Analyzing A Student's Response On Global Warming Using Systemic Functional Grammar And Language And Literacy Levels In An Essay.

The Four Lenses of Systemic Functional Grammar in the Analysis

Discuss about the Developing Literacy In Second-Language Learners.

English, the language as the dialect program or an additional language helps in providing an effective way for the group of students from various backgrounds who aims to learn English as the additional language (Echevarria, Vogt and Short 2016). In the above analysis, task 1 has been chosen for the evaluation of a sample response of a student. This is because task 1 illustrates issues related to global warming and how it effects can be reduced by the citizens of the country by the means of various methods like recycling, the impact of fossil fuels and impact of consumerism. For this assignment, response 3 has been chosen. The respondent is of 9 years and his response regarding the context of global warming as one of the serious threats to the planet mainly included personal responses of what can be done by the citizens for reducing the effects of the issue. The overall level assigned to the respondents is Level 8. This is because the response included independently composed elementary genres and simple language portraying personal opinion on what should be done to eliminate the effects of globalization.

Fields are areas of external reality that deals with the texts. Fields are the domain of researchers in the field of academics. The articles differ widely due to their different origins and disciplines (Larsen-Freeman and Long 2014). The sample text draws from the field of environmental awareness and global warming issues. The chosen respondent analyzed the topic of global warming and the issues of the effects of the global warming. The respondent furthermore analyzed the methods and measures that can be adapted to initiate change in the environment and the globe. The respondents stated a new cause of this environmental issue of global warming, that is the Industrial Revolution and the excessive use of fossil fuels in case of automobiles,machines, and factories. Some of the evidence in the context discussion that includes processes, participants, circumstances, noun groups, connectedness. ‘Global warming is one of the major discussed and quite a discussed topic or issues amongst us’-this response by the respondent demonstrates the level of issues of global warming. Furthermore, ‘We all know global warming has become the main threat to our planet we should reduce it. If we don't start to take care of the environment we won't have a planet anymore’-this text by the student depicted the individual opinion and perspective regarding the abolition of the issue. The student can be given Level 6 on the basis of understanding and demonstrate the context of the field (Government of South Australia| Department of Education 2018).

Language and Literacy Levels and Its Use in Teaching EALD Students in Australia

The term represents the participants in a discourse and their connection with each other and their other purposes. In SFG, the term tenor defines the relationship among the linguistic acts establishing a connection and communication among the related topics of discussion (Myles and Mitchell 2014). The respondent in the chosen response number 3 defined the issues related and arising from global warming and furthermore illustrated the possible reasons for the degradation of the environment and initiated a deep connection among the reasons and the impacts of the globalization in a broad and illustrated manner with relevant examples and suggested measures. ‘Reuse, renew and recycle. We need to educate our fellow people on the importance of recycling and reducing the usage of plastic. Both sides of a sheet of paper can be used for taking notes and instead of using plastic bags use cloth bags’- these responses by the student illustrated the level of the tenor in the communication.

The term mode in SFG refers to the means or the measures by which the communication is initiated. The mode is conceived in terms of the spoken or the written communication or languages. In the above context, the response chosen can be graded as Level 4 since the communication in the targeted response is a one way (Government of South Australia| Department of Education 2018). The respondents in the above-stated context suggest and recommend certain measures that should obviously be followed to achieving stability in the case of global warming around the globe.

The genre is the procedure of how people tend to use languages for the achievement of the culturally appropriate goals as viewed as the manifestation of the chosen language with a social purpose (August and Shanahan 2017). In the chosen response, for the examination of the fulfillment of the generic potential, it is important to look for the genre of the debates and examine the features of lexicogrammar for understanding whether the text has achieved its social purposes. In the above response, the student can be placed at the Level 11 since his response included relevant measures and recommendations targeting the issues of global warming and also the probable causes for this degradation in the globe (Government of South Australia| Department of Education 2018).

Conclusion :

Global warming is a serious issue. Task 1 and respondents 3 illustrates the issues and the possible causes inducing the global warming and the effects of global warming that are hampering the lives of the people in the globe. The four lenses of Systemic Functional Grammar such as the Field, Mode, Tenor, and Genre has been utilized to support the justification regarding the chosen student work for the assignment. With the use of the LLL categories of need grid, it can further be analyzed that the student falls in the emerging band within the ACEALD Learning Progressions. The chosen respondents are of the year 9 and the implication of falling in the emerging category has a greater impact on the access of the respondents towards the mainstream curriculum for further development and progression. One of the teaching entry points that can be suggested on the basis of the evidence of the writing is that the students need to learn to develop more compact and organized writing skill while suggesting measures.

Advantages of Language and Literacy Levels

The Language and the literacy levels across the curriculum of Australia describe the development of the standard English of Australia for meeting the increased demands of the curriculum across the years of schooling from the initial foundation period. It is an assessment for monitoring, reporting and documenting all the teachers for proper planning and information (Halliday, Matthiessen and Halliday 2014). This LLL tool can be utilized in different ways in the methods of learning and teaching of the EALD students in Australia. Some of the ways are the following.

• Monitor, asses, and reporting of the language and the development of the literacy of the students with high needs such as the EALD (Uccelli et al. 2015).
• Determination of the level of the language learning need of the EALD student
• Identification of the appropriate support category for informing and direct allocation of the fundings related to EALD.

Techniques of text analysis and SFG offers many positive factors and advantages for the Language and the literacy levels. It helps in reaching the level of understanding of the language English with variation within different levels of the situation (McCrocklin and Slater 2017). Furthermore, the influence of SFG could illuminate the planning of the programmes of the languages. The students get the chance to develop their repertoires of linguistics for efficiently expressing ideational, interpersonal and structuring of the texts by the influence and the effects of the SFG. The SFG furthermore assist applied linguists in addressing the targeted and the described issues (Bus, Takacs and Kegel 2015). With the application of the SFG approach, it can be better understood how lexical and grammatical choices provide the means for the EALD students for expressing their intended meanings.

The language and the literacy level describes the development of the literacy and the languages that are required for proper access and demonstration of the skills, understandings and curriculum knowledge. Some of the advantages of the LLL includes the consistency across the schools which is especially helpful in case of any transfer of students in another school. Furthermore, some of the other advantages are assessments, reporting, monitoring of the progress of the students. This is because EALD students need to be progressed at the rate of 2 levels on yearly basis. The proper diagnosis of the students' areas of weakness and strength followed by the relevant tools to the teaching and the ability to assess across a range of the type o texts are some of the advantages of the use of LLL (Xiao 2017). The ability for communication at the individual level and the progress towards the stakeholders in such a way that it can be easily understood is one of the significant positive factors of LLL. The tool can be further be used to advocate the needs of the EALD learners. The SFG foundation of the LLL leads to emphasizing on the competence of the communication and more detailed tracking rather than the AC EALD Learning progression.

Limitations of Language and Literacy Levels

Some of the limitations of the LLL tool includes the following. The tool limits on the degree of subjectivity (De Jong and Benigno 2017.). Furthermore, SFG focus of the levels tends to initiate lesser focus on the accuracy and the forms. The process of LLL is quite a time to consume for the teachers which tend to make it virtually inaccessible to the non-teachers.

While initiating comparison among the assessment tools that focus on traditional grammar, skills and academic languages which also have a stricter benchmarking practice for ensuring the validity of the result, some of the common names are the LLL, TOEFL, and IELTS (Hwang et al. 2015). Among all the three the TOEFL is much more challenging since the students are required to understand the accent and talk with the computer for the speaking test.

The majority of the teacher’s evaluation rely’s on the practice score of the teacher. The ESL students need more attention and care than other mainstream students and hence it is important for the instructors to stick to the students through thick and thin. Some of the implications of the evaluation of the EALD teaching practices include the attainment of the right mindset among the classroom learning and the outside practices (Li, Link and Hegelheimer 2015). Furthermore, the creation of the in-class strategies that tend to effectively translate to the outside practices and teaching the learners about the basic principles in the acquisition of the second languages are some of the major implications towards the EALD teaching practices. Furthermore, the teachers should also make relevant use of the technology for initiating interest and motivation among the students and make the experience of the classroom teaching and learning as an authentic one.

References

August, D. and Shanahan, T., 2017. Developing literacy in second-language learners: Report of the National Literacy Panel on Language-Minority Children and Youth. Routledge.

Bus, A.G., Takacs, Z.K. and Kegel, C.A., 2015. Affordances and limitations of electronic storybooks for young children's emergent literacy. Developmental Review, 35, pp.79-97.

De Jong, J. and Benigno, V., 2017. Alignment of the Global Scale of English to other scales: the concordance between PTE Academic, IELTS, and TOEFL.

Echevarria, J., Vogt, M. and Short, D., 2016. Making content comprehensible for English learners: The SIOP model. Pearson.

Government of South Australia| Department of Education. 2018. English as an additional language or dialect program. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.education.sa.gov.au/teaching/curriculum-and-teaching/numeracy-and-literacy/english-additional-language-or-dialect#language-and-literacy-levels. [Accessed 13 June 2018].

Halliday, M.A.K., Matthiessen, C. and Halliday, M., 2014. An introduction to functional grammar. Routledge.

Hwang, J.K., Lawrence, J.F., Mo, E. and Snow, C.E., 2015. Differential effects of a systematic vocabulary intervention on adolescent language minority students with varying levels of English proficiency. International Journal of Bilingualism, 19(3), pp.314-332.

Larsen-Freeman, D. and Long, M.H., 2014. An introduction to second language acquisition research. Routledge.

Li, J., Link, S. and Hegelheimer, V., 2015. Rethinking the role of automated writing evaluation (AWE) feedback in ESL writing instruction. Journal of Second Language Writing, 27, pp.1-18.

McCrocklin, S. and Slater, T., 2017. A Model for Teaching Literary Analysis using Systemic Functional Grammar. Texas Journal of Literacy Education, 5(1), p.81.

Myles, F. and Mitchell, R., 2014. Second language learning theories. Routledge.

Uccelli, P., Galloway, E.P., Barr, C.D., Meneses, A. and Dobbs, C.L., 2015. Beyond vocabulary: Exploring cross?disciplinary academic?language proficiency and its association with reading comprehension. Reading Research Quarterly, 50(3), pp.337-356.

Xiao, R., 2017. Combining transformative generative grammar and systemic functional grammar: Linguistic competence, syntax and second language acquisition. International Journal of English and Literature, 8(4), pp.37-42.