Language in Action: SFL Theory Across Contexts

Language in Action: SFL Theory across Contexts brings together recent research in elementary and secondary education, higher education, and translation studies, informed by Systemic Functional Linguistics. Authors reporting from a range of international contexts offer new insights into curriculum and instructional issues in subjects including history, physical education, and mathematics, with a focus on development of students’ reading, writing, and disciplinary literacy skills.

The chapters also report on studies in teacher education and student learning in settings where Spanish, Danish, or English are the languages of instruction, and the development of advanced academic writing in these languages is a particular focus of studies in higher education. The translation studies offer new perspectives on translation from classical Chinese literature and Italian museum texts. Across the volume, the chapters present innovations in genre pedagogy, pedagogical and methodological uses of SFL metalanguage, and approaches to curriculum development and school-based research. The authors draw on functional grammar, register theory, Appraisal, and Legitimation Code Theory to offer new analytic approaches and insights.

This book offers readers a range of work that can inspire and inform researchers and students interested in new approaches to Systemic Functional Linguistics in action.

Maria Estela Brisk is Professor of Education at Boston College. Mary J. Schleppegrell is Professor of Education at the University of Michigan.