SFL and Argumentative Essays in ESOL

Helen Holmesglen JENKINS
(Institute of TAFE, Melbourne, Australia)
Maria Lelia PICO
(Universidad Nacional de Tucuman, Argentina)

ABSTRACT: This paper is the result of a current collaboration by two linguist/ESOL teachers on opposite sides of the Pacific. SFL refers to the genre ‘expository essay’. This term is not generally current in TESOL, whereas the ‘argumentative essay’ is a type of essay frequently specified and taught in English as a Second Language courses. It focuses on the production of reasoned, logical argument. The type of text structure required varies from, for example, the presentation of one point of view only to an argument that briefly acknowledges the opposing view, only to refute it. There is an overlap with the ‘discussion essay’, where a balanced presentation of for- and against- arguments is required, without any necessary endorsement of a position. Another variation concerns the personal-impersonal axis, ranging from a first person (and often personal experience) presentation to the impersonal stance of academic detachment. This paper reports on the use of SFL analysis as a tool for analysing model argumentative essays plus a sample of essays written by students. The students in the two groups studied have different purposes for studying English. The group in Argentina are studying English as their academic specialisation at university, whereas those in Australia are learning English as an instrument to enable them either to undertake post-secondary education in a range of fields or to re-enter a profession. These different purposes affect the use to which the SFL analyses will subsequently be put. In Argentina, where English is the object of study, linguistic findings could be of direct interest to students as well as to the lecturer. In the Australian sample, where English is a tool for study, these findings should be more for the use of the teacher, who might inform and modify his/her teaching on that basis, passing on the findings indirectly to the learners. In both cases, the SFL focus on language as meaning encourages the teacher/lecturer to offer students more than a concern with formal accuracy.

KEY-WORDS: SFL – argumentative - writing