Proceedings of the 6th International Academic Conference on Education, Teaching and Learning
Year: 2023
DOI:
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The Contribution of Systemic Functional Linguistics to the Teaching of English Foreign Language in Primary Education in Spain
Yanira Bresó González
ABSTRACT:
According to Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), language is a “system of meanings, accompanied by forms through which meanings can be realized” (Halliday, 1994) studying language from a sociocultural dimension (Halliday, 1994; Halliday & Hasan, 1985) as it exists in context and this influences on how language is constructed to make a semiotic system (Eggins, 1994) and to achieve varying social purposes (Halliday, 1994; Matthiessen, 2012). Nowadays, the achievement of communicative competence and strategies is the main aim of foreign language teaching (FLT) (Council of Europe 2020) and so, its methodologies need to show an evolution (MLS, 2007; Hurst & Bekteshi, 2018). Thus, an SFL approach can be an effective perspective for developing languages (McCabe, 2021). However, even though there is a wide range of studies that explore the application of this approach in language education practice (e.g. Martín Menéndez, 2007; Daniello, 2012, French, 2013, Accurso & Gebhard, 2021), there are few focused on English FLT in Primary Education. This study pretends to examine how metalinguistic awareness and SFL knowledge (Symons & Bian, 2022), influence how EFL is learned by primary school students in Spain and how an SFL approach contributes to the success of, not only communicative competence but language function.
keywords: Linguistics, education, foreign language teaching, systematic-functional linguistics, teaching-learning process