The idea of transitivity:
Relations and collaborations
Tim Moore, Language and Learning Lab,
Swinburne University
Glenda Ballantyne, Sociology, Swinburne
University
Halliday’s transitivity: a very brief
introduction
Grammatical transitivity - concerned with the
relations between elements in a clause
I walked
INTRANSITIVE CLAUSE
I walked the dog
TRANSITIVE CLAUSE
Halliday’s transitivity: a very brief
introduction
In traditional grammar:
I
walked
the dog
SUBJECT
VERB
OBJECT
In systemic functional grammar:
I
walked
the dog
PARTICIPANT
PROCESS
PARTICIPANT
Halliday’s transitivity: a very brief
introduction
In systemic functional grammar:
I
PARTICIPANT
(ACTOR)
walked
PROCESS
(MATERIAL P)
The student wrote
(ACTOR)
(MATERIAL P)
the dog
PARTICIPANT
(GOAL)
the essay
(GOAL)
Halliday’s transitivity: a very brief
introduction
Other examples, other processes
The student
wrote
the essay
(ACTOR)
(MATERIAL P)
(GOAL)
The student
argued
the case that ….
(SAYER)
(VERBAL P)
(VERBIAGE)
The lecturer
appreciated
the essay
(SENSER)
(MENTAL P)
(PHENOMENON)
*The essay
impresssed
(PHENOMENON)
(MENTAL P)
the lecturer
(SENSER)
Halliday’s transitivity: a very brief
introduction
Halliday: The system of transitivity in language is concerned with
representing patterns of experience, “of goings on” and “happenings” in
the world….It construes the world into a manageable set of PROCESS
types and of PARTICIPANTS.
PROCESS
PARTICIPANT
Material
PARTICIPANT
Verbal
Mental etc.
The student
The student
The lecturer
wrote
argued
appreciated
the essay
the case that ….
the essay
The use of transitivity in academic
skills advising: An example
Student text: What’s wrong here?
Principal transitivity relations: Student text
Monet
used
The extremities of the painting were added
Monet
explained
a blush of atmospheric colour
later [by Monet]
the finer details of the scene
Principal transitivity relations: Task
How readily does one begin
dividing
Do we
see
Does the perspective
the composition into three level
the place as homely
make us feel cut off from the water
Two ways to understand some of the problems
in student writing
• Students don’t understand fundamentally the transitivity relations
(“pattern of experience”) they are meant to be exploring in a piece of
writing
• These relations are not explored in any substantive way
PROCESS?
PARTICIPANT?
PARTICIPANT?
The use of transitivity in academic skills advising: A
recent example from sociology
Major assessment: case study (condensed version)
The various developments that have shaped modern life have emerged
at different times and in different locations. As we have discussed, these
include the processes of industrialization, urbanization, secularization,
democratization, gender equality, the rise of consumption, the rise of
individualism.
In this case study, your task Is to illustrate the impact of two or three of
these processes on the daily life of a member of your family. In order to
gather first hand material, you will need to interview a family member
(or other person) who has experienced significant change over the
course of their life.
The use of transitivity in academic skills advising: A
recent example from sociology
Major assessment: case study (cont’d)
In the first part of the case study you should outline the impact of the 2
or 3 processes you have selected. You should describe the main
impacts each of these features of modernity have had on social life, as
well as outlining major arguments or debates arising in the sociological
literature.
In the other main part of the case study, you should discuss the findings
of your interview in the light of the literature you have reviewed. How
has the personal life and experiences of your interviewee been affected
by these processes? How much do their experiences fit with what the
literature has described?
Major assessment: case study (condensed version)
The various developments that have shaped modern life …
What transitivity relations are involved in this opening
clause? ie. What reality is being constructed here?
Transitivity relations in case study task
various
developments
shaped
modern life
Transitivity relations in case study task
various
developments
eg. industrialization,
urbanization etc.
shaped
modern life
Other clause examples
Major assessment: case study (condensed version)
The various developments that have shaped modern life … (ie.
industrialization, urbanization etc.)
[You should] describe the main impacts each of these features of
modernity have had on social life
… illustrate the impact of two or three of these processes on the daily
life of a member of your family
How has the personal life and experiences of your interviewee been
affected by these processes?
Transitivity relations in case study task
processes
developments
features of modernity
eg. industrialisation,
gender equality
consumerism etc.
impacting on
affecting
shaping
modern life/social
life
daily life of family
member/personal
experiences
Transitivity relations in case study task
processes
developments
features
eg. industrialisation,
gender equality
consumerism etc.
impacting on
affecting
shaping
modern life/social
life
daily life of family
member/personal
experience
How much do the experiences [of your interviewees] fit with what the
literature has described?
Transitivity relations in case study task
processes
developments
features of modernity
impacting on
affecting
shaping
modern life/social
life
daily life of family
member/personal
experiences
eg. industrialisation,
gender equality
consumerism etc.
negotiating
resisting?
Some reflections: Lecturer
GLENDA: I still have only a basic idea of what
transitivity means, but since our discussion of it,
I have been writing written lectures … in a
complex theoretical field, and so have been very
aware of trying to convey the ideas in
meaningful, non-jargonised way. This has
required quite a bit of reflexivity on my part. I
think the principle of making the transitive
relations between elements clear has been an
important part of that.
Some reflections: Lecturer
GLENDA: I can’t think how to characterise the
collaboration just at the moment, except to say it has
transformed and expanded my understanding of what
language and academic skills professionals can
contribute (guilty of ill-informed prejudices common to
academics previously), and that I see this work having a
major impact on my teaching. This is particularly so in
relation to structuring and content of assessments
Some reflections: ALL practitioner
TIM: The collaboration for me has been academically a very
rewarding one. It has been interesting reading some of your
sociology material (the book), and to find out how some of your
sociological interests and concerns have found expression in your
teaching practices. For example, your interest in the ideas of
‘agency’ and ‘creativity’ as sociological concepts.
About this, you explained how it was important in the work you set
for students for them not to be engaged with material in some
detached, and abstract way. Rather what’s important is for students
always to be able to draw on personal or family experience in some
way – though always in an informed way – so as to make the issues
and concepts relevant, and also to help shed light on students’ own
experience. It was interesting to see just how strongly this notion
informed the design of the assignment – this is an idea I will
certainly take with me to my work with other academics.
Transitivity relations in ALL practice #1 (as
adjunct teacher/facilitator)
supporting
teaching
ALL specialist
students in their
learning
Transitivity relations in ALL practice #2 (as
academic developer/agent of change?)
(seeking to)
ALL specialist
supporting
having an impact on
teaching practices
affecting
of academics in the
shaping
disciplines
Transitivity relations in ALL practice #3
(as academic collaborator)
exchanging ideas
sharing expertise
discipline academic
ALL specialist
mutual changes
in practice