A Functional Perspective on Classroom

Discourse Analysis

Mahmud Layan Hutasuhut

 The relevance of SFL for a model of CDA

Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) is different (from other

language theories) in four ways:
1.The metafunctional organization of all natural languages.
2.Understanding language as a system.
3.The relationship of language – or ‘text’ and context
(register and genre).
4.The relation between language systems and texts
 1. The Metafunc:ons of language

TWO things we do simultaneously when we use language – read

and write; speak and listen:
1. We are interac=ng with 1/more people: We are enac(ng social
rela(onship.
2. We are interac=ng about something: We are saying something
about our experience.
 Hal, a two-year old, negotiating classification with his mom:
He asks ques(ons with a rising tone (shown by ́ ) and makes statements with a falling tone ( ` ).

Hal ini&ates the conversa&on by demonstra&ng what

he knows, poin&ng and naming the colour blue.
- His mother affirms by repea&ng his words.
He tries again with the same name (blue) for a differ
ent colour.
- His mother negates (No).
Then he changes the statement to a ques&on (Thats
blúe?), and answers himself with another statement
(Thats òrange).
- His mother affirms by repea&ng his words.

Hal is prac(sing two things at once here: dis(nguishing names for different colours,
and dis(nguishing statements about colours from ques(ons about them.
By making a statement he adopts the role of ‘knower’. His mother, in affirming or nega(ng his statements,
assumes greater authority; she is the ‘primary knower’, the teacher in this rela(onship.
 The Exchange Continues
Hal now concentrates on the task of classifying the colours.
By asking the ques(on (Thats blúe?), he explicitly adopts the
role of knowledge seeker, and posi(ons his mother as the
knowledge giver, who affirms or negates his ques(ons.
By the end of this exchange, he can confidently use two
alterna(ves for classifying colours (Thats blùe/Thats òrange).

Note that these colours do not come with labels already

a9ached; it is language that gives them these names.

It is through language that speakers construe the world of experience.

Hal is discovering how the things that his senses experience are construed by his mother tongue.
The categories are learned through nego(a(on with his mother
Her evalua(ons assign posi(ve and nega(ve values to the categories, reinforcing the dis(nc(ons for him.
 Kinds of Meaning during the Interac3on
When Hal is interacting with his mother to express his world of
experience, he is practising:

1. Interpersonal Meanings: Meanings to do with interacting (e.g.,

asking for information, giving information; adopting the roles of
knowledge seeker and knowledge giver; and evaluating).
2. Ideational Meanings: Meanings to do with representing
experience (classifying the colors of the pegs as blue or orange).
3. Textual Meanings: Hal uses ‘speaking’ to express his experience
when interacting with his mother.
The Three
Metafunc2ons
of Language
 2. Language as a ‘system’

As a system, language has three levels/ strata:

1. Discourse/ Discourse SemanOcs
2. Grammar/ Lexicogrammar
3. Phonology/ Graphology
Discourse Seman3cs
Meanings come in the form of texts. The conversation/ exchange
between Hal and his mother is an example of a text – a spoken text.

Can you give an example of a written text?

Patterns of meaning across whole texts are called discourse or

technically known as discourse semantics.
Lexicogrammar
The spoken text between Hal and his mother is made up of smaller
units. For example: Hal said, “That’s blue”. His mother replied, “Yes,
that’s blue”.

These smaller units are called clauses.

PaKerns of meaning within clauses are known as grammar, or

technically called lexicogrammar.
Discourse and Grammar
A text and a clause are two different units with different sizes (although
a text can consist of a single clause or even a single word, like Stop!).

The relaOonship between discourse and grammar is not simply about

size, but rather about ‘realisa)on’.

PaKerns of meaning in a whole text are realised (or expressed) by

paKerns of meaning (wordings) in clauses.
Phonology/ Graphology
Each word in a clause is realised/ expressed as a paKern of sounds
(phonology) in speaking, or a paKern of leKers (graphology) in wriOng.

Phonology is more than just the paKerns of sounds in words, but also
includes paKerns, such as rising and falling intonaOons. These
intonaOons are used by Hal to differenOate ques)ons and statements.

Graphology is not just the paKerns of leKers in words, but includes

paKerns, such as punctuaOon within and between sentences, and
paragraphing.
PaBerns & Realisa:on
A text consists of patterns of patterns of patterns!

Patterns of meaning at the level of the text are known as discourse

semantics.

Patterns of meaning at the level of the clause are known as

lexicogrammar.

Patterns of meaning at the level of sounds or letters are known as

phonology or graphology.

The relation between these three levels is known as realisation.

Levels within
Language
Further layers of structure
A text is not just a string of sentences. There are also intermediate phases of
meaning, expressed as paragraphs in writing.

Likewise, a clause is not just a string of words, but it also involves

intermediate elements of meaning, such as ‘who it’s about’, ‘what they are
doing’, ‘where and when’, which are expressed as groups of words.
A boy was swimming in a pond after a storm.

Likewise, a word is not just a string of letters or sounds, but also consists of
intermediate patters, including syllables and the Onset (initial consonants)
and Rhyme (the remainder) of each syllable.
 3. Social contexts of language: register and genre

Language has three general funcOons because of the way language is used.
Social contexts of language use can also be understood from three perspecOves:
1. Tenor of social relaOons: the relaOonships that are enacted by language (who
is involved).
2. Field of experience: the experiences that are expressed by language (what
they are involved in or speaking about).
3. Mode of communicaOon: the role that language plays in the context (such as
speaking and wriOng).

Together field, tenor and mode are known as the register of a text.
The
metafunc9ons
and the social
contexts
Genre: the global social purpose of a text
Beyond register is genre.

The particular social purpose of any text shapes the kind of text it is –
narrating a complicating event produces a narrative text, explaining a
sequence of cause and effect makes an explanation, arguing for a point
of view makes an exposition, and so on.

The field, the tenor and the mode (register) are woven together at the
level of genre.
Weaving register to realise genre
For instance,

In an explanaOon genre:
1. The field may be a natural process, such as a life cycle of a buKerfly,
or a social acOvity, such as a global coronavirus disease pandemic.
2. The mode may be wriKen or spoken.
3. The tenor may be personal and entertaining, or academic and
objecOve.
 4. Language systems and texts

What is the rela=on between language systems and the actual texts
that we speak, read and write?

Halliday (1993) explains that language is a system that contains a

set of choices that we choose from as a text unfolds (develops).
Systems with tables or paradigms
Systems are o_en represented with tables or paradigms. An example of
this at the level of lexicogrammar are choices in the English tense
system. Choices in systems are alterna)ve ‘either/or’, and addi)onal
‘and’. Tenses are either past or present or future, and either simple or
conOnuous.
Meaning choices in texts
Choices in systems come into being as meanings in actual texts.
The types of tense choices writers (speakers) select as a text unfolds
are different based on the genre and field.

What choices from the English tense system you select to write a
recount?

What about explanations? Reports? Weather forecast?

System at Discourse Seman3cs
Speech func)on is an example of system at the level of discourse
semanOcs.
So, what are the choices of speech funcOon from Hal’s conversaOon
with his mom? Exchanges of
(1) informaOon and
(2) goods-and-services
 Choices for Speech Functions as Paradigms
PresenOng speech funcOons in tables/paradigms shows us that meanings
of ‘statement’, ‘ques)on’, ‘command’, and ‘offer’ lie NOT in the words but
in two kinds of contrast, such as blue/orange, past/present/future,
quesOon/statement etc.
These SEMANTIC CONTRASTS in the exchange include:
1. ConversaOon roles in a social exchange (demanding or giving).
2. Kinds of commodiOes that speakers exchange (informaOon or good-&-
services).
Language systems consist of these contrasts.
The system of speech funcOons only makes sense in relaOon to the
context of social interacOon.
It enables us to see that language (from interpersonal perspecOve) is an
exchange between speakers.
Going back the memory lane…
How did you learn the alphabet system of English?
Is it graphology or phonology system?

How did you learn leKer combinaOons and the sounds the
combinaOons make?

For example, the leKer combinaOon /gh/, does this leKer combinaOon
always make the same sound no maKer where its posiOon is?
As the iniOal consonant in a syllable (the Onset)?
As the remainder of the syllable (the Rhyme)?
Organising Systems at the Level of Genre
There are different lines to organise systems at the level of genre. One
of them is whether the genres can be organised as a sequence of
events or not.
The following is a simple system of genre.
Organising language systems in tables of paradigms show the choices
speakers/ writers can choose between texts, and moment by moment
as a text unfolds (develops).
The number of such systems at the levels of phonology, lexicogrammar,
discourse semanOcs, register and genre is very large indeed, and
describing them is a very challenging task.
Halliday (1994) characterises the whole set of choices for meaning in a
language as the ‘seman)c code’ of its culture.

“Each language has its own semanCc code, although languages that
share a common culture tend to have codes that are closely related…
The context of culture determines the nature of the code”
How do we learn language?
Language is not learnt by memorising contrasts in systems, but by
experiencing contrasts in texts.
Did Hal’s mother design a language lesson to show the contrast
between a question with rising intonation and a statement with a
falling intonation? Between the colours blue and orange?
Hal came to recognise the differences between these semantic
contrasts from experiencing repeated examples of them in social
discourse, with the guidance of his mother, the caregivers.

Learning a language involves construing its systems out of repeated

experience of this kind. The learner’s knowledge of language systems
accumulates over time, both consciously and mostlyy unconsciously.
 Parent-child Reading as a Learning Ac3vity
When reading with children, parents use various strategies to
draw their a*en,on, model behaviours, affirm them and
elaborate their understandings.
Parent-child reading is a learning
ac8vity where mother focuses the
child’s a<en8on, the child iden8fies
elements in the story as his/her
task and the mother evaluates.
Nucleus of a Learning Ac8vity
Phases in Parent-child Reading Exchange
Five General Elements of Learning Ac3vity
Central to a pedagogic ac=vity is a learning task through which
different kinds of knowledge are being exchanged (Rose,
2014).

The task students perform are different, ranging from manual

ac=vi=es (loca=ng a vocabulary item or performing an ac=on)
to more complex tasks and less visible (comprehending and
crea=ng meanings in an argument)
Typically, a task is specified by a teacher through an instruction or a
question. This is called a Focus move.
The Prepare move usually activates and builds an existing
understandings between teachers and students so that the
students can focus on a task.
Effective preparation requires teachers to be very conscious of the nature of
the learning task (Rose & Martin, 2012).
An Evaluate move happens when the task is completed. This can be
praise for successful accomplishment or a rejection for the
unsuccessful one.
An Elaborate move is the concluding sequence where responses
function as ‘stepping stones’ to deepen understandings of certain
elements in the texts.
Learning Phases in a Classroom Exchange
(Rose, 2018)
Classroom Discourse Analysis
Why do we need to analyse classroom discourse?

Analysis of teacher-student interac(ons is important to

understand pedagogic choices that teachers and students
actually made in achieving pedagogic goals.

To analyse classroom discourse, Rose’s (2014, 2018) pedagogic

discourse analysis that is underpinned by SFL theorisa=on of
genre and register.
 Genre
(Context of
culture)

Do you s2ll
remember (Context of
‘genre’ and situa&on)
‘register’?
Pedagogic Genres
Rose (2014) differentiates two types of pedagogic genres:

1. Knowledge genres: ‘field constituting texts, through which

institutional knowledge is acquired’ (e.g. stories,
arguments, explanations, etc.)
2. Curriculum genres: classroom discourse through which
knowledge is negotiated.
Knowledge
genres
Curriculum genres
Rose (2014, 2018) argues that the curriculum genre configures
(shapes) pedagogic registers that show the interac=ons
between teachers and students in nego=a=ng knowledge as
well as values.
This knowledge and values are shaped by variables of
pedagogic registers, including:
1. Pedagogic ac=vi=es
2. Pedagogic modali=es
3. Pedagogic rela=ons
1. Pedagogic ac3vi3es
Pedagogic activities refer to the development of sequences of
learning activities through which learners acquire knowledge
and skills.

The analysis of pedagogic activities focuses on the kinds of

knowledge and the structuring of lesson sequences through
which the content is negotiated by teachers and students. All
kinds of knowledge are termed matter.
Rose’s
(2018)
system of
phases of
pedagogic
ac=vity
The System of Cycle Phases

The cycle phases are divided into two main phases:

1. The nuclear phases: focus, task and evaluate.
2. The marginal phases: prepare, elaborate.
A learning Task is the core of a learning cycle, completed only
by the learners and usually focused and evaluated by a
teacher.
The three elements, Focus ^ Task ^ Evaluate, form the nuclear
structure of the ac=vity (which is parallel with the I-R-E
exchange pa\ern)

Prepare and Elaborate phases are less common but cri=cal.

Teachers may Prepare before or a@er the Focus (recognising
meaning of a word through a picture), and may Elaborate
before or a@er the EvaluaGon (showing the phonology and
graphology of a word).
Further op3ons for each phase
Task types may involve students to display their knowledge by
iden%fying an item from a text, or by proposing an idea from
their knowledge.

The task may also involve students to receive knowledge

verbally or visually.

Op=ons for teachers to evaluate may involve affirm or reject

the students’ display or proposal of knowledge.
Sample analysis of pedagogic ac3vity
The task in this example (the teacher’s goal) is for the students to learn the English
word for ‘fell’. The teacher used a picture of a man who is about to fall and a word
card.
MaPer
'Ma\er’ refers to kinds of knowledge that is being exchanged
by teachers and students (Rose, 2018).

The types of ‘ma\er’ depends on the text the teacher is

teaching and on our decision as the analysts as we look at our
data.
 A complete
Map of
System of
Cycle Phases
2. Pedagogic modali3es
Pedagogic modaliGes refer to mul=ple semio=c resources
involved in teacher-learner exchanges as knowledge is being
nego=ated orally, wri\en or online, and kinaesthe=cally.

The analysis of pedagogic modali=es is concerned with

sources for bringing meanings into classroom discourse (Rose,
2014, 2018).
Pedagogic modali=es consist of the mode of communica=on in
the teaching and learning, which involves sources and
sourcing of meanings.
Sources and sourcing of meanings
1. Sources of meaning in the discourse can be spoken or
discussion (e.g. individual knowledge or shared knowledge
from prior lesson), recorded (e.g. texts, images), or
phenomena in the environment (e.g. thing, person, place)
(Rose, 2018).

2. Sourcing refers to the means by which meanings are brought

into the classroom talk. This may be realised by a teacher
poin,ng to an image or by a student inferring from a picture.
• Options for sources of
meanings (Rose, 2014)
Sample analysis of pedagogic modali3es
From the exchange above we can see that the modaliOes involved recorded
sources in the form of a picture and a word card.
IniOally, the meaning was brought into the discourse by the teacher poin)ng
to the picture of a man falling.

The acOon depicted in the picture was inferred by the students and
idenOfied as ‘jatuh’ (fall).

Building on the students’ current understanding, the teacher brought a new

wording in English by presen)ng or recasOng ‘jatuh’ as ‘fell’ and poin)ng to
the graphology of the wording through visual support.

To effecCvely bring a parCcular meaning into EFL learners’ repertoires can

require the use of different semioCc sources and sourcing.
3. Pedagogic relations
Pedagogic relaGons refer to social rela=ons enacted between
teachers and learners, between creators of texts and learners,
as well as rela=ons between learners.