Reinstantiation of Meanings in
Scaffolding ESL Academic Literacy:
Teacher’s Talk around the Text in the
Reading to Learn Program
Liu Yi
Shenzhen University
1
READING TO LEARN PROGRAM


Reading to Learn is a literacy program designed to
enable all learners to read and write
successfully(Rose 2003, 2004, 2005).
It is a Sydney School approach to genre pedagogy,
grounded on a functional model of language founded
by Michael Halliday (1994) and a theory of genre
developed by Martin and his colleagues (Martin 1993,
2001; Rothery 1989,1994)
2
Prepare before
Reading
Detailed
Reading
Sentence
or Note
Making
Independent
Writing
Individual
ReWriting
Joint
ReWriting
Reading to Learn cycle
Deconstruction : Preparing before Reading -> Detailed Reading
Joint construction : Sentence or Note Making -> Joint Rewriting
Independent construction : Individual Rewriting -> Independent Writing
3
1. Preparing before Reading orients students to the genre
and field of the text.
2. Detailed Reading: the teacher supports all students to
read each sentence in a short passage.
3. Preparing for Writing: students take down notes and
plan what they are going to write, based closely on the
passage they have studied in Detailed Reading.
4. Joint Rewriting: the teacher supports the class to
rewrite a paragraph that is patterned on the reading text.
5. Individual Rewriting: students practice writing a new
text using the same patterns as the reading and Joint
Rewriting texts.
6. Independent Writing: students use what they have
learnt from the preceding stages to write an independent
text
4
PREPARE BEFORE READING
The teacher prepares students to understand a
text by
 1. providing background information of the
field,
 2. explaining what the text is about,
 3. making a detailed summary.

5
SCAFFOLDING STEPS FOR DETAILED
READING:
1, sentence paraphrase
 2, a position cue
 3, word meaning
 4, reading the cotext
 5, asking students to identify the relevant part
of a sentence.

6
A TYPICAL EXAMPLE

Now this sentence starts(position) by telling us
which policy it was. It was a policy that
repressed people(meaning). Can anybody at
this table tell me what that policy was? The
government’s policies of …?(reading the
cotext).
7
DETAILED READING INTERACTION CYCLE
Prepare
• sentence meaning
• where to look
• meaning of the wording
Elaborate
• define words
Identify
• explain concepts
• affirm
• highlight
• discuss experience
8
RESEARCH ON READING TO LEARN


Based on Beinstein’s topology of theories of
instruction, Martin (2004) categorizes Reading
to Learn as visible and interventionist pedagogy
and outlines its major features.
Martin (2004) also analyses the exchange
structure of the micro-interaction in the
Detailed Reading stage.
9
RESEARCH ON READING TO LEARN

In an investigation of the impact of the program
at Wiltja, McRae et al. (2000) demonstrate the
approach is effective for indigenous students at
both the primary and secondary level as
significant increases in student achievement
have been measured.
10
RESEARCH ON READING TO LEARN

In an evaluation of the Years 7-10 English
Aboriginal Support Pilot Project, Carbines et al
(2005) find the pedagogy helpful in building
students’ confidence and preparing them
tackle new reading situations. Though the
approach is designed for slower students,
teachers have witnesses a general
improvement level in all students.
11
RESEARCH ON READING TO LEARN

Rose et al. (2003) introduce the approach to
Koori Center, University of Sydney and record
“outstanding success with Indigenous adults”
preparing to enter tertiary studies. Students
have made improvements in reading as
demonstrated by their ability to write
summaries of what they have read.
12
RESEARCH ON READING TO LEARN

Joyce, Hood & Rose (2008) investigate the
impact of Reading to Learn on adult literacy
and finds that the pedagogy is effective in
helping ESL adult learners improve their
reading and writing skills.
13
NEED FOR FURTHER LINGUISTIC
ANALYSIS OF READING TO LEARN IN THE
CLASSROOM
 Linguistic Analysis of R2L is limited to a few
ideal samples in the demonstration lessons by
David Rose.
 No systematic classroom analysis has been
made of how R2L is adapted in different
contexts across primary, secondary and tertiary
levels.
 No systematic discourse analysis has been
made of teacher’s talk around the text in R2L.
14
Classroom Discourse Analysis from SFL
perspectives

Christie (2002) explored the relationship between
the regulative and instructional registers in both
primary and secondary classrooms. The
regulative register determines the pacing,
sequencing and management of the pedagogic
activity as well as the criterion for evaluation of
performance while the instructional register takes
the responsibility of identifying the instructional
fields.
Christie’s Findings



Christie’s analysis of curriculum genres and macrogenres demonstrates that the instructional register is
projected from the regulative register.
The regulative register is fore-grounded in the mental
processes and the instructional is embedded in the
participant role of Phenomenon.
The principles for evaluation of performance remain
implicit in the progressive classroom.
Christie’s Findings
Teacher talk is marked by textual themes.
Teachers use positive polarity and identifying
processes to assert their authority.
 Conclusion: Effective teaching and learning
activity results from the regulation of the
regulative register by expression through the
voice of the instructional register.

Classroom Discourse Analysis from SFL
perspectives

Yong and Nguyen (2002) examined the
relationship between teacher talk and textbooks in
a physics class, following the methods used by
Halliday and Martin (1993). They analysed three
aspects of scientific meaning: representations of
physical and mental reality, lexical packaging and
the rhetorical structure of reasoning.
Yong and Nguyen’s Findings

In the representations of the physical reality,
material processes are used frequently in both the
textbook and the teacher talk. However, the
textbook employs the passive voice and third
person verbs, placing its reader as an observer
while the teacher talk contains mostly first person
verbs and no passive voice, enabling the teacher
to participate effectively in the action.
Yong and Nguyen’s Findings


Despite the frequent use of relational processes in both
the textbook and the teacher talk, the textbook writer
expresses relational meanings in a far greater variety of
ways, achieving more precision, but at the cost of
increasing difficulty of comprehension.
In terms of lexical packaging, he uses more grammatical
metaphors, often leaving them unpacked while the
teacher always unpacks his grammatical metaphors with
his gestures, body movement and verbal expression.
THE SETTING OF THE PRESENT
STUDY

The Reading to Learn pedagogy is currently being
incorporated into a writing course entitled Intensive
Academic Writing (IAW) at a center for English
teaching in an Australian university. This is a presessional five week course mostly for Chinese
students preparing to enter a post-graduate program
in the university. The course consists of the following
components: Genre Analysis, Report Task, Writing
Skills, Readings and Lectures. In each week, two twohour teaching sessions are devoted to scaffolded
reading , covering both paraphrase and summary
writing.
PURPOSE OF THE PRESENT STUDY
 This
study will focus on teacher talk around
the text in the Preparation and Detailed
Reading phases. It explores relations
between elaboration and academic discourse.
What linguistic devices are employed in
scaffolding academic readings? How does
meaning shift from an academic text to
teacher’s elaboration on it? In what ways
are commitment resources deployed to
scaffold academic readings?
Commitment Resources as Scaffolding Strategies
in the Deconstruction Stage
 Generalization
 Metadiscourse
 Demetaphorization
 Contextualization
and attitudinal
commitments in elaboration of
technical terms
23
PURPOSE OF THE PRESENT STUDY

The analysis is based on two demonstration
lessons given by David Rose (2003) and six
audio-taped classroom lessons given by three
centre teachers. The examples selected will be
marked respectively by DR(David Rose),
CT1(Center Teacher 1), CT2(Center Teacher 2)
and CT3(Center Teacher 3).
24
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Instantiation is a hierarchy of ...
generality – recurrent patterns specialize as registers/genres, text types, texts and readings
potentiality – overall potential in relation to subpotentializations
26
“(...) the amount of meaning potential activated
in a particular process of instantiation - the
relative semantic weight of a text in other words”
(Martin 2008: 45).
how
many optional choices for meaning are
taken up and
how generally the choices a text subscribes to
are instantiated (degree of delicacy)
27
 (...)
process of “moving up the
hierarchy, opening up the
meaning potential as we move,
and then taking advantage of this
under-specification of meaning to
reinstate (the meaning potential)
in a novel text” (Martin 2007).
28





There are many areas in which instantiation, conceived along these lines can be
deployed.
Within texts, it is relevant to periodicity, since higher level Themes and News
combine meanings with less commitment than lower level ones.
Between texts, there are the practices of note-taking, precis writing and abridgment
to be examined, all of which have special reference to the ongoing problem of
plagiarism in apprentice texts.
Between modalities, the complementary affordances of different semiotic systems
lead to texts with complementary degrees of commitment, a crucial dimension of the
inter-modal synergy they engender.
Across languages, the practices of both translating and interpreting are of special
relevance, again with respect to the affordances and predispositions of one
language and culture in relation to another, and the amount of meaning potential
that has to be opened up before a responsible re-instantiation can be enacted (...)
29
INTRALINGUAL INTERTEXTUAL
REINSTANTIAITON

Hood (2008) proposes some categories as
potential resources for managing levels of
commitment in the process of rewriting a
source text. She discusses shifts of ideational
meanings in terms of generalization,
abstraction, grammatical metaphor, lexical
metaphor and infusion. As regards
interpersonal perspective on commitment,
appraisal meanings shift in complex ways.
30
I. Generalization

Haliday and Matthiessen(1999:615) regard
generalization as a relationship allowing for
“the development of extended taxonomies”.
Following Haliday and Hasan’s model of
reiteration(1976), generalization is a cline of
increasing generality that ranges from
repetition, synonomy, through superordination
and general nouns to personal reference items.
Superordination
De/classification: relations between classes
and members
 De/composition: relations between wholes and
parts
 De/nomination: relations between categories
and instances

32
Haliday and Hasan’s Example(1976:279)
I
turned to the ascent of the peak.
The ascent ( climb, task, thing or it) is
perfectly easy.
Generalization as commitment resources
Generalization refers to a type of
commitment relationships within a
sentence or/and between sentences
where one entity more general is
related to something more specific or
vice versa. It may be considered as a
cline of different degrees of delicacy.
Generalization: Use of repetition
 CT2:
Sentence four tells us that this
difference, the difference between
Singapore and Chinese people can be
explained by differences in living
standards and the quality of goods in
the two countries.
Generalization: Use of synonyms
One explanation for this difference may be the
stage of economic development in each
country and the standard of quality of available
goods.
 CT2: The reason they give for this is they look
at the different level of development of the two
countries. Singapore is at a more advanced
stage than China

Generalization: Use of superordinates(
composition)
 DR:
The particular time we’re going to
look at is this one here, the mid1980s, so it’s 1984, 1985, 1986.
Generalization: use of superordinates
(classification)
 CT2:
…first of all culture did not make any
difference in three kinds of decision
making styles. And these were quality
consciousness, recreation consciousness
and brand loyalty and culture made no
difference in those three areas, the very
different cultures of Singapore and
Australia.
Generalization: Use of superordinates (
nomination)

CT2: The reason they give for this is they look
at the different level of development of the two
countries. Singapore is at a more advanced
stage than China.
Generalization: Use of general nouns
 In
China, the quality of goods is not
consistent (Fan & Xiao, 1998), thus,
quality would be an important purchase
criteria.
 CT2: Whereas in China, things are a little
uneven, so people need to be more
careful about it.
Generalization: Use of general nouns
CT2: Er, people from Singapore. Can you see
the phrase that means people from Singapore,
Sophie, in that sentence? Sentence three.
Sophie is not paying attention. I will make a
note and I will record it here. (Laughter). Ok,
people from Singapore.
 S: Participants.
 CT2: Absolutely.

Generalization: Use of personal reference items
 CT2:
…first of all culture did not make any
difference in three kinds of decision
making styles. And these were quality
consciousness, recreation consciousness
and brand loyalty and culture made no
difference in those three areas, the very
different cultures of Singapore and
Australia.
Generalization as scaffolding strategies
 The
use of repetition, synonyms,
superordinates and general nouns in the
teacher’s talk helps to explain academic
texts as well as elicitate appropriate
responses from students. Teaching is
conducted along the continuum from
general to specific.
II. Metadiscourse

When teachers introduce a text and paraphrase it, they
often use terms from traditional grammar such as word,
phrase, sentence, paragraph and heading and a category
of abstract nouns or noun groups variously known as Anouns (Francis, 1986), signalling nouns (Flowerdew 2003)
and shell nouns (Schmid 2000). They do not serve as
referents only, but also as an important commitment
resources for scaffolding purposes.
Shell nouns (Schmid, 2000)
Factual: fact, thing
 Linguistic: message, rumour, question
 Mental: idea, notion
 Modal: possibility, obligation
 Eventive: act, attempt
 Circumstantial: situation, place, area,
approach.

Identification
1.
2.
3.
DR:The heading’s called Revolutionary days.
CT1: Ok, now the paper is called CrossCultural Differences in Consumer DecisionMaking Styles…
CT1: The journal is called Cross Cultural
Management.
Topicalization
DR: This little part of the textbook, this little
story, is about why the violence started in the
townships at that time, and what happened,
and who was involved.
 DR: So the first paragraph here at the very top,
this paragraph here at the top is about the
issue.
 CT3: This text is mainly about the IT or software
industry.

47
Exemplification
 CT2:
...but they found one big
difference. They were not as
conscious of quality. Ok, people in
Mainland China are very quality
conscious.

.
48
Exemplification
CT2: Specifically, they, one surprising
result was that Singapore people
were very different from Chinese
customers in Mainland China.
49
Topicalization plus exemplification
 DR:
So the first paragraph here at the
very top, this paragraph here at the
top is about the issue. The issue is
there are always arguments about
immigration, but it’s good for
Australia.
50
Topicalization plus layers of exemplification
 The
second paragraph is talking about er
only one dimension. It is talking about
brand consciousness. And here they
found that Australian customers were
more brand conscious than Singaporeans.
Despecification
 DR:
As I say some people are afraid of
new cultures coming in, but Linda Rolls
says it’s very good for Australia, because
er we got new ideas, we got different
foods, different arts, er different clothes.
And Australia is a much richer place for
those reasons.
52
Metadiscourse as scaffolding strategies
 Metadiscourse
helps teachers identify the
heading of a text, introduce the theme of
a paragraph and draw students’ attention
to a relevant part of a sentence or a
paragraph. It also functions as an
important means to specify abstraction
with exemplification.
III. Demetaphorication
Role of grammatical metaphor

Grammatical metaphor is identified as the key
linguistic resources for construal of vertical discourse.
Martin (2010) demonstrates the critical role
grammatical metaphor plays in construing verticality.
With nominal groups realizing processes and qualities,
grammatical metaphor builds up abstraction, enabling
the construction of vertical discourse. With Agentive
relationships realized by verbal groups achieving the
‘cause in the clause’ effect, the metaphorical device
helps to construct a deep level of theorization.
Demetaphorication
 As
grammatical metaphor may constitute
an obstacle to students’ comprehension,it
requires pedagogical treatment.
Teacher’s paraphrase of grammatical
metaphor is a process of
demetaphorication by means of
unpacking and definition.
UNPACKING GRAMMATICAL
METAPHOR

When grammatical metaphors are unpacked, there
are apparent shifts from vertical discourse to
horizontal discourse. In unpacking experiential
metaphors, congruence takes the place of
incongruence, thus reducing the semantic load. The
process of restoration is localized and contextdependent. Meanwhile, the shifts of meaning are
double-barreled. In the case of nominalized
grammatical metaphor, the unpacking misses certain
connotations implied but reveals the people and the
thing meant to be elided.
56
UNPACKING GRAMMATICAL
METAPHOR

When it comes to logical metaphor, the use of
explicit conjunction makes explicit the internal
conjunctive relations though it may affect the
grading of probability. To facilitate students’
understanding of explanations and arguments
in academic texts, teacher’s talk may begin
with a meta-explanation summarizing the
inherent links among the sentences.
57
UNPACKING GRAMMATICAL
METAPHOR
expectations: what we expect, what people
expect from a process.
 Repression: repress the people; repression
means you are keeping people down, you are
repressing them. (changing incongruence into
congruence):

58
UNPACKING GRAMMATICAL
METAPHOR
DR: Who can tell me the words that mean angry
and frightened?
 S: Anger and fear.
 DR: Can you see the word that means people
were rebelling? South African politics erupted in
a ….?
 S: Rebellion.

59
UNPACKING GRAMMATICAL
METAPHOR

The government’s

policies of repression
had bred anger and fear.
Its policies of reform
had given rise to
expectations amongst
black people of changes
which the government
had been unable to
meet.
DR: And there were two
reasons for this.
Because the government,
on one side they had a
policy to keep the people
down, to repress the
people with the police
and the army. And of
course this make the
people very angry and
frightened.
60
UNPACKING GRAMMATICAL
METAPHOR

CT2: And it tells us that it may be something which is
the same for both Australian and Singaporean
consumers. Ok, er, what is that? The same for both
Australians and Singaporeans. It means they assume
the products will be pretty good. What is the phrase in
the sentence, Sophy? Yeah, yeah, following that. Can
you see? It tells us that it is something that they
assume will be good. How is it said here? May be a
basic assumption. So underline a basic assumption.
61
Defining grammatical metaphor
CT2: Sherry, can you see the phrase that tells
us they agree? The phrase that says the
results agree. What words show us that?
 S: Consistency.
 CT2: Consistency. So show consistency.
Underline show consistency. What word tells us
that they disagree, Jessica?
 S:Conflict.
 CT2:Conflict. Absolutely. Very good. Underline
conflict or highlight conflict.

62
IV: Meanings committed in elaboration of
technical terms

Elaboration of technical terms is accompanied
by shifts from abstraction to contextualization.
Technical terms are discipline-specific. Abstract
technical terms often originate from
grammatical metaphors. Martin (2007) argues
that grammatical metaphor loses itself in
definitions and change into the technical term,
thus achieving ‘the distilling impact of
technicality’.
63
MEANINGS COMMITTED IN ELABORATION
OF TECHNICAL TERMS

Elaboration is meant to weaken such
technicality. Teachers tend to scaffold reading
by contextualizing technical terms with citation
of concrete examples, real or imagined.
64
MEANINGS COMMITTED IN ELABORATION
OF TECHNICAL TERMS
In social sciences and humanities, technical terms are
often axiologically charged, invoking different
attitudinal reactions among readers with different
political inclinations. Naturally when a teacher
elaborates a technical term, he/she usually infuses
his/her attitudes into the elaboration which may not
necessarily be the author’s point of view. This is
especially the case in the humanities.
65
Contextualization in elaboration of technical
terms

CT2: Ok, and the second part of the sentence tells us
that quality will be an important reason for buying, an
important reason for buying. Can you see the phrase,
Johnson, that means the reason for buying?
Absolutely purchase criterion. So underline purchase
criterion. So what is criterion? Criterion is the way we
judge something. Ok, when we mark your writing for
example, we have criteria. The plural of criterion is
criteria. We mark for grammar, for vocabulary, for
staging. So for purchase criterion, the reason for
buying.
66
Contextualization in elaboration of technical
terms

CT3: So norms. …When you open the door for
me, I will say thank you. It is our norms to do
so. But different cultures have different
norms…
67
Contextualization in elaboration of technical
terms

CT1: Now they had another category.
And that was called overchoice.
We are going to see that in this reading so we need to know. Overchoice is
too much choice? Or not enough choice. Too much choice. Who’s been
into a supermarket in Sydney? Who’s been to Coles or Woolsworth in
Sydney? Ok, did you notice as you were walking along the isles that you have
one kind of product but fifteen different choices? Yes. Can you think of an
example? What’s that. Bread. Bread, yeah. What sort of bread would you
like? White bread or brown bread? Or dark bread? Or you like cakes? Yes.
What sort of cakes would you like? Chocolate cakes, ok. You go to a
supermarket and how many different types of chocolate cakes are there?
Many kinds. Many kinds, ok. Overchoice. What products have you talked
there? Chips. Good heavens.
68
Contextualization in elaboration of technical
terms plus attitudinal commitment


CT1: When you have a lot of choices, it’s difficult to make
decision for chips for chocolate, for cakes. So it’s difficult to
make decision.
CT1: So overchoice is not a problem for you. It’s a problem for
me.(Laughter) I get lost in washing powder, washing powder to
wash clothes. Do you have difficulties trying to decide which
one you want? Yeah, do you have difficulties trying to decide?
Yeah. I do. I am dazed. Oh I could have that one. But
oh,(gesturing showing at a loss as to which one to choose).
Yeah, overchoice. That’s another category which is mentioned
in this reading.
69
Contextualization in elaboration of technical
terms plus attitudinal commitment

Ex.:White Australia policy, ok, some people have heard
about it? In the before the 1972 the government
policy was called White Australia policy It kept people
from Africa and Asia away from Australia. So people
from Asia and Africa were not allowed to come to
Australia. So it’s a racist policy. Worse than
discrimination. That policy was changed when the
labor government came in in 1972.
70
Topicalization plus despecification as signpost

To start with, there were  CT2: Now paragraph
no cultural differences
eight er is talking in
in quality
general terms about
consciousness,
the
findings
in
the
recreation
text.
consciousness and
brand loyalty decision-  Commitment decreases
as the findings is used to
making styles. ( Kendall,
refer to the specific result
1986).
provided in the original
text.
71
Elaboration for clarifying the interpretation
 This
means that
the results show
both consistency
and conflict with
previous research.

. And they are saying
that the findings show
that they both agree and
disagree with the
previous results. Some
of the results agree with
what other have found
and others disagree.
72
Making exemplification more explicit

In particular, the
participants from
Singapore had
unexpectedly low levels
of quality consciousness
compared to Chinese
consumers who had
moderately high levels
(Fan & Xiao, 1998).

Specifically, they, one surprising
result was that Singapore people
were very different from Chinese
customers in Mainland China.
Most people in Singapore, many
people in Singapore are Chinese
as you know. So they thought they
would be very similar in their
buying, in their decision making
style, but they found one big
difference. They were not as
conscious of quality. Ok, people in
Mainland China are very quality
conscious.
73
Making the logical link more explicit

One explanation for this
difference may be the
stage of economic
development in each
country and the
standard of quality of
available goods

CT2: The reason they
give for this is they look
at the different level of
development of the two
countries. Singapore is
at a more advanced
stage than China.)
74
Making abstract concrete

In China, the quality
of goods is not
consistent (Fan &
Xiao, 1998), thus,
quality would be an
important purchase
criteria.
 Whereas
in China,
things are a little
uneven, so people
need to be more
careful about it.
References







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