Text Deconstruction for Language Teaching: a Systemic Functional Linguistics Analytical Grid

Summary In this talk, I’ll show a simple and systematic way to deconstruct texts to extract teachable content for students. This is based on systemic functional linguistics/genre approach to literacy and has a long history and demonstrated impact in language teaching, in several contexts such as EAP, EAL and EFL. The approach is a coherent analysis of meaning at whole text, paragraph, and sentence level. In this session we’ll focus on a text taken from a Science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) discipline.

Knowing this basic text deconstruction approach is empowering because it makes visible the typical features of specific genres, it can be applied to any text by teachers and students and can become a habitual lens through which to see texts. The talk will enable us to discuss language as a resource for meaning-making, and to consider the deliberate choices writers make to achieve their communication goals. This approach moves away from an ‘ideal competence’ view of language and of the student as deficient and makes meaning the focus of study, opening the door to transforming our students and ourselves into (critical) discourse analysts.

Biography: Dr Laetitia Monbec

I have recently taken a position at the University of Leeds in the UK after teaching EAP and CLIL (content and language integrated learning) modules in colour semiotics in the National University of Singapore and previously at City University in Hong Kong. My doctoral research focused on Systemic Functional Linguistics/genre approach to EAP curriculum and on transfer from EAP. I am interested in social semiotics, including language and multimodal communication, critical thinking, communicating in STEM, agency and identity of EAP practitioners and discourse analysis for language teachers.