者简介：

谢果（1985.12.23～）， 女， 现就读于美国麻省州立大学阿姆斯特分校， 硕士，专业方向： Language， Literacy and Culture Concentration。