and the word became text: to the clause and beyond · limitations of “parts of speech” –...

And the word became text:

to the clause and beyond

Daniel O’Sullivan

Sessional Teacher – MEB Uni Clayton Campus

Professional Development Day

3rd November 2015

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And the word became text:

to the clause and beyond

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3rd November 2015And the word became text 3

Agenda

1 Layers of language

2 The elephant in the room

3 From the word to the group

4 From the group to the clause

5 From the clause to the sentence

6 Activities/practice

Layers of language: from the word to text

Text (genre): reports, essays, summaries etc.

Paragraphs: “introduction”, “body”, “conclusion”

Sentences: simple, compound, complex, non-defining clauses

Clauses: clause structure

Groups: group/phrase structure – from simple to complex (def. clauses)

Words: spelling, pronunciation features

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Layers of language: top-down/bottom-up

Text (genre): reports, essays, summaries etc.

Paragraphs: “introduction”, “body”, “conclusion”

Sentences: simple, compound, complex, non-defining clauses

Clauses: clause structure

Groups: group/phrase structure – from simple to complex (def. clauses)

Words: spelling, pronunciation features

3rd November 2015http://search2sales.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/peeling_onion1.jpg 5

Whole text Paragraph Sentence

(grammar)

Word

(grammar &

lexis)

Expressing

ideas

?

Developing

ideas

Interacting

with others

Organizing

cohesive texts


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Grammar: from the word to the clause

Words

groups

clauses


Words

Word class: how would you explain these words to a student?

adjective adverb noun

verb article conjunction

preposition pronoun

Parts of speech identify the class of a word and are a good starting point.

However, they fail to cover the linguistic complexity that our students face.


Limitations of “parts of speech”

What is the class of Bathurst, town and country in the following

clauses?

– Bathurst is a town in the country.

– Bathurst is a country town.

– My cousin has bought a town house in Bathurst.

– Stop here for a real Bathurst experience.







Bathurst, town and country in sentence 1 are nouns. But what

about country in sentence 2, town in 3 or even Bathurst in 4? In

terms of Class, they are nouns, but here they play in different role in

terms of Function. How can we make this visible to students?


What now?

Moving above and beyond the words to larger ‘blocks’ of meaning

Taking the step from class to function


From words to groups: nominal groups

What are the nominal groups?







What are the nominal groups?







The identification of a word class doesn’t always aid understanding

How do we understand meaning in nominal groups?

How can we teach this?


Nominal groups: “traditional” grammar

Adjectives the delicious food

Noun modifiers the college student, chicken soup

Determiners:

– Articles a, an, the

– Demonstratives this, that

– Possessives my, his, her

– Quantifiers some, many

Complement:

– Prepositional phrases the student of physics

– ‘That’ clause the idea that the world is

a small village

- Subject Complement The best car safety device is a rear-view mirror with a cop

in it. (In this example, the first noun phrase is the subject,

and the second is a subject complement.) (Resource: http://www.grammar-monster.com/glossary/noun_phrases.htm

193rd November 2015And the word became text

http://www.grammar-monster.com/glossary/subject_complement.htm

Nominal groups: a functional perspective


Introducing this in class

Give an example identifying the function of the words


Activities with nominal groups

Students identify nominal groups in a text

Classify nominal groups into topic groups

Identify different functional parts

Modify describing adjectives

Substitute describing adjectives

Substitute a classifier

Extend description using describers and classifiers

Extend description using defining clauses and prepositional phrases


Why is this useful?

Consider the following clause/sentence:

The term moraine refers to the rock debris carried or deposited by a glacier

What problems might a student have when reading this?

Which word(s) might students identify as the main verb?

What affect will this have on understanding meaning?


Why is this useful?

With an understanding of the nominal group:

The term moraine refers to the rock debris carried or deposited by a glacier

The nominal group includes a defining clause

The defining clause includes 2 verbs

The main verb now becomes visible to the students



Nominal groups are useful for understanding meaning and vocabulary

development.

Word banks of factual describers, classifiers and technical terms can be

built up when learning about a particular topic.

The nominal group also provides a meaningful context for addressing

some of the grammatical challenges students face with articles, word

order, prepositions and defining relative clauses.


Group: verbs and verbal groups

A verbal group may consist of a single word or several words.

In English, the verbal group is the central part of a clause/sentence and

identifies the tense, aspect, voice, modality etc. In other languages, the

verbal group may not do so.

Students often struggle to identify the verb/verbal group, and hence the

central idea, in a clause/sentence. If they struggle to identify this, then

their writing suffers.


Verbal groups

Auxiliary and/or main verbs

Type of verb (action/thinking/linking/reporting/ etc.)

Phrasal verbs (turn off the light)

Passive verbs (the grammar was understood by the students)

Tense and aspect (I walk, I was going to walk, I have walked)

Modality (I can/will/must study)

Multi-word verb groups (Everyone should be allowed to finish eating)

Non-finite verb groups (To be or not to be)


Group: circumstances


Group level: 3 functional groups

Nouns and nominal groups function as participants (e.g. subjects and

objects) to identify who/what’s involved

Verbs and verbal groups function processes to identify what’s happening

Circumstances function to give extra information such as place, time,

manner, accompaniment etc.

)


3rd November 2015http://stories4learning.com/moodle/course/view.php?id=15 32

Introducing these ideas in class

Give a model

Hand-over control to students

Build through feedback


Modeling layers


Students identify group function


Consolidation


Group level: 3 functional groups

The concepts of participants, processes and circumstances are

categories which explain in the most general way how phenomena,

ideas and experience are expressed in linguistic structures

Halliday & Matthiesen (2004: 178)

Once students can identify the groups in terms of the meanings they

make, then they are ready to think about their formation.


From the groups to the clause

A clause must have a verb/verbal group


Ambiguity

“This morning, I shot an elephant in my pyjamas”

What he was doing in my pyjamas, I’ll never know!


Meaning in context


Making groups and meaning visible

How? - By using colours!

Verb = red

Participant (subject/object) = black/blue

Circumstance = green


3rd November 2015https://twitter.com/jodie__martin/status/635641919754768385/photo/1 42

https://twitter.com/jodie__martin/status/635641919754768385/photo/1

Clause structure

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Blending class, function and group


Clause structure


From clauses to sentences

A clause must have a main verb/verbal group

A sentence contains at least one clause


Sentence types

A simple sentence contains one clause

A compound sentence contains 2 (or more) independent clauses

A complex sentence contains 2 (or more) clauses, of which there must be

an independent clause and one (or more) dependent clauses


Conjunctions/linking words

Between clauses?

– Compound (BOAS/FANBOYS)

– Complex (while/if/non-defining etc.)

Between sentences? Adverbials/text organisers?

More advanced

“Internal” = link ideas in clauses/sentences/paragraphs (paragraph level)

(so/and/although etc.)

“External” = rhetorically organise ideas/paragraphs across text (text level)

(on the other hand/in conclusion etc.)


Linking clauses and sentences


Sentence – clause – group – word

Top-down

Identify the number of sentences

Identify the number of clauses by highlighting verbs/verbal groups

Identify linking words (and logic relations) between clauses/sentences

Identify the functional groups within the clauses

Check meaning/understanding/function of words


Word – group – clause – sentence

Bottom-up

Check meaning/understanding/function of words

Identify the functional groups within the clauses

Identify the number of clauses by highlighting verbs/verbal groups

Identify linking words (and logic) between clauses and/or sentences


Group 1: Word/group level

– Identifying topic-based vocabulary/strands

– Word grammar/function/collocation

– Nominal relations: composition (parts/wholes)

classification (types)

Group 2: clause/sentence level

– Identifying main verb/verbal groups

– Identifying linking words (between clauses or sentences)

– logical relations

Group 3: nominal groups

– Construction and function

– Building subject-specific knowledge in nominal groups


Function Examples of linguistic resources Relation to context

Expressing ideas Grammatical elements that build clauses

Constructing technical, specialized and

formal knowledge of a discipline

The topic or subject

Field

Connecting ideas Composition and classification

Conjunctions of cause, contrast etc

Relationships

between topics and

sub-topics

Interacting with

others

Evaluative language

Rhetorical resources like modality and

concession

Relationship between

writer and audience

Creating well-

organized and

cohesive texts

Organisers – text previews and topic

sentences

Cohesive devices

Channel of

communication as

spoken or written







Field



Relationships

between topics and

sub-topics

Interacting with

others

Evaluative language


concession


writer and audience

Creating well-

organized and

cohesive texts


sentences

Cohesive devices

Channel of

communication as

spoken or written







Field



Relationships

between topics and

sub-topics

Interacting with

others

Evaluative language


concession


writer and audience

Creating well-

organized and

cohesive texts

Organisers – textual connections; text

previews and topic sentences

Cohesive devices

Channel of

communication as

spoken or written


References Droga, L. & Humphrey, S. (2002). Getting started with functional grammar. Berry, NSW: Target Texts.

Droga, L, Humphrey, S. & Feez, S. (2012). Grammar and meaning. Newtown, NSW: PETAA.

Functional grammar for teachers. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://stories4learning.com/moodle/course/view.php?id=15

Halliday, M.A.K. & Matthiessen, C.M.I.M. (2004). An introduction to functional grammar. 3rd edition, London: Edward Arnold.

Humphrey, Sally. (2013). And the word became text: A 4 x 4 toolkit for scaffolding writing in secondary English [online]. English in Australia, Vol.

48 (1). pp 46-55. Retrieved from: http://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=322874681976965;res=IELHSS

Nominal phrases and nominalisation. week 14. [Powerpoint slides]. Retrieved from Moodle MEB Dip

Images

Martin, J. [jodie__martin]. (2015, Aug. 23). Sometimes I think I have more fun doing my job than I really should. #sysfunc #transitivity [Tweet].

Retrieved from https://twitter.com/jodie__martin/status/635641919754768385/photo/1

Martin, J. [jodie__martin]. (2015, Aug 23). Hm... it's made it into the lecture. Gone more w the atom/solar system pic analogy than evil eye.

[Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/jodie__martin/status/635656382524452864/photo/1



http://search2sales.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/peeling_onion1.jpg

http://www.condenaststore.com/-sp/I-m-right-there-in-the-room-and-no-one-even-acknowledges-me-New-Yorker-Cartoon-Prints_i8545100_.htm

http://www.someecards.com/usercards/viewcard/MjAxMy01MjdmYWU1NzIzN2FkNzQy


http://stories4learning.com/moodle/course/view.php?id=15

http://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=322874681976965;res=IELHSS

https://twitter.com/hashtag/sysfunc?src=hash

https://twitter.com/hashtag/transitivity?src=hash





http://search2sales.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/peeling_onion1.jpg

http://www.condenaststore.com/-sp/I-m-right-there-in-the-room-and-no-one-even-acknowledges-me-New-Yorker-Cartoon-Prints_i8545100_.htm

http://www.someecards.com/usercards/viewcard/MjAxMy01MjdmYWU1NzIzN2FkNzQy

and the word became text: to the clause and beyond · limitations of “parts of speech” –...

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