Institute 1: An Introduction to Functional Grammar
Target Audience
Classroom teachers, Heads of Department, HOCS, Master Teachers, Support teachers
Potential Benefits
The Australian Curriculum: English, is informed by several theoretical approaches. The
Language strand draws heavily on Halliday’s model of language. This is evident in the substrand organisation and in the choice of threads and content descriptors. The knowledge to be
acquired is described as understanding how language is chosen to make meaning. A deeper
understanding of the ways in which lexico-grammar choice is used in context to construct
meanings assists teachers to facilitate students’ learning. This workshop seeks to introduce the
world of functional grammar (Systemic Functional Linguistics) in a practical and relevant
way to teachers so that they feel more confident in preparing their students to be literate in the
21st century. Content covered in the sessions will assist with implementing the Australian
Curriculum: English. The sessions aim to provide teachers with a much clearer understanding
of how language works in texts and empower them to teach their students more effectively.
Proposed Outline
Session 1
This session will focus on introducing Halliday’s model of language and will deal with the
notions of text and context, purpose, genre and register and the concept of language as systems
of choice. It will explore the concept that the content level of language is broken into two levels
– systems of meanings, (semantics) which are realised by systems of wordings (lexicogrammar). The three major functions (or meta-functions) of language will be introduced. What
Halliday calls the ideational meta-function, the interpersonal meta-function and the textual
meta-function are evident in the Australian Curriculum: English as the sub-strands, Expressing
and Developing Ideas, Language for Interaction and Text Structure and Organisation.
Sessions 2 & 3
These sessions will unpack the meta-functions in more detail, showing how different sets of
lexico-grammatical choices create and invite different meanings. Many of these choices
constitute the threads in the sub strands of the Australian Curriculum: English. Accompanying
the theory will be practical strategies for use in the classroom. The sessions will systematically
unpack the major choices available to realise each meta-function and model ways of imparting
these understandings to students.
Presenter’s Bio
Annette Curnow is a highly experienced teacher, a former Head of Department, English, State
Panel member, Educational Adviser and casual tertiary lecturer. She is the recipient of several
major awards including the ETAQ Peter Botsman award, the ALEA Special Services award and
the ACE Kath Dickson Award for her contribution to professional practice. Films of her lessons
were used in the Education Queensland Literacy training. She has also made several
contributions to professional journals. Annette now teaches teachers to teach grammar. This
includes tutoring in 2 masters-accredited functional grammar courses tailored to educators –
‘Language and Literacy – Classroom Applications of Functional Grammar’ and ‘How Language
Works, Success in Literacy and Learning’, both written by Brian Dare and John Polias and
published by DECD , South Australia.