The Learning of Personal Pronouns Through the Explicit Teaching of Transitivity by Students of English As a Second Language: a Systemic-Functional Approach
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UNIVERSIDAD COMPLUTENSE DE MADRID FACULTAD DE FILOLOGÍA Departamento de Filología Inglesa I (Lengua y Lingüística Inglesa) TESIS DOCTORAL El aprendizaje de los pronombres personales a través de la enseñanza explícita de la transitividad por estudiantes de Inglés como Segunda Lengua: un enfoque sistémico-funcional The learning of personal pronouns through the explicit teaching of transitivity by students of English as a Second Language: a Systemic-Functional approach MEMORIA PARA OPTAR AL GRADO DE DOCTORA PRESENTADA POR Mª Inmaculada López Bermudo Directores Marta Carretero Lapeyre Jorge Arús Hita Madrid, 2015 To my mother Inés and to the memory of my father Antonio, who considered education relevant Acknowledgements First and foremost I want to thank my advisors Marta Carretero Lapeyre and Jorge Arús Hita. It has been an honor to be their Ph.D. student. I appreciate their experience, knowledge and contributions to make my Ph.D. experience productive and enriching throughout this time. I am thankful to all the teachers who dedicated some of their scarce and valuable time to this project collecting exercises and keeping students on task. I am also thankful to my family, friends and to those who considered this project worth of so many days’ work and dedication. Finally, I want to thank my sister Mercedes who helped me through financial difficulties. CONTENTS page List of tables…………………………………………………………………...…….....xiii List of figures…………………………………………………………………...……...xiv List of graphs…………………………………………………………………………....xv List of illustrations……………………………………………………………………..xvi Abbreviations……………………………………………………………………........xvii Summary of this doctoral thesis in Spanish……………………………………………1 Summary of this doctoral thesis in English………………………………………..…15 PART I. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Origin of the thesis and research questions……………………………………….....29 1.1.1 Organization of the thesis………………………………………………….…....30 1.1.2 Types of grammar………………………………………………………………31 1.1.3 A note on terminology…………………………………………………….…….33 1.1.4 Linguistic applications of SFG…………………………………………….........33 1.1.5 Why the clause………………………………………………………….………36 1.1.6 The Rank scale………………………………………………………………….39 1.2 SFG in detail………………………………………………………………….……..42 1.2.1 Metafunctions…………………………………………………………….…….42 1.2.1.1 Interpersonal Metafunction: clause as exchange………………………….…….42 1.2.1.1.1 Mood………………………………………………………………….…….43 1.2.1.1.2 Residue………………………………………………………………..……44 1.2.1.2 Ideational Metafunction: clause as representation………………………………45 1.2.1.2.1 Processes and Participants…………………………………………………..46 1.2.1.2.2 Material Processes………………………………………………………48 1.2.1.2.3 Mental Processes…………………………………………………..........50 1.2.1.2.4 Relational Processes……………………………………………….........51 1.2.1.2.5 Behavioral Processes……………………………………………………54 1.2.1.2.6 Verbal Processes………………………………………………………..55 1.2.1.2.7 Existential Processes……………………………………………………56 1.2.1.2.8 Range………………………………………………………………………57 1.2.1.2.8.1 Definition…………………………………………………………………...57 1.2.1.2.8.2 The Range across clauses……………………………………………...........57 1.2.1.2.9 Circumstances………………………………………………………………60 1.2.1.2.10 A note on transitivity………………………………………………………..64 1.2.1.3 Textual Metafunction: the clause as message…………………………………...68 1.2.1.3.1 Theme and Mood……………………………………………………...........69 1.2.1.3.2 Types of Themes…………………………………………………………....71 1.2.2 The concept of Subject………………………………………………………….73 1.2.3 Voice……………………………………………………………………………75 1.2.4 Above the clause: the clause complex…………………………………………..78 1.2.4.1 Three types of projection………………………………………………………..80 1.2.5 Around the clause: cohesion ………………………………………………...........81 1.2.5.1 Lexicogrammatical resources of cohesion……………………………………...83 1.2.5.1.1 Conjunctions………………………………………………………………….84 1.2.5.1.2 Ellipsis and substitution……………………………………………………….85 1.2.5.1.3 Lexical cohesion……………………………………………………………....86 1.2.5.1.4 Reference……………………………………………………………………..87 1.2.5.1.4.1 Pronouns from a traditional perspective…………………………………….89 ix 1.2.5.1.4.2 Personal reference from a SFG perspective………………………………....94 1.2.5.1.4.3 The discourse function of pronouns………………………………………....96 1.2.5.1.4.4 Certain problems with personal pronouns……………………………….....99 1.2.6 Register………………………………………………………………………….102 PART II. SFG AND LANGUAGE EDUCATION 2.1 SFG and literacy…………………………………………………………………...107 2.2 Written language…………………………………………………………………..111 2.3 Language throughout the school years……………………………………….........117 2.3.1 Early childhood…………………………………………………………….........117 2.3.2 Late childhood to early adolescence……………………………………………..119 2.3.3 The years of mid-adolescence…………………………………………………...123 2.3.4 Late adolescence to adulthood…………………………………………………...125 2.4 Developing literacy across school years and subjects………………………...........127 2.5 School subjects…………………………………………………………………….130 2.5.1 History…………………………………………………………………….…….131 2.5.2 English literary studies…………………………………………………………..134 2.5.3 Geography………………………………………………………………….........135 2.5.4 Science…………………………………………………………………………..138 2.5.5 Final remarks on school subjects………………………………………………...141 2.6 The Australian case…………………………………………………………..........142 2.6.1 The Language and Social Power Project………………………………….……..144 2.6.2 Write it Right/the Right to Write………………………………………………...148 2.6.3 Reading to Learn (R2L)………………………………………………………….151 2.6.4 The outcomes……………………………………………………………………154 PART III. SFG: A CLASSROOM RESEARCH 3.1 First considerations…………………………………………………………..........159 3.1.1 Motivations for the present research…………………………………………......159 3.1.2 Some concepts……………………………………………………….…………..163 3.1.2.1 Learning and acquisition………………………………………………............163 3.1.2.2 The Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH)………………………………………...164 3.1.2.3 Factors influencing language learning………………………………………....166 3.1.2.4 Language Transfer…………………………………………………………….168 3.1.2.5 Interlanguage………………………………………………………………….169 3.1.3 Previous studies on pronouns……………………………………………............170 3.1.3.1 Acquiring personal pronouns………………………………………………….170 3.1.3.2 Learning personal pronouns…………………………………………………...174 3.1.4 Language learning and language teaching……………………………………….176 3.1.4.1 Approaches to language learning…………………………………….………..177 3.1.4.2 Language teaching methods……………………………………………...........183 3.1.5 Form-Focused instruction (FFI)……………………………………..…………..187 3.1.6 Language teaching/learning from a SFG perspective……………….…………...193 3.1.7 ESL different from EFL……………………………………………….………...202 3.1.8 Reasons behind this research…………………………………………..………...207 3.2 Research design………………………………………………………….………...212 3.2.1 The teacher as researcher………………………………………………………...212 3.2.2 The learning context: school, setting and subjects………………….…………....215 3.2.2.1 School……………………………………………………………..…………..215 3.2.2.2 Setting…………………………………………………………….…………...218 x 3.2.2.3 Subjects………………………………………………………………………..219 3.2.3 The classroom research………………………………………………………….221 3.2.3.1 Identification of a problem…………………………………………………….223 3.2.3.2 General purpose of the research………………………………….………….....225 3.2.3.3 Research hypotheses…………………………………………………………..225 3.2.3.4 Description of the research design……………………………………………..226 3.2.3.4.1 Procedures………………………………………………………...................234 3.2.3.4.2 Learning objectives………………………………………………………….255 3.2.4 Data collection……………………………………………………..……………258 3.2.4.1 Pre-tasks……………………………………………………………………….258 3.2.4.2 Post-tasks…………………………………………………………...................261 3.2.4.3 Follow-ups…………………………………………………………………….264 3.2.4.3.1 Follow-up 1………………………………………………………………….264 3.2.4.3.2 Follow-up 2………………………………………………………………….266 3.3 Results……………………………………………………………………………..270 3.3.1 Preliminary considerations……………………………………………………....270 3.3.2 Anaphoric reference……………………………………………………………..271 3.3.3 Groups, syntactic functions and personal pronoun replacement………………....279 3.3.3.1 Groups……………………………………………………………....................280 3.3.3.2 Syntactic functions…………………………………………………………….285 3.3.3.3 Personal pronoun replacement………………………………………………...291 3.3.4 Reading………………………………………………………………………….304 3.3.5 Final comments to construed exercises………………………………………….309 3.3.6 Writing………………………………………………………………..................311 3.3.6.1 Sentence……………………………………………………………………….311 3.3.6.2 Theme…………………………………………………………………………313 3.3.6.3 Personal pronouns……………………………………………………………..317 3.3.6.4 Relationship between clauses………………………………………………….320 3.3.6.5 Process types…………………………………………………………………..321 3.3.7 A note on the passive voice……………………………………………………....324 PART IV. CONCLUSIONS 4.1 Summary and conclusions…………………………………………………………331 4.2 Contributions of the classroom research…………………………………………...336 4.3 Pedagogical implications………………………………………………………….338 4.4 Further researches…………………………………………………………………341 APPENDIX…………………………………………………………………………...347 REFERENCES………………………………………………………………………383 xi xii List of tables page 1. Different theories of grammar……………………………………………………...31 2. Families of grammars………………………………………………………………32 3. Differences between language as a rule or as a resource……………………………32 4. Components within the rank scale………………………………………………….40 5. Projection of the group classes in the ideational metafunction……………………..41 6. Type of clauses based on exchanging roles in rhetorical interactions………………43 7. Elements within the Mood and the Residue…………………………………...........44 8. Types of Adjuncts………………………………………………………………….45 9. Overview of Processes……………………………………………………………..48 10. Four types of verbs in mental clauses………………………………………………51 11. Types of Range across processes…………………………………………………..57 12. Overview of process