Redefining conceptions of grammar in English education in Asia: SFL in practice

This  case  study  analyzes  how  a  Taiwanese  EFL  teacher  participating  in  a  U.S.  based MATESOL program made sense of systemic functional linguistics (SFL) and genre based pedagogy  in  designing  and  reflecting  on  literacy  instruction  for  EFL  learners  in  Taiwan. Using  longitudinal  ethnographic  methods,  the  findings  indicate  that  this  teacher’s conceptualization  of  grammar  shifted  from  a  traditional  sentence-level,  form-focused perspective  to  a  more  functional  understanding  operating  in  interconnected  ways  across genre and register features of  texts. This shift occurred as she developed an ability to use SFL to discover how language works in children’s literature. However, the degree to which  this  teacher  was  able  to  use  SFL  and  genre  based  pedagogy  in  classroom  practice was  influenced  by  the  mandated  curriculum  framework  and  assessment  practices  in  the context  of  where  she  taught  when  she  returned  to  Taiwan.  The  implications  of  this  study relate  to  re-conceptualizing  grammar  in  EFL  instruction  and  teacher  education  in  Asian contexts.

Keywords:

Systemic Functional Linguistics , Genre theory , Children’s literature , EFL literacy , L۲ teacher education