Joshua Schulze

Emergent Bilingual Learners (EBs) need language-focused instructional support if they are to access content, make meaning, and engage critically with academic texts in English. Text analysis informed by systemic functional linguistics (SFL) helps teachers identify "the language of schooling" (Schleppegrell, 2004) which they will need to make visible to their students. The authors, both teacher educators in an ESOL endorsement program, recognize that both the teacher candidates who are analyzing texts and the students whose instruction will be informed by the analysis engage in literacy practices that may not be recognized and valued by all teachers or aligned with the language demands of mandatory, highstakes assessments. With that in mind, we envision a text analysis assignment that promotes language as meaning based, rather than rule based, and additive, rather than subtractive (Garcia, 2009) in terms of the language resources of teachers and students in language learning settings. Additionally, we look for ways to support our teacher candidates in interrogating texts critically as part of their analysis to uncover dominant perspectives. This practice-based article models the process of SFL-based text analysis facilitated by a text analysis tool we designed. The goal is that teachers can apply what they have learned from their analysis to create language-focused instruction that both supports academic language learning and promotes critical stances towards the connections between language choices and meaning making in specific academic contexts/disciplines. Additionally, we encourage teachers to use a variation of this text analysis format with students to explore how language is used in the text to develop all languages in the students' linguistic repertoire.

This article aims to demonstrate the application of theory to teaching practice by examining how two teacher educators drew upon systemic functional linguistics (SFL) as a pedagogical and analytical tool to inform their teaching of reflective writing to Mandarin-dominant teacher candidates enrolled in an ESOL course within an educator preparation program at a university using English Medium Instruction (EMI) in China. First, the authors describe how they incorporated the SFL appraisal framework into their teaching to bring their multilingual student writers’ attention to the language of evaluation as they prepared to construct reflective language learning autobiographies. Second, the authors demonstrate how SFL-informed text analysis of the appraisal resources used within students’ written reflections deepened their understanding of their students’ reflective writing practices and informed their teaching and course development. The article concludes with suggestions for using the SF...

Students in US schools are required to make meaning from linguistically complex texts. Teachers are often inadequately prepared to create language-focused instruction because they lack a deep knowledge of language (KOL) themselves. Therefore, teacher educators must apprentice pre-service teachers in developing their KOL and demonstrate how to use that linguistic knowledge to inform their pedagogy. The theory of Systemic functional linguistics (SFL) has been introduced into some teacher preparation programs across the English-speaking world to enhance new teachers' KOL. This study examines the pedagogy used to introduce SFL theory to future teachers and highlights some of the challenges pre-service teachers experience as they explore SFL theory. Findings suggest that the incorporation of SFL theory within the course deepened pre-service teachers' KOL and confidence in using that knowledge to design effective instruction for linguistically diverse students, but that difficulti...

Teacher educators need linguistic tools to help preservice teachers develop a deeper understanding of the academic language demands of the literacy practices required by the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Systemic functional linguistics (SFL) serves as a tool for developing teachers’ knowledge of content-area language. Teachers’ increased knowledge of language facilitates the construction of language-focused instruction to support the academic literacy development of English language learners. I introduce SFL theory and illustrate how I put the theory into practice to support the literacy development of beginning-level English language learners in a middle school classroom. I include recommendations for teachers and teacher educators regarding how to embed the theory in classroom practice and teacher preparation.

This study explores how a genre-based approach to writing instruction influenced by both genre theory and systemic functional linguistics supported the academic writing development of English language learners (ELLs) transitioning to middle school. Drawing on Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) as a tool for pedagogy and linguistic analysis, the teacher-researcher analyzed three instantiations of texts composed by ELLs to determine changes in the register of their texts during the course of genre-based writing pedagogy. Methods were qualitative in nature, involving both analysis of the text and the surrounding context of composition. Data came from multiple sources. They included videotaped observations of classroom interactions, transcriptions of semi-structured interviews with the student, collection of lesson plans, and materials used in lesson implementation, and field notes made by the participant observer. Findings suggest that a genre-based approach to writing instruction s...

This article shares insights developed by two US-based professors as they co-taught an introductory ESOL education course within a teacher education program at a major Chinese university. Namely, the authors discuss how their perspectives on curriculum and instruction for Chinese pre-service teachers were enriched by their experience teaching in an early childhood education program in China. Employing qualitative data analysis methods to reflect on teaching and classroom interactions, the authors identify strengths and challenges of delivering an education course in China and share recommendations for improving teacher education courses for Chinese-speaking students, particularly those who intend to study abroad in US higher education contexts.

This article presents the findings of a qualitative case study which stems from a teacher action-research project that analyzes the persuasive academic writing practices of an adolescent, beginning-level English language learner (ELL) and the teaching practices of a veteran English as second language teacher (the author).  The author, who is also the teacher and researcher, details the implementation of a Systemic Functional Linguistic (SFL)-based pedagogy designed to support ELLs in increasing their control of the linguistic resources necessary to write persuasive texts in school contexts. The SFL analysis of written persuasive arguments composed by the focal student before and after the implementation of the SFL-based pedagogy indicates the student’s increased control of both discourse structure and register. This purpose of the study is twofold: to present a detailed exploration of SFL pedagogy in practice and to demonstrate how teachers can use SFL to understand the developing w...

This research examines how elementary English language learners(ELLs) used intertextuality as a resource to compose informational texts. The research examines ELLs’ use of intertextuality (Fairclough, 1992, 2003; Lancia, 1997) as a resource for developing generic competence (Bhatia, 2002). Using the tools of critical discourse analysis (CDA) and systemic functional linguistics (SFL), the researchers locate instances of manifest intertextuality to evaluate the extent of reliance on intertextual resources. While findings suggest strong reliance on intertextual resources and thus the potential to see this appropriation as a form of “transgressive intertextuality” (Pennycook, 2004), the close SFL analysis revealed that students’ grammatical moves to make the text their own have the potential to increase their linguistic control over the target genre of informational text.

Educators of English language learners (ELLs) frequently use test preparation materials to help ELLs prepare for high stakes language exams. This study uses tools of systemic functional linguistics (SFL) to examine how academic language is used to construct meaning within these test preparation materials. While the test preparation materials and available test excerpts contain a range of genres, this study focuses particularly on informational texts with scientific topics, designed for upper elementary students. The results highlight  pedagogical advantages of using SFL to develop genre awareness in ELLs by attending to the linguistic features evident in the genre.

This article aims to demonstrate the application of theory to teaching practice by examining how two teacher educators drew upon systemic functional linguistics (SFL) as a pedagogical and analytical tool to inform their teaching of reflective writing to Mandarin-dominant teacher candidates enrolled in an ESOL course within an educator preparation program at a university using English Medium Instruction (EMI) in China. First, the authors describe how they incorporated the SFL appraisal framework into their teaching to bring their multilingual student writers' attention to the language of evaluation as they prepared to construct reflective language learning autobiographies. Second, the authors demonstrate how SFL-informed text analysis of the appraisal resources used within students' written reflections deepened their understanding of their students' reflective writing practices and informed their teaching and course development. The article concludes with suggestions for using the SFL appraisal framework to support the reflective writing of their multilingual teacher candidates.

Translanguaging has become a "hot topic" in the field of teaching and learning English as a new language; however, experienced ESL teachers have long recognized that culturally and linguistically diverse students bring unique strengths to language learning classrooms. One of those strengths is their ability to use what they already know about language to help them navigate a new linguistic system. This article shares a practical perspective on the theory of translanguaging and demonstrates how translanguaging practices may be used in classrooms to foster English language development across the language domains.

This teaching tip introduces the " Teachers as Language Detectives " strategy. The purpose of this strategy is to assist in-service teachers in analyzing the academic language demands of the texts used in their teaching. By analyzing these texts for linguistic demands, they can inform their instruction and ensure that their lessons adequately and explicitly address these linguistic features with their students.

Students in US schools are required to make meaning from linguistically complex texts. Teachers are often inadequately prepared to create language-focused instruction because they lack a deep knowledge of language (KOL) themselves. Therefore, teacher educators must apprentice pre-service teachers in developing their KOL and demonstrate how to use that linguistic knowledge to inform their pedagogy. The theory of Systemic functional linguistics (SFL) has been introduced into some teacher preparation programs across the English-speaking world to enhance new teachers' KOL. This study examines the pedagogy used to introduce SFL theory to future teachers and highlights some of the challenges pre-service teachers experience as they explore SFL theory. Findings suggest that the incorporation of SFL theory within the course deepened pre-service teachers' KOL and confidence in using that knowledge to design effective instruction for linguistically diverse students, but that difficulties remained in transferring that linguistic knowledge to robust language focused instructional practice. Implications for teacher education and suggestions for successfully introducing the theory are discussed. Teacher education program standards such as the Interstate New Teachers Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC) require new teachers to develop content knowledge of their subject matter which includes understanding how academic language works in the disciplines they teach. In spite of this demand for teachers to have a deep knowledge of academic language, teacher preparation programs in the US have not typically integrated linguistic theory within their courses in ways that adequately support the new teachers' KOL (Brisk, Homza & Smith, 2014; Gebhard, Chen, Graham, & Gunawan, 2013). To address the gap in pre-service teachers' (KOL), some teacher educators have begun to integrate SFL into their teacher preparation course sequences for pre-service teachers (Gebhard & Willett, 2015; Schulze, 2015). How to integrate SFL theory effectively into teacher preparation programs so that new educators develop a linguistic awareness and use that KOL to develop robust language-focused pedagogy is an area that needs further exploration. The purpose of this article is to illuminate the effective pedagogical practices used to increase pre-service teachers KOL and shed light on the challenges and benefits of integrating SFL into teacher education programs. Namely, it addresses the following question: How does integrating SFL into a literacy methods class for pre-service teachers enhance their knowledge of language? 1. Systemic Functional Linguistics The functional perspective of language introduced during the course was derived from Halliday's theory of systemic functional linguistics (SFL) (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2014). SFL is a sociocultural-based view of language that contends that language users construct meaning by making linguistic choices and employ language to accomplish tasks in particular contexts (Halliday & Hasan, 1989).

Teacher educators need linguistic tools to help preservice teachers develop a deeper understanding of the academic language demands of the literacy practices required by the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Systemic functional linguistics (SFL) serves as a tool for developing teachers’ knowledge of content-area language. Teachers’ increased knowledge of language facilitates the construction of language-focused instruction to support the academic literacy development of English language learners. I introduce SFL theory and illustrate how I put the theory into practice to support the literacy development of beginning-level English language learners in a middle school classroom. I include recommendations for teachers and teacher educators regarding how to embed the theory in classroom practice and teacher preparation.

This research examines how elementary English language learners(ELLs) used intertextuality as a resource to compose informational texts. The research examines ELLs’ use of intertextuality (Fairclough, 1992, 2003; Lancia, 1997) as a resource for developing generic competence (Bhatia, 2002). Using the tools of critical discourse analysis (CDA) and systemic functional linguistics (SFL), the researchers locate instances of manifest intertextuality to evaluate the extent of reliance on intertextual resources. While findings suggest strong reliance on intertextual resources and thus the potential to see this appropriation as a form of “transgressive intertextuality” (Pennycook, 2004), the close SFL analysis revealed that students’ grammatical moves to make the text their own have the potential to increase their linguistic control over the target genre of informational text.
Key words: English Language Learners, Elementary School, Intertextuality, Critical Discourse Analysis, Systemic Functional Linguistics, Genre, Informational Texts