Scaffolding Literacy for students with disrupted schooling Session 2: A Functional Grammar Approach to Sentence Construction

Scaffolding Literacy for students with disrupted schooling

Session 2: A Functional Grammar Approach to Sentence Construction

Aims of the course

Develop a shared understanding of Functional Grammar as a common language to explore literacy

Develop and trial explicit strategies to address particular literacy needs and genre development

Literacy definition in SACSA

Literacy is the ability to

understand, analyse, critically respond to and

produce appropriate spoken, written, visual and multimedia communication in different contexts

Functional Model Of Language

CulturePurpose

Situation

Language

Valuing difference

Functional Model Of Language

Discussion

What ideas underpin the functional model of language?Metalanguage?

Traditional Approach to Genre

Whole Text

Sentence

Paragraph

Modified Approach

SENTENCE

PARAGRAPH

WHOLE TEXT

Clause

word word word

Participant Group

word word word

Process Group Circumstance Group

word word word

3 Main Elements of a Clause

Handouts

Building Blocks of Functional Grammar

Participants Processes Circumstances

On Friday 21st July Mark Ricciuto played his 300th game of football.

Using Functional Grammar in Sentence Construction with Students

What is a sentence?

What is a correct sentence?

I can run.

1.

Up on the roof.

2

Go!

3

Because it was forty degrees.

4

I saw a butterfly yesterday.

5

In the holidays we went camping in the bush, my friends came with us.

6

It was hot so we went to the beach.

7

We made sandcastles and splashed in the water.

8

Even though the water was cold, we went swimming.

9

Because I was feeling sick and I had to go home.

10

My friends got married, they went to Bali on their honeymoon.

11

12

There is no doubt that smoking is a significant health risk, however, people continue to smoke.

12. The uncertainty with which he recited his lines at the premiere

of David Williamson’s latest play.

13. The rapid escalation of violence in Europe and the Middle East, resulting from the publication in a Danish newspaper of a cartoon of Mohammed that many Muslims found offensive, is of grave concern.

Developing Correct Sentence Structure

A correct sentence must:

1.Make sense Eg. ‘On the hill’ is only a phrase

2. Have a process (verb group) Eg. ‘Are going’

3. Have correct punctuation Eg. If two clauses are joined only by a

comma, it is a run-on sentence

A correct sentence must have…

A process: something happening A participant: someone or

something participating in what is happening

He jumped. The rain fell. The player scored.

Recognising Processes

What happened?

Green colour code

Introduction to Functional Grammar 1

Processes

A process is a verb. It tells us what is happening in the sentence. There are a number of types of processes: action, sensing, being or relating, saying, having.

E.g. A major cause of motor accidents is the number of people who drive over the limit.

The harsh terms of the Treaty of Versailles contributed to the rise of Hitler.

Range of Processes

Material action, doing

Mental thinking, feeling, knowing

Relational, attributive, identifying, existing

having, being (there is, there are)

Verbal saying, telling

Highlight the processes in green

During the first part of the century they used the timber for housing.

The tallest hardwood tree in the world is the mountain ash.

Rainforests are a valuable resource. Wild winds swept across the coast

yesterday. The storm uprooted almost 100

trees.

Highlight the processes in green





trees.

Verbal Groups

May processes are realised by a verbal group containing more than one element i.e. elements adding detail about tense, obligation and certainty or negative forms.

Examples: Dolphins have been swimming in the

bay all morning. Those fish will probably die from lead

poisoning. The slightest noise will scare away the

birds.

Split processes

Sometimes the process is difficult to identify because it is ‘split’ or separated by a circumstance or participant.

Examples: The dog had carefully buried his bone in

the garden. The slightest noise will scare the fish

away.

Highlight the verbal groups in green

Rainforests should be protected. Rainforest soils are affected by

logging. Rainforest logging needs to be

phased out. Environmentalists should campaign

to reduce logging worldwide.

Highlight the verbal groups in green

Rainforests should be protected. Rainforest soils are affected by

logging. Rainforest logging needs to be

phased out. Environmentalists should

campaign to reduce logging worldwide.

Brainstorming Varied Processes

said think

went like

Sensing Processes

Thinking Feeling

knowunderstandbelievereflectdecidejudgedeterminecalculate

likelovehatewantneedhopeworryenjoy

Interesting and boring action processesin narratives

…. I came to a cave. It was dark

inside and I was scared but I

knew I had to go on. So I went

inside the cave.

Select the action processes that do not add to the build up of suspense, and replace

Recognising Participants

Who or what received the action?


Participants

The ‘who’ or ‘what’ in a text.

The participant is either doing the action

or having the action done to it.

To find the participant in a sentence ask ‘who’ or ‘what’ either side of the verb

E.g. A major cause of motor accidents is the number of people who drive over the limit.

Identifying Participants

Participants are typically realised by noun groups giving information about the people, places, things and ideas which engage with the process in a clause.

Examples: The scientist observed several chemical

reactions. The sights included elephant seals,

emperor penguins and killer whales. Radiation can cause blindness.

Highlight participants in red





trees.

Highlight participants in red




yesterday. The storm uprooted almost 100 trees.


Circumstances

Circumstances give more information about the participants or the processes. They answer the following:

Where? When? Why? How? With what? With whom?

The Second World War started in September 1939 for a number of reasons.

When? Why?

Circumstances

Circumstances add meaning to a clause by describing the context within which the process takes place. A circumstance is usually realised by a prepositional phrase or adverbial group.

Examples: Summer bushfires are a hazard in some

national parks. Cane toads were introduced as a form

of biological control. Carefully beat the eggs and cream with

a wooden spoon.

Highlight circumstances in blue

In an urban environment the brushtail possum often becomes a pest.

The homes of many animals are destroyed during the construction of housing.

Silently and fearfully she crept into the deserted house.

Highlight circumstances in blue

In an urban environment the brushtail possum often becomes a pest.

The homes of many animals are destroyed during the construction of housing.

Silently and fearfully she crept into the deserted house.

Working with Functional Grammar

Highlight the participants, processes and circumstances in the following:

Peter Carey wrote Illywacker. The Boy From Oz, starring Hugh

Jackman, returns to Australia in August. The debate on where to process

refugees coming to Australia continues to rage in Parliament.

Working with Functional Grammar

Highlight the participants, processes and circumstances in the following:

Peter Carey wrote Illywacker. The Boy From Oz, starring Hugh

Jackman, returns to Australia in August.

The debate on where to process refugees coming to Australia continues to rage in Parliament.

A student activity

Using the coloured strips on your table create sentences which include at least one participant, process and circumstance.

PARTICIPANT

PROCESS

CIRCUMSTANCE

Changing theme to vary sentences

The theme of a sentence (or what the writer chooses to foreground in a sentence) appears before the main process.

Early writers often foreground with human participants: ‘I went to the beach. My friend came with me.’

The coloured strip activity can be used with students to introduce variety to written text by changing the order of colours to foreground processes or circumstances.

Changing Theme

Example: The brushtail possum often becomes a

pest in an urban environment In an urban environment the brushtail

possum often becomes a pest. The homes of many animals are

destroyed during the construction of housing.

During the construction of housing the homes of many animals are destroyed.

Have a Go!

Using the colour coded sentences you created earlier see how many variations you can create by changing the order of the coloured strips.

Nominal Groups

A group of words in which the central idea is a noun and all the other words help to define or further describe the noun is called a noun group.

“A gigantic red wool design” is a noun group.

They can be in participants and in circumstances

Nouns

Can be inside a participant:

A kid called Damien was walking through the school

Can be inside a circumstance

A kid called Damien was walking through the school

Pointer Counter Intensifier Describer Classifier Thing(Noun)

Qualifier


Qualifier

boots


Qualifier

hiking boots


Qualifier

filthy hiking boots


Qualifier

filthyold

hiking boots


Qualifier

filthyoldbrown

hiking boots


Qualifier

very filthyoldbrown

hiking boots


Qualifier

pair of very filthyoldbrown

hiking boots


Qualifier

his pair of very filthyoldbrown

hiking boots


Qualifier


hiking boots with holes in the soles


Qualifier


hiking boots with holes in the solesthat he had boughtyears before

Robert was wearing his boots.

Robert was wearing his pair of very filthy old brown hiking boots with holes in the soles that he had bought years before.

His pair of very filthy old brown hiking boots with holes in the soles that he had bought years before proved that Robert was a highly experienced mountain climber.

Noun groups: components

Pointer: the, this, his, our Number: two tables, most of the table Intensifier: quite loud noise, very fast car Describer: the tall old man, a glass-

topped table Classifier: a glass topped kitchen table Qualifier: (prepositional phrase): the

tall old man with the hat Qualifier: (dependent clause): the man

who was walking down the street

Video Clip

Teaching Noun groups

“I was five years old when I moved from the small agricultural village where I used to live with my uncles, to Sudan.”

Colour Coding for Function

Don’t colour any conjunctions (joining words)

eg: and, so, but, and then

they operate above the clause level

Colour Code for Function

One day a kid called Damien was walking through the school

and another kid called Rick pushed him.

So Damien chucked a punch at him.

He got Rick in the mouth

and broke his jaw.





and broke his jaw.





and broke his jaw.

Look at the circumstances and in pairs explore how they can be altered or expanded to add interest and detail to the narrative.

Types of circumstances – see handout

Building interest

One day after cricket practice a kid called Damien was walking aimlessly through the school

and another kid called Rick roughly pushed him in the back.

So Damien angrily chucked a punch at him with all of his strength.


and broke his jaw in two places.

More activities for students•List the participants

•What is happening?

•Give more details about the context:

•With whom?

•With what?

•When?

•Where?

•Why?

•How?

Write five sentences about your chosen picture.

From images selectparticipants, sensing processes and circumstances. Write …

Description? Recount? Narrative?

Documents

Scaffolding Literacy for students with disrupted schooling Session 2: A Functional Grammar Approach to Sentence Construction