Systemic Functional Linguistics Research Articles

Realization of Appraisal and Ideology in Ferdy Sambo Case in Editorial Text of "Kasus Sambo Isih Dawa" and "Ganjaran Murwat Tumrap Kejujuran" in Panjebar Semangat Magazine

This research aims to identify appraisal devices in two editorial texts in the Javanese magazine Panjebar Semangat on the news texts of Ferdy Sambo case entitled Kasus Sambo Isih Dawa and Ganjaran Murwat Tumrap Kejujuran and describe the ideology of the author of the editorial text. Data were analyzed using the Appraisal System in Functional Systemic Linguistics, including Attitude, Graduation, and Engagement. The results of the appraisal analysis on the first text are 69 attitudes data from 68 clauses. A total of 69 attitudes data were found, consisting of 33 positive attitudes and 36 negative attitudes. Monogloss data with 44 data dominate these attitudes compared to heterogloss data with 25 data. In terms of Graduation, journalists used the intensifier type only eight times. For the second text, 55 attitudes data from 48 clauses. The total of 55 data was dominated by positive evaluations of 43 data, while there were only 12 negative evaluations. It can be interpreted that this editorial text has a very positive nuance. The text is dominated by monogloss data, namely 47 data, compared to heterogloss data, which is only 8 data. The outcomes of the analysis conducted on the editorial texts within the Panjebar Semangat Javanese magazine indicate a predominant reliance on judgment as the principal method of Appraisal, succeeded by appreciation and affect. The analysis explicitly emphasizes the assessment of individual character traits, with Richard, Sambo, and Putri identified as the primary subjects of evaluation. This finding underscores the potential of news as a mechanism for the exercise of social control, with the deployment of judgment serving to consolidate specific societal values and beliefs. This editorial text makes journalists themselves the dominant source of evaluators. In terms of Graduation, journalists also tend to increase their Attitude appraisal using intensifiers. The dominance of monogloss in the editorial text is linguistic evidence that the journalist deliberately composed the editorial text using the point of view of himself.

An Analysis of Student’s Recount Text: An SFL Approach

This paper reports on the results of a study aiming to investigate the student’s ability to write recount text of a university student in Bandung. The study was conducted using the theory of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), especially functional grammar, in terms of the Transitivity, Mood and Modality system. The study used a case study on text analysis. A text, which is a recount text written by a higher achiever university student, was analysed using the Transitivity, Mood and Modality system. In terms of the Transitivity system, the result indicates the writer’s adequate syntactic compression and rich lexico-grammatical patterns. Moreover, in terms of the Mood and Modality system, the text shows the writer’s ability to infuse, temper, negotiate, and constrain the experiential meanings in the Mood that is in focus. Hence, the writer is categorized as a mature and critical writer, and the text is appropriate to be used as a model text. Research on text analysis using SFL of different genres of text and how the teaching of writing should be conducted to help improve students’ writing ability is recommended.

The emotional geography of faculty members engaging in virtual teacher professional development (VTPD): evidence from Indonesia

PurposeDrawing from emotional geography framework promoted by Hargreaves (2000), our research sought to depict the emotional geography of two faculty members who engaged in a virtual teacher professional development (VTPD) sessions during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to focus on capturing participants’ emotional closeness or distance while they were engaging in VTPD.Design/methodology/approachThis study employed narrative inquiry by exploring three-dimensional narrative inquiry space: temporality, personal-social interaction and place (Clandinin and Connelly, 2000). Following this step, the participants were interviewed online through Zoom meetings and WhatsApp to capture critical incidents of their emotional experience. All collected data were transcribed, and some data from Bahasa Indonesia were translated into English. Member checking was also done several times to ensure the accuracy of the data as well as to avoid misinterpretation. The data were analysed inductively to generate coding categories using systemic functional linguistics (SFL) language appraisal (Martin and White, 2007) and emotional geography parameter (Hargreaves, 2001b).FindingsThe findings of the study revealed that both participants experienced greater positive feeling than negative ones. The participants experienced positive feelings such as seriousness, happiness, successfulness and satisfaction. They also experienced negative feelings such as insecurity, unhappiness, dissatisfaction and impatience. Such positive and negative feelings create closeness and distance among participants, mentor and workshop organiser. This study indicates that maintaining positive feelings is a passport to succeed in VTPD.Research limitations/implicationsThe study has two limitations. First, its findings cannot be overgeneralised since the analysis was restricted to data gathered from a small number of participants. Second, the scope of investigation was limited in virtual situations.Practical implicationsThe present study empirically showed that faculty members need to engage in constructing or maintaining positive emotional bond with the mentor and other participants and create conducive situations to understand their own and others’ emotions (Mayer, 2011). Practically, a mentor in VTPD may ask faculty members to voice and share their emotional experience as an evaluation tool to make VTPD programmes more successful. Future participants can benefit from these findings by engaging in emotional understanding and building a conducive situation during VTPD to develop their academic competence, agency and identity.Originality/valueWhile previous research into VTPD in the context of higher education mainly focused on designs, attention to pedagogy of online teacher learning environments, trends toward innovation in teacher collaboration and communities of practice in online settings, the present study specifically looked into how participants emotionally engaged in VTPD, which is inevitably linked to physical, moral, sociocultural, professional and political geographies.

Japanese mood and modality in systemic functional linguistics

Japanese mood and modality in systemic functional linguistics

INTERPERSONAL FUNCTIONS OF THE ENGLISH QUOTES OF MOTIVATION AND THEIR INDONESIAN TRANSLATIONS

This study aims to identify and analyze the mood and modality as the parts of interpersonal metafunction in translation of the English quotes of motivation into Indonesian. The documentation method was applied to collect the source and target language quotes in the forms of clauses, simple or complex sentences. Close reading technique is applied while collecting the quotes to understand the context of the motivational expressions. The collected data were qualitatively analyzed. In order to identify the translation of English quotes of motivation into Indonesian, the parts of sentence structures in the source and target languages were compared. Contrastive linguistics is relevant for this study in order to identify the difference between both languages. The mood and modality as the interpersonal function of the Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) developed by Halliday were applied in analyzing the quotes of motivation. The quotes of motivation in English show the indicative mood, and so do their translations. There are 27 quotes of motivations found. All the quotes belong to the indicative mood, but there is only one quote that has the combination between indicative mood and imperative mood. Indicative mood consists of two sub-categories, they are declarative and interrogative. There is one quote started by a declarative statement, and then followed by the interrogative form, and the rest are declarative sentences. From the modality macro-function, there are eleven quotes in the forms of modal verbs. The quotes of motivation as the modality type show probability since it is given for a specific situation, and it is not used regularly. As the modulation type, it shows the obligation. In terms of the modality values, the high value is used more often than the median value. Most of the translations show similar modality types and modality values, however, there are only two quotes that show different modality types but the same modality values. The change is from the modalization type of probability ‘should’ to the modulation type of obligation ‘must’. The modality type shift does impact the reader’s understanding.

Applying rhetorical methods to teach writing techniques to pre-service teachers

This study explores the impact of rhetorical strategies on the writing techniques of pre-service teachers. It specifically examines how process-based writing instruction, rooted in Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), enhances the ability of student teachers to employ effective writing methods in crafting argumentative essays. Utilizing a sample of 98 student teachers from Greece, the research was conducted through a performance-based essay task, supported by two think-aloud protocols. This approach allowed for a detailed examination of the writing techniques used by pre-service teachers, both before and after receiving process-based writing instruction. The study focuses on the application and improvement of writing methods through the use of a rhetorical process approach. The results highlight the significance of rhetorical strategies, such as idea generation and rewriting, in the development of effective writing skills. The study reveals a clear improvement in the ability of students to choose and integrate relevant ideas into their essays after mastering these techniques. Additionally, the findings suggest the frequent use of translation strategies from native to foreign languages in concluding an article. This research underscores the importance of teaching rhetorical strategies in pre-service teacher training programs. By focusing on these techniques, educators can better equip student teachers with the skills necessary to become proficient writers, capable of addressing various audiences effectively. The study advocates for a greater emphasis on process-based instruction to enhance writing competencies in educational settings.

An Interpretation of Mending Wall from the Perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistics

This article provides an in-depth interpretation of Robert Frost’s Mending Wall through the lens of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), highlighting how the poem’s use of ideational, interpersonal, and textual functions enhances its thematic depth and engagement. The ideational function explores the wall's representation of both physical and metaphorical divides, touching upon its implications for human connections and social conventions. The interpersonal function probes the dialogue among characters, highlighting their divergent perspectives on customs and isolation. The textual function scrutinizes the poem’s composition and tempo, underlining its dialogue-like quality and unified theme. By analyzing the poem's structure, dialogue, and symbolic elements, the study demonstrates SFL’s efficacy in revealing the intricate relationship between language choices and literary interpretation, offering profound insights into Frost’s contemplation of social barriers and interpersonal connections.

Scrutiny of a "Pathway to English Phase E” Textbook in Transitivity System

The research was focused on one of analysis systems in a systemic functional linguistics study, especially analysis of transitivity ecncountered and pinpointed by the writers in the “Pathway to English” textbook. The research objective was to discover the types of transitivity processes identified in the “Pathway to English” textbook . This study was a qualitative research with descriptive data in a discourse approach. The data were a respective genre found in chapter one until three. The research findings showed that not all types of transitivity were prevalent. It was found that the highest usage of the transitivity process was material process, which was shown more active, and the lowest one was meteorological because there are no clauses explaining what the weather is. The character in a text should be a subject and an object, so the researcher can determine whether  the character is subject or object in the clause.

Meaning Making and Writing Processes across Languages and Genres: A Case Study of Two Bilingual Biscriptal Children with Reading Difficulties

This study explores the meaning-making and writing processes of two bilingual biscriptal children with reading difficulties. Each participant produced four texts, one descriptive and one narrative text in Persian (L1) and Swedish (L2). Drawing on systemic functional linguistics (SFL), some aspects of interpersonal, ideational and textual meanings were analyzed as the participants composed their texts across these two languages and genres. The Eye and Pen software was used to examine the writing processes. The results demonstrated that the participant with only poor word recognition successfully created similar meaning across languages and genres. However, the participant with mixed reading difficulties generally struggled to produce similar meaning across languages and genres. Similar patterns were observed in the participants’ writing processes. Both of them were more fluent writers in their L2 than in their L1 and could produce meaning more fluently in their L2 compared to their L1. The participants’ writing profiles in both languages were in agreement with previous studies on the writing of monolinguals with similar difficulties. The findings are discussed from a multi-competence perspective

Investigating Saudi EFL Female University Students’ Command of Journalistic Writing: An SFL-based Study on Textual Organization

This study examines written literacy outcomes among Saudi female university students undertaking an EFL journalistic course over fourteen weeks. It specifically aims to explore their competence in the English hard news genre. It, thus, seeks to address the following question: after completing the course, to what degree did students create texts structurally matching the conventional English news report? The significance of this study lies in its integration of media and education, employment of linguistic analysis based on Systemic Functional Linguistics, and use of English expert news reports for comparison with students’ journalistic texts. It deployed the genre-based pedagogy devised within the Sydney School to design the news writing course. Twenty-five students undertook such a course during the 2022 academic year. This study gathered those students’ writing to subject it to linguistic scrutiny, assessing each student over one news report after completing the course. It reports that, after the course, half of the class developed their ability to produce the genre of the standard English language hard news report. Those students created texts that matched the professional news articles in the corpus, thus effectively following the textual features of such a genre.

Analysis of “A Haunted House” By Virginia Woolf through the Lens of Systemic Functional Linguistics

Systemic Functional Linguistics is a widely used approach for text analysis. It can also be used in teaching and translation studies. Recently, there has been a growing popularity of this approach in literary stylistics. “A Haunted House” by Virginia Wolf is a master piece which allows literary analysts to be entangled with whether it falls into the genre of love or supernatural. The paper aims to examine the theme selection and transitivity to discern how the genre being presented to the reader. The story has been analyzed at two levels. It explores its thematic structure and transitivity using qualitative method that is SFL and employs quantitative data analysis to present its findings. The paper examines 82 clauses and probes into the creation of supernatural genre. A careful analysis of data shows that material processes and unmarked themes with inanimate participants maintain the sense of supernatural whereas marked themes give prominence to time and place. The study paves a way to further endeavors to investigate the nature of text construction using SFL. It has some implications for translation studies and literary analysis.

Testing texture in presidential inaugural address

This study adopts the Hallidayan Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), specifically the textual metafunction, to explore cohesion in Ghanaian and American Presidential Inaugural Addresses (PIAs). The SFL theory is aided by the corpus-assisted approach to text analysis. In all, sixteen PIAs given by different presidents from the American and Ghanaian contexts constitute the corpus for the study. The findings revealed that both Ghanaian and American presidents make use of all the four grammatical cohesive devices as texture creation agents in their inaugural speeches. However, these cohesive agents were deployed at different frequencies. Unlike their Ghanaian counterparts, the American presidents chose grammatical cohesive devices that were comparatively more diverse. The findings have implications for the SFL theory and other research works on texture in political discourse in general and PIAs in particular.

“I notice I'm getting more involved, interested, and excited about my future topic.” Action research as a transition from research steps to navigating graduate students' scholarly dispositions

Graduate students often approach research with predefined steps emphasising procedural aspects that occasionally expose their inadequate preparation for research as social practice. The purpose of this paper is to show how an action research (AR) methodology, in conjunction with English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), has facilitated the scaffolding of explicit formal, rhetorical, procedural, and strategic knowledge in research discourse. We followed a cyclical action research model consisting of 1) recognising students' limited understanding of research as a social practice, 2) developing interventions to promote understanding of how language is structured, represented, and negotiated in scientific discourse, 3) results of the intervention, and 4) reflection. Thematic analysis of six participants' data, including their tasks, reflections, and draft proposals, revealed a discernible progression towards scholarly thinking, transformative learning, and the embodiment of scholarly identity. Integrating ESP and SFL frameworks enhanced our ability to guide students through research-specific discourses, moving beyond a purely theoretical understanding to engage in authentic practices. This approach contributed to the cultivation of Communities of Practice (CoP) in which student-faculty collaboration fostered a shared scholarly mindset and facilitated the gradual integration of students into these academic communities.

The Building Blocks of Language and Creativity: A Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis of Toy Advertisements

This research aims to explore the verbal and visual resources and cultural aspects used in online toy advertisements. The data comprises 142 advertisements sourced from the official international Lego Facebook page. Three analytical frameworks were employed in the study. First, Halliday’s (1994) systemic functional linguistics was used to analyze verbal resources. Second, Kress and van Leeuwen’s (2006) social semiotics was used to examine visual resources. Third, Hofstede et al.’s (2010) cultural dimensions were applied to the aspects of culture. The investigation of verbal resources reveals three main ideational metafunctions: material, relational, and mental. Also, declarative mood and unmarked topical themes dominantly occurred in the clauses. For the visual analysis, the advertisements tend to use conceptual symbolic images with vibrant and contrasting colors to make the brand memorable and convey positive values. The positions of participants (RP) also reveal the significance of the brand. There is interconnectedness between visual resources and verbal resources for the advertisements to be cohesive. Remarkably, all six cultural dimensions were found aligned with the American cultural aspects, except for masculinity and long-term orientation. This suggests Lego's commitment to promoting equality, unity, and the attempt to construct more effective worldwide marketing.

Combining enactivism and systemic functional linguistics: a methodology for examining (mathematics teacher educator) language

AbstractAs mathematics teacher educators (MTEs), we are motivated by the lack of research concerning the language that MTEs use in initial teacher education settings. In this paper, we turn our attention towards developing a methodological approach to studying the language-in-use during teacher education situations, with a specific focus on the language of the MTE in the form of a monologue. The methodological approach that we present draws upon two theoretical perspectives, specifically, the situated cognition theory of enactivism and the social semiotic perspective of systemic functional linguistics (SFL). To develop this methodology, we explore both of these theoretical perspectives, focussing on their respective conceptualisations of language, from which we derive a set of methodological principles and practices. A significant feature of the methodology presented in this paper, is that it takes into account the researchers’ relationships with the subject of research. Thus we propose this methodology as being of particular significance to practitioner–researchers studying the language of other practitioners within the same field (e.g. MTEs studying the language of other MTEs), as well as to the study of one’s own use of language in mathematics education settings. From our methodological perspective we explore the meaning of quality research, proposing relevant criteria. We exemplify the methodological principles and practices by analysing a transcript of a mathematics teacher education lecture for prospective primary teachers in Sweden.

Making a Case for New Directions in English Language Research at University of Cape Coast (UCC)

Drawing insights from existing studies on research synthesize (e.g. Farsani & Babaii, 2018/2020; Plonsky & Oswald, 2015), this study engages in a meta-analysis of MPhil theses from the Department of English, University of Cape Coast (UCC), in order to make a case for new directions for language research in the department. A critical content analytical approach was adopted to analyse eighteen (18) theses purposively sampled from the University of Cape Coast Institutional Theses Repository. The analysis focused on the research topics/domains, theoretical frameworks adopted, and research methods used. The study revealed following: (a) most of the studies were conducted in the domain of the media; (b) while most of the studies employed the qualitative research paradigm, very few adopted the mixed method approach and no study employed the quantitative approach; and (c) most of the studies were underpinned by the Systemic Functional Linguistic (SFL) theory while few employed the Theory of Nativization and Genre Theory. The study contends that there should be a shift in the focus of MPhil thesis to make it possible for the adoption of the mixed method and quantitative approaches as well as theories such as pragmatics, language variation, generative linguistics and corpus stylistics.

Understanding Analytical Exposition Text Writing with an SFL Approach

This research aims to explore the ability of eleventh-grade students to create analytical exposition texts based on their generic structure and language features, using a descriptive qualitative research approach. The study focuses on comparing model texts with students' writing to describe the types of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) approaches employed and analyze the transitivity in writing analytical exposition. The participants of this study are eleventh-grade students selected based on a teacher's recommendation. The researcher reports the natural phenomena without applying any treatments that could influence the results. The primary objective is to understand the student’s ability to produce analytical exposition texts without intervention. The data collection involves analyzing sentences in the form of students' analytical exposition text assignments provided by the teacher. The researcher examines the clarity of ideas and evaluates the grammatical and generic structure present in the students' writing.  This research utilizes a descriptive qualitative approach to capture and describe the natural phenomenon of students' analytical exposition text writing. The findings contribute to understanding the students' proficiency in creating analytical exposition student texts, as well as identifying areas that require further attention in instructional practices.

Learning how to mean in a second language: uses of system networks in L2 education

Abstract While approaches informed by Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) have been widely applied to the field of language education since the 1960s, the idea of the system embodying the meaning potential of language in context, represented as a system network, could be used to make a much more significant contribution to second language (L2) or foreign language education, where despite pioneering efforts the uptake of SFL has been less than in L1 education. In this paper, we will take stock of the ways system networks have been used in studies concerned with L2 education and at the same time we will highlight new opportunities to empower new studies and applications based on system networks as a way of engaging with the central notion of learning how to mean in a second/foreign language. We argue that system networks can make a very significant contribution to L2 education if they are given more attention and their deployment is highlighted. The uses considered in this paper include the following: Tracking language development systemically; diagnosing problems in L2 student texts; supporting sequencing in the curriculum of the learning of the L2 meaning potential; designing exercises based on options in system networks; guiding L2 learners by means of system networks as cartographic tools; contrasting L1 and L2 resources based on multilingual system networks; and supporting advanced L2 learners expanding their L2 uses by adding translation skills drawing on multilingual system networks. We will touch on these uses, highlighting those that have perhaps given the least attention in L2 education drawing on SFL, but which look very promising as we move ahead in the next couple of decades.

The Critical Analysis of the Lesotho Language Planning and Policy and Its Implications on Education

The paper aimed at analysing the Lesotho language policy to unmask how power is assumed to be exercised by the Lesotho policy-makers through linguistic elements and structure .The main analytical tool of this paper was critical sociolinguistics, using IGMs in Systemic Functional Linguistics, rhetorical strategies and the CDA model in which the paper analysed the relationship between discourse and society. The paper unveiled performativity (mode, censorship and interpellation and the grammatical aspects from the point of functions of co-ordination, modality and nominalisation as effective and dominant principles and tropes used by the Lesotho language policy makers to convince the citizens to acknowledge the language policy irrespective of how it overshadows the minority languages in Lesotho.

Grammatical cohesion found in undergraduate student’s thesis writing: A case study at one private university in Indonesia

Writing an excellent and comprehensive text depends on applying appropriate grammatical cohesive devices. This study aims to investigate the types and errors of the grammatical cohesive devices found in the undergraduate student's thesis. The analysis used in the present study applied the framework of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) proposed by Halliday and Hasan (2014). Through the qualitative design with content analysis, this study examines two undergraduate students' theses, focusing on finding and discussing sections at one private university in Jakarta. The analysis revealed that grammatical cohesive devices in the thesis are not diverse. The data's most dominant grammatical cohesive devices are references and conjunctions—no elliptical and substitution devices are found in the data. Besides, errors in applying grammatical cohesion in the undergraduate students' writing were found, especially in using personal and demonstrative references and extension conjunctions. It indicates that the students still lack understanding in applying the knowledge of grammatical cohesion in their writing, influencing the readers' understanding in capturing information from the thesis. It implies that the knowledge of appropriate grammatical cohesion is essential for students in academic writing, predominantly undergraduate thesis, to convey the ideas and information properly and coherently.