PORTFOLIO #8: SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL LINGUISTICS IN THE EFL CLASS

What is SFL? 
Developed by Michael Halliday in 1980s. SFL is a descriptive and interpretive framework for viewing language as a strategic, meaning making resource.

• Explores how people use language in different contexts and how language is structured as a semiotic system
• provides the tools to analyze written and spoken texts with particular attention given to the context in which they are produce. 

Why use SFL in the classroom?
Content area teachers are increasingly finding themselves working with students whose native language is not English.
ELLs struggle academically:

• lack of empathy for ELLs
• Content area teachers believe it's not their responsability
• Misconceptions about second language acquisition

ELLs are often inadequately accommodated and risk exclusion. Teachers often..

• ... take the language of instruction for granted
• ... don't have specific training
• ... don't reflect about teaching methods, or the academic language

SFL accommodates ELLs by

• ... providing metalanguage (language about language)
• ... helping determine how writers create meaning in texts.

ELL accommodation is a political issue

• English as International Language (EIL)
• Poor academic performance limits future job opportunities

"In the absence of an explicit focus on language, students from certain social class backgrounds continue to be privileged and others to be disadvantaged in learning, assessment, and promotion, perpetuating the obvious inequalities that exist today" (Schleppegrell, 2004, p. 3)

Introduction to SFL theory - Context
- Represents all the potential ways we can use language to exchange meaning in socially recognizable ways
- Serves as a virtual catalog of genres that we can choose from to accomplish taks with language ina particular culture
- Discourse communities are created when large number of language users construct interprete and use oral and written language in agreed-upon and socially recognizable ways.
The second context of SFL theory register has three sub variables:
Field: Comprised of processes participants and circumstances (what is happening)
Tenor: Comprised of modality and mood (who is participating)
Mode: Comprised of written or spoken (medium of the text)

Register: Certain recognizable configurations of linguistic resources in contexts
Correspond to metafunctions.
These variables can be broken down into many linguistic realizations:
Field is often demonstrated when presenting one's ideas and it is established through ideational choices made by the speaker.
Tenor meanwhile is demonstrated when the speaker chooses to take a stance on an issue, observe mostly through the mood of the dialogue and the intonation of the speaker as well as the speaker's relationship to the audience or other participants.
Mode essentially how a text is structured according to its medium, includes cohesive devices transitions and thematic organization which varies largely according to whether the text is written or spoken.

SFL Theory - Culture, genre
- Register plus communicative purpose
- More focused than register
- Genre deploys the resources of register in particular patterns to achieve certain communicative goals
- Genre is effectively the function of language, of a particular discourse or text

SFL theory in the ELL classroom 
Context applies when students read, write and speak.
Reading
-Who wrote the text?
- When was it written? what is the political/social/economic situation?
- Where was it written? what is the impact of setting?
- Why was it written? what is the author's motive?
- What kind of text is it? is it a book, play, poem, lyric, postcard, article, newspaper?
Writing
Students must write about topics..
-... they find interesting
-... they understand
-... that relate to their lives
-... they usually write about in their mother tongue

Genre

• Expose students to different genres.
• Explain the specific conventions of these genres
• Demonstrate how members of culture use texts as part of social lives
• Demonstrate how purpose of genre determines shape.

when students read a text they should consider: 

- what is the purpose of the text?

- what is the level of formality?

- who is the audience?

Register Formal or informal

When using SLF in the classroom teachers should consider field.

- What is the subject matter?

- Is there specialized language? If so, to which domain does it realte?

Tenor is another SFL concept

- Who is the author?

- Who is the audience?

- What is the relationship between these participants?

- What is the role?

- What is the social position and status?

How to implement SFL in the classroom?

"Educational implications of SFL are generally designed to teach students how to operate in social contexts relevant to their educational, social and cultural needs"

Visual learners

Auditory learners

"Building Blocks" technique: 

word groups are used rather than traditional concepts such as verb nouns or adjectives thes a basic sentence can be broken up into three building blocks :

Participant + process + circumstance

Who or what + the doing or being words + when, where and how

Mind map

PORTFOLIO 6: SFL (revision)

PORTFOLIO 6: SFL (revision)

Basic principles of Systemic functional linguistics
video 1:

An introduction to Systemic functional linguistics
video 2:

Google form

PORTFOLIO #7: THESIS STATEMENT

PORTFOLIO #7: THESIS STATEMENT

Thesis Statement

A thesis is the result of a lengthy thinking process. Formulating a thesis is not the first thing you do after reading an essay assignment. Before you develop an argument on any topic, you have to collect and organize evidence, look for possible relationships between known facts (such as surprising contrasts or similarities), and think about the significance of these relationships. Once you do this thinking, you will probably have a “working thesis” that presents a basic or main idea and an argument that you think you can support with evidence. Both the argument and your thesis are likely to need adjustment along the way.

It is consisted of three parts: the subject (what your topic will deal with), the precise opinion (what is your opinion of the topic) and the blueprint of reasons (the reasons the writer provide to reinforce the topic)

Some things that you have to take into account when you are composing a thesis

1. Your TOPIC (what you are going to write about)
2. Your CLAIM (what you think about the topic)
3. REASONS that support your claim (points that will persuade your readers to believe your claim)

Tips for Writing Thesis Statements

1.Determine what kind of paper you are writing:

An analytical paper breaks down an issue or an idea into its component parts, evaluates the issue or idea, and presents this breakdown and evaluation to the audience. 

An expository (explanatory) paper explains something to the audience. 

An argumentative paper makes a claim about a topic and justifies this claim with specific evidence. 

The claim could be

an opinion

a policy proposal

an evaluation

a cause-and-effect statement

an interpretation. 

1. The goal of the argumentative paper is to convince the audience that the claim is true based on the evidence provided. If you are writing a text that does not fall under these three categories (e.g., a narrative), a thesis statement somewhere in the first paragraph could still be helpful to your reader.

2. Your thesis statement should be specific—it should cover only what you will discuss in your paper and should be supported with specific evidence.

3. The thesis statement usually appears at the end of the first paragraph of a paper.

4. Your topic may change as you write, so you may need to revise your thesis statement to reflect exactly what you have discussed in the paper.

video 1:

video2: 

PORTFOLIO 5: TOPIC SENTENCE.

PORTFOLIO 5: TOPIC SENTENCE.

PARTS OF A PARAGRAPH

• TOPIC SENTENCE
• BODY : ORDER OF IMPORTANCE
• CONCLUDING SENTENCE 

Topic sentence: the topic sentence states the main idea of the paragraph. It n ot only names the topic  of the paragraph, but it also limits the topic to one specific area that can be discussed completely in the space of a single paragraph.

Body: It is consisted on the supporting ideas about the topic, the details of the subject as well. The supporting sentences explain or prove the topic sentence by giving more information about it.

Closing sentence: the concluding sentence signals the end of the paragraph and leaves the reader with important points to remember. Concluding sentences are customary for stand-alone paragraphs.

WEBSITE 

alex (2009)  Parts of a Paragraph - English Academic Writing Introduction. May 19,2009, from learn English with Alex site: https://youtu.be/cCuExRE6N-4

Activities 

1. I saw around Velva a release from what was like slavery to the tyrannical soil, release from the ignorance that darkens the soul and from the loneliness that corrodes it. In this generation my Velva friends have rejoined the general American society that their pioneering fathers left behind when they first made the barren trek in the days of the wheat rush. As I sit here in Washington writing this, I can feel their nearness. (from Eric Sevareid, "Velva, North Dakota")

Answer:- None -Family-sized farms are not productive.I grew up on a family-sized farm, near a town called Velva.Many politicians deplore the passing of the old family-sized farm, but I'm not so sure.People moved away from the cities in the late nineteenth century, in search of fertile land for farming.

Good Work!

Answer:

The answer Many politicians deplore the passing of the old family-sized farm, but I'm not so sure. is correct.

Explanation:

Sevareid argues that farming is destructive as a way of life, no matter what romantic notions are attached to it. He is not writing about the productivity of farms, about his own life story ("I grew up on a family-sized farm..."), and his main point is not that people moved away from the cities in the late the nineteenth century.

2. The first is the wear-and-tear hypothesis that suggests the body eventually succumbs to the environmental insults of life. The second is the notion that we have an internal clock which is genetically programmed to run down. Supporters of the wear-and-tear theory maintain that the very practice of breathing causes us to age because inhaled oxygen produces toxic by-products. Advocates of the internal clock theory believe that individual cells are told to stop dividing and thus eventually to die by, for example, hormones produced by the brain or by their own genes. (from Debra Blank, "The Eternal Quest" [edited]).

Answer:- None -There are two broad theories concerning what triggers a human's inevitable decline to death.Some scientists believe that humans contain an "internal time clock" which forces them eventually to die.We all must die some day.My biology professor gave an interesting lecture Thursday.

Good Work!

Answer:

The answer There are two broad theories concerning what triggers a human's inevitable decline to death. is correct.

Explanation:

This paragraph is a straightforward description of two possibilities, neither of which is preferred over the other. In this case, it would be wrong to mention only one of the possibilities (the "internal time clock") in the topic sentence, or to treat it as a philosophical discussion of death itself ("we all must die..."). As for the biology professor, He or she might very well have given an interesting lecture, but that has nothing to do with the content of the paragraph.

3. The strictest military discipline imaginable is still looser than that prevailing in the average assembly-line. The soldier, at worst, is still able to exercise the highest conceivable functions of freedom -- that is, he or she is permitted to steal and to kill. No discipline prevailing in peace gives him or her anything remotely resembling this. The soldier is, in war, in the position of a free adult; in peace he or she is almost always in the position of a child. In war all things are excused by success, even violations of discipline. In peace, speaking generally, success is inconceivable except as a function of discipline. (from H.L. Mencken, "Reflections on War" [edited]).

Answer:- None -Soldiers need discipline.We commonly look on the discipline of war as vastly more rigid than any discipline necessary in time of peace, but this is an error.Although soldiers are not always disciplined, they serve an important social function in wartime.In times of peace, soldiers often convert easily from wartime pursuits to the discipline necessary successfully to compete in even the most competitive marketplace.

Good Work!

Answer:

The answer We commonly look on the discipline of war as vastly more rigid than any discipline necessary in time of peace, but this is an error. is correct.

Explanation:

The topic sentence must emphasise the comparative nature of the paragraph. Mencken does argue that soldiers need discipline, but this is not all he argues in this paragraph. Likewise, while soldiers may well serve an important function in wartime, and while they may well be able to compete well in peacetime, neither of these points is discussed in the paragraph.

4. In Montreal, a flashing red traffic light instructs drivers to careen even more wildly through intersections heavily populated with pedestrians and oncoming vehicles. In startling contrast, an amber light in Calgary warns drivers to scream to a halt on the off chance that there might be a pedestrian within 500 meters who might consider crossing at some unspecified time within the current day. In my home town in New Brunswick, finally, traffic lights (along with painted lines and posted speed limits) do not apply to tractors, all terrain vehicles, or pickup trucks, which together account for most vehicles on the road. In fact, were any observant Canadian dropped from an alien space vessel at an unspecified intersection anywhere in this vast land, he or she could almost certainly orient him-or-herself according to the surrounding traffic patterns.

Answer:- None -People in Calgary are careful of pedestrians.Although the interpretation of traffic signals may seem highly standardized, close observation reveals regional variations across this country, distinguishing the East Coast from Central Canada and the West as surely as dominant dialects or political inclinations.People in Montreal drive faster than people in Alberta, and Maritimers generally don't pay any attention to traffic signals at all.Canadians do not follow traffic signals properly.

Good Work!

Answer:

The answer Although the interpretation of traffic signals may seem highly standardized, close observation reveals regional variations across this country, distinguishing the East Coast from Central Canada and the West as surely as dominant dialects or political inclinations. is correct.

Explanation:

It is not enough simply to list all of the arguments in the paragraph ("People in Montreal drive faster..."), or to pick only one point to hilight ("People in Calgary are careful of pedestrians"). Instead, the topic sentence should highlight the interpretative nature of driving habits and their regional variations. Since the paragraph stresses the differences among drivers in different parts of the country, it would be entirely wrong simply to state in the topic sentence that "Canadians do not follow traffic signals properly."