Entry #6 SFL: Systemic Functional Linguistics

  STEP #1 

Systemic Functional Linguistics is:

• a social theory of language
• an approach to language that considers language as a SOCIAL (to communicate) SEMIOTIC (there's meaning behind) SYSTEM.

Language metafunctions 👉 Ideational, Interpersonal, Textual.

Five basic principles:

1. social semiotics (system of signs used for social purpose)
2. language as a resource (a resource for making meaning rather than a system of rules)
3. text rather than senteces (as the basic unit through which meaning is negotiated)
4. texts and social context (close relations between texts and social context)
5. construing meaning ( a system for construing meaning rather than as a conduit through which thoughts and feelings are poured)

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STEP #2

STEP #3

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STEP #4

OLD CONCEPTS	NEW CONCEPTS
SFL is a social theory of language	SFL is a linguistic theory that sees language as a social process that contributes to the realization of different social contexts.
It places more stress on the functions or meaning-making potential of language.	It provides the tools for analysing written and spoken texts with particular attention given to the context in which they are produced. It can also help us understand not only the nature of language but also things like how language evolves over time, how children develop language as well as how people learn both their mother tongue and foreign languages.
Register (Social Context, Cultural Context)	Context: Context of culture (genres) / Context of situation (register)
“Context of culture” to describe the system of beliefs, values and attitudes that speakers bring with them into any social interaction.	The context of culture in SFL represents all the potential ways we can use language to exchange meaning in socially recognizable ways.
The term “context of situation” in order to have a way to describe the immediate environment in which texts are produced.	Context of situation: register; has three sub variables field, tenor and mode.
We communicate meaning on three levels simultaneously. Metafunctions: o   Ideational o   Interpersonal o   Textual	These three variables (field, tenor and mode) can be broken down into many linguistic realizations (ideational choices, interpersonal choices and textual choices)

☝Work done collaboratively with Maria de las Nieves, Bazán.

Metacognitive analysis:

I´m glad to keep on learning theories of language, especially this one which considers language as a social semiotic system. It's quite interesting the way in which SFL can be applied in the EFL classroom. SFL emphasizes the significance of context, and in the EFL classroom context applies whenever children read, write or speak. While reading, students can ask themselves questions that relate to the what,when,where and why of the texts. While writing, students should write about something that they understand, they find interesting and they can relate to their  lives. For example, they could write about their pets or their best friend. Another important aspect of SFL is genre. Teachers should expose students to different genres and explain the specific conventions of these genres. In this way, students will be able to understand how members of a culture use written texts as part of their social lives and how a text purpose (narrating, arguing, explaining, reporting,etc.) reflects its shape. I feel there's a wide open field in which to work SFL in EFL classrooms. It just requires a bit of imagination and creativity in order to use it in many different ways and be able to meet the different needs of our students.