Structuring written arguments in primary and secondary school: A systemic functional linguistics perspective

Abstract

Learning to write arguments is a key goal of primary and secondary schooling in democratic societies. Systemic functional linguistics (SFL) has influenced the teaching of argumentative writing in several countries; however, little SFL research has investigated the development of argumentative writing skills. This paper analysed the structural features (text stages and phases) in 60 high-scoring arguments written by students in Year 3, 5, 7 and 9 for Australia's national writing assessment. The analysis of stages revealed a preference for one-sided expositions in the primary years and an increased number of two-sided discussions in the secondary years. While existing descriptions of argument phases provided a useful starting point for the phase analysis, these descriptions were insufficient to account for the many phase choices made by high-scoring students. The paper proposes a detailed list of phase options for argument genres resulting from the analysis, with several implications for theory and practice.