Realization(s): Systemic-Functional Linguistics and the Language Classroom
SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL LINGUISTICS
Research framework
In line with the social orientations of SFL theory, our research was built on a number of key understandings regarding the nature of language, learning, and language learning. The first is that language is social; it is learned, taught, and used in social contexts, by social beings, undertaking social practices. The second understanding is that learning is a social activity, largely mediated by language. Language learning, then, is a social process of learning about language through language (Candlin & Mercer, 2001; Halliday & Hasan, 1989; van Lier, 1996; Mercer, 2000; Vygotsky, 1978).
The methodological approach we selected was exploratory, naturalistic and interpretive (Denzin & Lincoln, 1998). It focused on exploring the participants’ perspectives through narrative and descriptive methods in order to gain understanding of the meanings they attributed to their pedagogical actions. This approach recognizes that knowledge is socially constructed rather than an objective reality (Berger & Luckman, 1966). Our aim was to generate theory rather than to test hypotheses, through the exploration of our major research questions.
