Using systemic functional grammar in the media classroom: Increasing students’ ability to produce and analyse media texts

Abstract

This article explores the use of Systemic Functional Grammar in a module for University students entitled Analysing Media Texts. This module aims at assisting students to produce their own texts and to help them develop an understanding of the linguistic choices they make. Students are introduced to the key principles of CDA and to Halliday's SFG to provide them with tools to assist them to understand the social and constructed nature of discourses, especially those typically found in media texts. This article follows on (Clarence-Fincham 2000), which focuses on students' interpretation of media texts, their ability to read with greater understanding and to apply key concepts that they had learnt to their analyses. The students demonstrated clearly that they had developed an understanding of CDA, acquired the basic metalanguage necessary for Hallidayan analysis and some of them could produce much more rigorous textual analyses than before. This article focuses on the engagement and high level of motivation students showed when asked to produce their own texts. Examples of the texts are given of texts produced and analysed by the students. Students reported that choosing and constructing their own texts had been both beneficial and enjoyable. However, students were able to produce fine-tuned linguistic analysis in the time allottedsome of them still resorted to extremely mechanistic analyses which took no explicit account of the purpose or function of the language and still less of the significance of the linguistic choices made.

Cda of Gus Ipul’s Political Advertising in 2018-East-Java-Regional Election

“…Besides, the elements in the context of situation, namely fields, tenors and modes of discourse were also used for data analysis tools in the stages of description and interpretation. As for the explanation phase, context of culture elements were included in the analysis (Clarence-Fincham, 2001).…”

“…There are three levels of critical discourse analysis (CDA) viz description, interpretation, and explanation. On the process of description, a discourse is seen from Komunikasi, ISSN: 1979-2522, ISSN:2549-0168 (online) DOI: https://doi.org/10.14421/pjk.v12i2.1693 its correlation to a formal property of textlike vocabulary, syntax, phonology, semantics, etc.either within one clause or between clauses which is correlated to cohesion among sentences (Clarence-Fincham, 2001).…”

Using Systemic Functional Grammar Approach for Developing EFL Written Grammar Skills and Reducing EFL Writing Anxiety among Student Teachers at the Faculty of Education

“…Therefore, learning grammar is crucial because it plays a key role in the four basic linguistic domains: listening, speaking, reading, and writing and will also have an impact on learners' further development (Kinet, 2018). Clarence-Fincham (2001) points out that grammar courses seek to equip EFL student teachers with declarative knowledge about grammar in their own teaching. In this sense, the declarative knowledge about grammar that EFL student teachers need to handle can be taught and learned following different conceptions of language.…”

“…Here, teaching is highly form-focused (Harmer, 2001). GTM allows language learners to focus solely on grammar items in isolation (Clarence-Fincham, 2001). In this case, EFL students have trouble in developing the functional use of the language in different social contexts since teachers are mainly concentrating on teaching students grammar as rules.…”

“…To sum up, functional linguistics foregrounds linguistic choice and treats structures as derivable from the choices made via realization rules: the semantics-grammar relationship is a realization relationship. (Clarence-Fincham, 2001).…”