Modelling Text As Process: A Dynamic Approach to EFL Classroom Discourse

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A discourse analysis that is not based on grammar is likely to end up as a running commentary on a text, whereas a grammar-based one tends to treat text as a finished product rather than an on-going process.

This book offers an approach to discourse analysis that is both grammar-based and oriented towards text as process. It proposes a model called TEXT TYPE within the framework of Hallidayan systemic-functional linguistics, which views grammatical choices in a text not as elements that combine to form a clause structure, but as semantic features that link successive clauses into an unfolding phase. It then demonstrates the model in actual analyses of 10 texts transcribed from 10 class hours' audio-recorded EFL classroom discourse, which in turn leads to the establishment of a dynamic system network that can be applied to future analyses of the process of EFL classroom discourse.

The book also uncovers interesting details about EFL classroom teaching and learning in the Chinese context, including variations in the classroom environment, features of the interaction process, and discourse strategies of the teachers and students. It will be essential reading for academics and postgraduates working in the fields of discourse analysis, second language acquisition and systemic functional linguistics.

Reviews

"The book offers an innovative solution to the long-standing issue of how to model text as an on-going process. It not only brings fresh insights into the intricate ways text unfolds in context, but also provides an ingenious framework for analysing the dynamic process of text, thus a valuable piece of scholarship in discourse analysis." - Professor Shaozeng Ren, Zhejiang University, China
"This is the book we have all been waiting for: it attempts to model text as process within the framework of systemic functional linguistics and at the same time offers a dynamic approach to discourse analysis. It also gives a clear description of many features of EFL classroom discourse in the Chinese context, a unique feature among books of the same kind. For those interested in discourse analysis and in SFL as an appliable linguistics, this book is a 'must-read'." - Professor Guowen Huang, Sun Yat-sen University, China
Modelling Text as Process is a formidable work, describing an innovation within the systemic-functional tradition for researchers to explore, refine, and dispute... Researchers within systemic-functional linguistics will undoubtedly find much to inspire further research. http://linguistlist.org/issues/22/22-4339.html

Author Bio

Xueyan Yang is a Full Professor at the School of English and International Studies, BeijingForeign Studies University, China