National Center for Writing Education and Research in Norway Meaning making What do we mean by meaning making?
constructing meanings
from
text
the act of
meaning
making
constructing meanings
through
text
Some quotes ‘....The major architect of the (functional) model, Michael Halliday proposes that from the outset of learning
their first language, children are ‘learning how to mean’ (Halliday 1975:8). As he and many others have
argued (Halliday 1975, Hasan & Williams 1996, Painter 1999, Schleppegrell 2004) this act of meaning
making is a profoundly social one; meanings are shaped by and shape the cultural and social contexts in
which they are made.’
Dare B (2011) ‘Making meanings in and about our world’. In Department of Education and Children’s Services (eds) How language works: Success in teaching
and learning. Adelaide, South Australia, DECS Publishing.
‘There is text and there is other text that accompanies it: text that is ‘with the text’, namely the con-text.’
‘The important thing about the nature of the text is that, although when we write it down it looks as though it
is made of words and sentences, it really is made of meanings’
‘...meanings that are created by the social system—that in a sense constitute the social system—which are
exchanged by the members of a culture in the form of text.’
Halliday MAK and Hasan R (1985) Language, Context, and Text: Aspects of Language in a Social-Semiotic Perspective. Geelong: Deakin Uni
‘The ubiquity of language is such that we go about the business of living, making use of it and taking it for
granted in much the same way we take it for granted that eyes are for seeing and ears are for listening’
Hasan, R (1996) Ways of saying: ways of meaning. London: Cassell.
Brian Dare Lexis Education 1 National Center for Writing Education and Research in Norway A functional model of language 22
The functional model
!
!
Genre
!
Register
Field
Tenor
!
Language
!
Mode
!
The purpose of this text
The stages and phases of the text
Field (subject matter): what the text
is about
Tenor (roles and relationships): the
who of the text
Mode (mode of communication):
how spoken or written the text is
and the channel of communication
The language choices that
express the meanings we want to
make
21
Understanding the register continuum
Field: subject matter
everyday
concrete
technical
abstract
Tenor: roles and relationships
informal
personal
novice
formal
impersonal
informed
Mode: mode of communication
most spoken
‘here-and-now’
language accompanying action
most written
generalised
language constitutes the text
Brian Dare Lexis Education 2 National Center for Writing Education and Research in Norway Text 1 Thai pancakes Ingredients 1 cup flour ½ teaspoon baking powder ¼ teaspoon vanilla essence 1 tablespoon of honey Pinch of salt 1 tablespoon butter 1 egg ½ cup coconut cream 1 banana ½ tablespoon butter Method Sift flour and baking powder together into a bowl. Mix in the vanilla essence, honey, salt, melted butter and the egg. Slowly add coconut cream and mix well. Heat up the pan over low heat. Add the mixture, top with slices of banana and cook for about 3 minutes until small bubbles come to the surface. Add some more butter to the pan and turn the heat up slightly. Turn the pancake over and cook for a further 2 minutes. Serving suggestion: Serve with honey or maple syrup. Text 2 What causes malnutrition? Many people think that malnutrition refers only to a condition that arises from a lack of food but it is far more complex than that. In fact, malnutrition means ‘bad nutrition’ and results from a diet which is unbalanced over a given period of time. There are three main ways this can happen. It can result from having too few or too many calories, from an imbalance in protein intake and from not having the right kinds of vitamins and minerals. The major cause of malnutrition is an imbalance in the amount of calories in the diet. For the body to carry out everyday physical and mental tasks, it requires an intake of somewhere between 1800 to 2500 calories for women and men, respectively. Minimum survival intake is around 600 to 1000, depending on how much activity an individual engages in. Once a person’s intake falls below this rate over a sustained period, they are at risk of a severe form of malnutrition known as marasmus … The second major cause of malnutrition is related to the kinds of proteins that form part of a diet. A significant number of malnourished people do not take in the right proportion of protein in the diet. Where there is insufficient protein, people can end up with a condition known as kwashiorkor. In cases where there is total dependence on lean meat, people suffer from rabbit starvation, sometimes known as protein poisoning … An imbalance in the vitamins and minerals in the diet can also lead to malnutrition. Vitamins and minerals are the basic elements needed for the healthy functioning of the body. Where diets consist of too little of these elements, many serious diseases, including scurvy (too much Vitamin C) and beriberi (too little Vitamin B) may result. Where there is too much, other diseases may result, such as hypertension (too much sodium) and osteoporosis (too little calcium) … Dare B (2006) ‘What causes malnutrition?’ In Dare B & Polias J (2006) Exercising language in context, CD ROM, Adelaide, SA, Lexis Education. Brian Dare Lexis Education 3 National Center for Writing Education and Research in Norway Activity: Moving to more written through nominalisation Nominalisation is a process whereby a number of words (usually verbs and adjectives but they can also be conjunctions, prepositions and modal finites) or a process of events are turned into nouns. Identify elements in the left hand column which can be nominalised and write a more written version in the right hand column. Spoken Written 1
The father was unable to accept his son’s death. 2
He did not show any grief. 3
She was intelligent, charming and very witty and this impressed everyone. 4
Because guns have been banned the number of people dying has fallen dramatically. 5
As human technology grows humans have led a more comfortable life. Activity: From talking about it to writing about it Text A S1 S2 S3 S1 S2 So what do reckon it’s about? Well the son died right and so the dad is pretty upset and he’s just saying how sad he is… Yeh but he’s also like blaming God and how he can’t understand why he would allow this to happen.. and the mother too yeh Text B Ok well what have we got to discuss today? It’s pretty obvious that the guy in this poem can’t get over the fact that his baby who was premature died at one day old. Lets face it, it would be awful for anyone. You really feel for this new dad because he tries to work out why his son died but can’t find any answers. Lots of people die for no reason and this can be pretty sad. He asks lots of questions to the mother and God and sort of blames both of them in away. When he says “with one hand touched you” and “wounds made with the cross”. So James speaks a lot about losing someone special and how it really gets to people and makes them stay grieving. … Text C Loss is a universal human experience. James McAuley’s Pieta explores the devastating effect of a premature baby’s death on a father. The inability of the father to accept this death and his need to assign blame are captured in his constant questioning of both the child’s mother, who at least was able “with one hand” to “touch” the baby and God, who has inflicted lasting “wounds made with the Cross”. McAuley’s use of enjambment breaks the rhyme of this poignant sonnet and mirrors both the father’s shattered emotions and the untimely death of the baby. McAuley is able to evoke great pity, as the title implies, for this father in his time of grief and loss. … Brian Dare Lexis Education 4