Using a Systemic Functional Linguistics Genre Approach to Help EFL Pre-Service Teachers Write Research Proposals

Abstract

This article presents the results of a qualitative research study that aimed to explore the benefits of implementing a Systemic-Functional Linguistics (SFL) genre-based approach to help a group of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) pre-service teachers write the statement of the problem section of their research proposals. The implementation comprised a series of writing workshops and individual tutoring sessions with students designed following the principles of the SFL genre-based curriculum cycle. To gain better insights into the benefits of this approach, the workshop sessions, the individual tutoring sessions, and the individual student interviews were audio-recorded. In addition, samples of students’ drafts and final texts were collected and analyzed. The findings show that the approach has the potential to enhance students’ awareness of how to structure arguments in the statement of the problem section of their research proposal. Students also improved their ability to elaborate on each argument that they put forward throughout the section.