Yesterday I had the good fortune to listen to Professor Mary Schleppegrell from the University of Michigan talk about how functional grammar is having an impact on EFL students in US schools. Ever since reading Lee Donaghy’s evangelistic account of its importance I’ve been batting it around and trying work out what to do with it. But I’m a big fan of traditional grammar teaching and I couldn’t really see the point in teaching pupils another grammar system. How would they actually use it? So beyond getting my head round the principles, I’ve largely ignored it.
Now though, I see the light. As Lee has said repeatedly, functional grammar is concerned with meaning whereas traditional grammar is concerned with labelling and form. I’ve always considered it hugely useful to be able to deconstruct sentences and have the metalanguage to talk about the ways in which texts are constructed, and now I’m well on my way to being convinced that functional grammar may be a better way to do this.
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The Echo Chamber 