This session introduces a functional grammar perspective on language in context. It presents the notion of "layers of language" - from word to group to clause to sentence. This perspective presents a framework that allows teachers to establish a shared language with students to discuss how meaning is created in context. The framework is useful for developing students' awareness of what's expected in writing and offers a useful way to more effectively give feedback on writing.

1. 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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2. And the word became text:
to the clause and beyond
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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

4. 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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5. 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
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6. Whole text Paragraph Sentence
(grammar)
Word
(grammar &
lexis)
Expressing
ideas
?
Developing
ideas
Interacting
with others
Organizing
cohesive texts
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7. Whole text Paragraph Sentence
(grammar)
Word
(grammar &
lexis)
Expressing
ideas
?
Developing
ideas
Interacting
with others
Organizing
cohesive texts
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8. 3rd November 2015w.condenaststore.com/-sp/I-m-right-there-in-the-room-and-no-one-even-acknowledges-me-New-Yorker-Cartoon-Prints_i8545100_.htm 8

9. Grammar: from the word to the clause
Words
groups
clauses
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10. 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.
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11. 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.
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12. Limitations of “parts of speech”
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13. Limitations of “parts of speech”
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14. Limitations of “parts of speech”
– 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?
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15. What now?
 Moving above and beyond the words to larger ‘blocks’ of meaning
 Taking the step from class to function
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16. From words to groups: nominal groups
What are the nominal groups?
– 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.
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17. From words to groups: nominal groups
What are the nominal groups?
– 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.
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18. From words to groups: 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?
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19. 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
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20. Nominal groups: a functional perspective
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21. Nominal groups: a functional perspective
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22. Introducing this in class
 Give an example identifying the function of the words
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23. Nominal groups: a functional perspective
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24. 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
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25. 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?
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26. 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
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27. Nominal groups: a functional perspective
 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.
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28. 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.
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29. 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)
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30. Group: circumstances
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31. 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.
)
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32. 3rd November 2015http://stories4learning.com/moodle/course/view.php?id=15 32

33. Introducing these ideas in class
Give a model
Hand-over control to students
Build through feedback
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34. Modeling layers
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35. Students identify group function
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36. Consolidation
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37. 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.
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38. From the groups to the clause
 A clause must have a verb/verbal group
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39. Ambiguity
“This morning, I shot an elephant in my pyjamas”
What he was doing in my pyjamas, I’ll never know!
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40. Meaning in context
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41. Making groups and meaning visible
How? - By using colours!
Verb = red
Participant (subject/object) = black/blue
Circumstance = green
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42. 3rd November 2015https://twitter.com/jodie__martin/status/635641919754768385/photo/1 42

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45. Clause structure
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46. Blending class, function and group
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47. Blending class, function and group
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48. Clause structure
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49. From clauses to sentences
A clause must have a main verb/verbal group
A sentence contains at least one clause
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50. 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
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51. 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.)
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52. Linking clauses and sentences
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53. 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
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54. 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
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55.  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
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57. 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
3rd November 2015And the word became text 57

58. 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
3rd November 2015And the word became text 58

59. 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
3rd November 2015And the word became text 59

60. 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 – textual connections; text
previews and topic sentences
Cohesive devices
Channel of
communication as
spoken or written
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61. 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://static.someecards.com/someecards/usercards/1342728619465_447462.png
 https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/63/bb/62/63bb62201ede6b4fd1ea187a3ca79ea8.jpg
 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
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