Demystifying Text Complexity: Supporting the Linguistic Work of Teaching

• In Event: How Research With English Learners, Informed by Systemic Functional Linguistics Theory, Can Support the Call for “Close Reading” of “Complex Texts”

Abstract

This paper demonstrates the application of a functional theory of language (Halliday, 1978; 1994; Schleppegrell, 2004) for the purposes of identifying variation in grammatical patterns that contribute to text complexity. Such an analysis can be used to complement analyses that focus on technical terms, sentence length, or conceptual density or abstractness. In addition, the paper shows how functional grammar analyses can support teachers in guiding their students in the close reading of complex text.
The data are derived from analyses of four informational texts written to be used in grades two through five. The text topics, drawn from the partner district’s curriculum, are topics typically addressed in elementary science curricula in the physical (electricity, water), life (structure/function relationships) and earth (changes in the earth’s crust) sciences.
The analyses identified the ideational, interpersonal, and textual meanings instantiated in the texts, using register analysis based in systemic functional linguistics (Halliday, 1994; Schleppegrell, 2004). These three areas of meaning can be explored, using the metalanguage of functional grammar. For example, based on tracking the participants and processes identified through ideational analysis, skillful readers can monitor what the text is about. By focusing on the meaning in clauses linked with connectors that present logical relationships within a text, readers can identify textual meanings such as the relationships of condition and unexpectedness prominent in these particular texts. The analysis of interpersonal meaning identified author attitude as it was expressed in various ways in the pedagogical texts.
Through these analyses, the particular features, affordances, and challenges of each text could be identified to support close reading through explicit classroom talk about the texts, using the functional grammar metalanguage. For example, in the earth science text, the earth’s parts are the primary grammatical participants in the text; what these participants do in processes such as shifting and heaving, explain phenomena such as earthquakes and volcanos. A focus on the connectors in this text helps the reader understand the conditions under which the participants cause change to earth’s surface. The author’s perspective on these phenomena can be made salient to readers through a focus on attitudinal language such as “fortunately,” and “surprisingly.” While typically science texts are not thought of as rich with authors’ voice, in fact, students can learn to recognize a variety of ways that author attitude is often infused into informational writing.
The analyses presented in this paper were subsequently used to design lessons in which teachers guided their students in applying the meta-language of functional grammar. This paper concludes by tracing the textual analyses to the lesson designs for the purpose of illustrating the application of functional grammar to instructional planning. Paper #1 sets the stage for Paper #2, in which we present cross-case comparisons of third and fourth grade teachers enacting instruction with the planning guides that were designed informed by the text analysis.

Author

• Mary J. Schleppegrell, University of Michigan