assignment 2 david martin 3141ebl - web viewhalliday (cited in eggins, 1994, p. 275) ... it is...

4161EBL – Working Text David MartinAssignment 1 S2636349

ASSIGNMENT 14161EBL –WORKING TEXT

COURSE CONVENOR: DR. ANN KELLY

SUBMITTED BY: DAVID MARTIN

STUDENT #2636349

[email protected]

DATE SUBMITTED: 29 MAY 2009

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Introduction

This paper will examine a text using elements of systemic functional linguistics and

multimodality. Systemic functional linguistics is a way of defining text; text forms a whole

by being coherent at the whole of text and sentence level.

The text chosen for this analysis is a promotional email, sent to a list of customers from the

Warner Village theme parks. This piece has professional relevance as I teach Diploma of

Tourism students how to create mail merged promotional material and other business

documents as part of the delivery of national standards of competency. To do this effectively

it is necessary to understand the way that the document was written and the desired effect that

different parts of the document, both text and other visual cures have on the reader. Analysis

of its structure will allow a better understanding of how to provide literacy, language and

meta-cognitive skills to students. The text chosen has been created for a specific purpose and

audience and the way that this is done will become a topic in the classroom. Understanding

the principles and techniques used will help analyse and improve my own and student’s texts

in the classroom and beyond.

To analyse the text, first, genre will be defined and used to categorise the text and will lead to

the use of field, tenor and mode to analyse the situation and cultural context of the text. The

schematic structure of the text will be analysed, showing that it is an Electronic Advertorial

Newsletter. Semantics of interaction, specifically Mood, will demonstrate that the text

established possible patterns of exchange between the participants. Transitivity will be used

to explain why particular words or phrases were used in preference to others choices that

could have been made, demonstrating that the text is further constructed for a specific

purpose and roles that the participants engage in. The concepts of Theme and Rheme will

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then be used to identify parts of the clauses involved in the text. Finally, multimodality will

be used to analyse the connection between the text and other media in the document through

the use of pictures, logos and hyperlinks.

Text and visual analysis

Genre is a term that can be defined by characteristics that are easily observed and are

understood by the community using them (Gee, Michaels, & O'Connor, 2004). The Genre is

made up of the register configuration, schematic structure and realisation patterns. The

register assists in identifying how the text defines the context of the situation. Eggins (1994)

argues that there are two contexts to be considered; context of situation and context of

culture. To determine these contexts field, tenor and mode are used.

The mode is the role language plays in an interaction (Eggins, 1994, p. 53). In regards to

spatial or interpersonal distance, this text is an email which provides visual-aural

communication with the possibility of rapid feedback. While it does have links and the

opportunity for the feedback, the text is an example of non-interactive text that has been

planned, drafted and rewritten. The Field is the situational variable that is the focus of the

activity engaged in, but can be considered more than just a topic, but identifies the

institutional focus or social activity (Eggins, 1994, pp. 67-68). The document promotes the

sales/purchasing of leisure activities, part of what can be called the transactional genre

(Eggins, 1994, p. 31). The writer is engaged in providing information to potential customers

in an effort to make them purchase a service or product. Tenor is used to establish reciprocity

and status relations (Eggins, 1994, p. 193) within language. While there are some attitudinal

phrases, “holiday of a lifetime”, “once in 150 year offer” and there is evidence of frequent

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contact with “both your visits” the text shows predominant use of formal language and an

unequal hierarchic power.

The schematic structure of this genre would involve the company writing the material, the

customer receiving the letter, the customer identifying the sender, using the table of contents

under “May 2009” to quickly scan for items of interest. There are section headings, each with

unique text and colouring. They label the information below each heading. Images are also

used to perform this function. They draw the reader’s attention to a familiar or anticipated

situation. The information could prompt action by the customer. Actions could involve using

the hyperlinks that would lead to external information or purchase. A purchase could also be

made externally by using the phone or visiting the theme parks. Below is a schematic

structure adapted from Macken-Horaik (2002 p. 23)

Social Purpose Social Location Schematic Structure and Description of Stages

Electronic Advertorial Newsletter: Present events, information and products that are of special importance to customers to encourage the purchase of products or use of a service.

Presents special news, interest or products to potential customers via electronic text. Could be used in printed form but has hyperlinks within electronic form.

Orientation: Helps identify the seller (author) and provides navigation tools Lead: provides items of interest to spark (the “hook”)Key Events/Products: Provides background to the products or services for sale and Information Hyperlink:Sales Hyperlink:

Semantics of interaction, which explains and establishes patterns of exchange between the

participants (Eggins, 1994, p. 149) shows that the example document is a commodity

exchange, of both information and goods and services. There are examples of statements that

convey information and direct readers attention, give details of offers, information and

actions. Analysis of the information exchange can be done with Mood. Eggins (1994, p. 146)

explains Mood as a functional label that enables the expression of interpersonal meaning.

Examples of declarative Mood; “You could win .... by using your Annual Pass!”, “Win a

Family Holiday to the Calgary Stampede!”. In the former example can be further divided into

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the mood, “You” and the residue “... by using your Annual Pass!” The paragraph that starts

“Simply visit your park” uses imperative mood. It directs the reader to perform a series of

instructions to participate in the competition. Other examples of the imperative mood are in

the links that are provided throughout the document. The use of hyperlinks in this document

allows exchange between the reader and author. “Book 3 nights at Sea World Resort ......” is

an example of the initiating “offer” speech function. It is immediately followed by “Book

now ...” a chance for a response to the offer. The “Read more” links do not follow an offer,

but still give the chance for a supporting speech function, which will result in the giving of

more statements, though in external documents.

Analysis of text also involves questioning why that particular text was chosen, and what was

not chosen. Eggins (1994, pp. 200-217) suggests this can be done using a system of

paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations. Paradigmatic relationships are between what signs

are in place compared with other choices that might have been made. Syntagmatic relations

are described as the choice of the configuration of the constituents, the sequence and

structure. Using these relationships it can be shown that it is not always the substance of text

that matters, but often the relationship that it forms within social convention. The appropriacy

of the choices made can become a framework for comparison (Eggins, 1994, p. 218). This

leads to the idea that language can be modelled and interpreted as choices made for use

within a particular Discourse structure with situated meaning; the same sign or text has

different meanings in different places. Transitivity examines the “organisation of the clause

to realise experiential meaning” (Eggins, 1994, p. 220). The content of the text is created by

“experiential reality, the world of actions, participants and circumstances” (Eggins, 1994, p.

220). Analysis of the example text shows how role relationships are created and clarified.

The title of the documents identifies the reader as the customer with membership of an annual

pass holders group and identifies the author as someone offering information via the e-news

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document. However, the headings and information are often offers to purchase or participate

in the exchange of goods and services. A the top of the document are three photos with

identifying theme park names and the large heading Annual Pass e-new. These items identify

the author and intended purpose of the document. Further analysis shows that the “park of

membership” is part of the experiential reality; the customer actually visits and participates in

actions at the location described by the text. Other locations referenced in the text are “Sea

World Resort and Water Park”, “the front gate”, “the Calgary Stampede”, “Australian

Outback Spectacular”, and “Alberta Canada”. These locations are also topics within

statements and offers and become part of the readers reality by the linking the reader by using

“You” and “Your”. The text describes both actions that are familiar to the reader, “Visit”,

“Stay and play” and new actions “collect” and “stamped”. The pictures in the document link

the reader with reality, situations that they have or can envisage being part of.

The choice of constituents used as processes is associated with different participant roles

(Eggins, 1994), for example a newsletter telling staff (who becomes to new participants,

rather than the customer) about the upcoming special events would contain many of the same

circumstances, but the process type would be different. Further, constituents can have more

than one meaning simultaneously, they can offer participants and participation in certain

actions (Eggins, 1994, p. 225). The analysis of “Simply visit your park of membership twice

before 30th June.” demonstrates that “park of membership” has dual meanings, both location

and topical.

The analysis shows that there are some constituents that have functions in both Mood and

transitivity demonstrating that “the reality of interaction demands that we not only talk about

something, but that we talk to someone” (Eggins, 1994, p. 270). The text uses “you” and

“your” as both the subject and the actor as the someone and uses complements and

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circumstance to provide reality to the something that is also defined by the process and

topics. The way that the text is arranged also gives overall meaning and the choices made

demonstrate a definite purpose, audience and expected response pattern.

Another system of textual meaning is the Theme and Rheme. Halliday (cited in Eggins, 1994,

p. 275) defines Theme as the element that is starting point of what the clause is going to be

about. The Rheme is the part of the clause where the Theme is developed (Eggins, 1994, p.

275). The text consists primarily of interpersonal themes “Simply visit your” is an example of

an interpersonal theme, with “park of membership twice before 30th June” being identified as

the Rheme.

Modalities are a referred to as the combined grammatical sub-systems, modalization and

modulation, allowing the expression of degrees of probability/usuality or

obligation/inclination (Eggins, 1994, p. 192). The document analysed uses the word “simply”

many times to indicate that even when complying with the instructions the level of obligation

required by the reader is quite low. Another example of this is the phrase “just by using your

Annual Pass!” even when there is actually more to the task. It is argued that all texts are

multimodal, that written text is not just structured through linguistic mechanisms but also

through the spatial arrangements and graphic elements on the page (Kress & van Leeuwen,

1998, pp. 186-187).

The colours used are based on a complementary colour scheme, which makes the text easy to

read and allows differentiation of information. The framing of the different sections of the

text evidence to the reader that the document can be neatly split into sections and that each

part can be read as a separate piece.

The top quarter of the page is taken up with pictures, company logos and the title of the

document, some of which will be familiar to the reader. However, each of the pictures are

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labelled as New! which entices the reader to find out more and make another visit to the

parks, meaning that “the Ideal is communicated visually and the text serves to comment or

elaborate.” (Kress & van Leeuwen, 1998, p. 194). Further, “the elements placed at the top are

presented as the Ideal and those placed at the bottom as the Real” (Kress & van Leeuwen,

1998, p. 193).

Salience refers to the way readers judge the weight of the different parts of the document and

is often based on an individual’s cultural background or history (Kress & van Leeuwen, 1998,

pp. 200-201). The document uses consistent and evenly spaced headings that have an even

amount of salience. The “You could win $5000 cash....” text has a high level of salience,

being larger and bold and calls the attention of the reader to the key sub-article of the text.

There is also evidence of increased salience in the other sections of the document by using

bold text within the second and third boxed sections of the document. Framing devices are

used consistently through the document to separate sections of the document into parts that

might be relevant to different readers.

Implications of Practice

The ability to critically analyse text is an increasingly necessary skill in learning

environments as the impact of globalisation and modernisation means that many people are

finding the need for increased literacy in their work and personal lives and there is an

increasing focus on critical literacy and the ability of people to self-develop literacy skills.

However, the term critical literacy is not a universally accepted one; it means different things

in different socio-economic-political situations, from being based on high order

comprehension or lateral thinking designed for use with new technologies rather than

response strategies towards stereotypes, bias or intent (Luke, 2000, pp. 450-451).

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Using systemic linguistics allows us to being to analyse and explain the meanings behind the

text that is used in everyday language (Eggins, 1994, p. 1), which coincides with the view of

critical literacy in Australia, that reading and writing is about social power (Luke, 2000, p.

451) and that critical literacy can be used to assist students to understand the way language

can reinforce or challenge ideology and power relationships (Hammond & Macken-Horarik,

1999, p. 529). The analysis in the paper demonstrates that the choices made infer different

power relationships and different meanings within text.

The four resources model of coding, text-meaning, pragmatic and critical practices (Freebody

cited in Luke, 2000, p.454) relate directly to the analysis of text using systemic functional

linguistics. The patterns and conventions are shown as ideas brought together through careful

composition to affect the reader in a particular way, in this case to attempt the transfer of

goods or services.

It is often difficult to know which model needs to be approached first in the classroom. Some

students will require instruction in the code, but Luke (2000 p. 454-455) argues that this is

not necessarily separate from critical literacy or the other resource models. Further, particular

textual practices and encouraged and socio-political conventions are re-enforced through

education (Luke, 2000, p. 449). It is argued that this is not critical literacy, but merely a

reproduction of the genre, which in itself provides access to the powerful and established

discourses and genre (Hammond & Macken-Horarik, 1999, p. 531). However teachers must

be able to identify, explain and transfer knowledge of the coding system in use, how the

author influences the text, the social context and what the text is trying to achieve with the

reader.

By analysing the text chosen for this paper classroom activities can be developed to introduce

the concept of critical literacy and to allow students to place themselves both as readers and

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authors of such text. As a teacher analysis of this text will allow transfer of skills that help

create multi-modal documents aimed at a particular audience with a clear and intended

purpose. Students will become active participants, in both recognising the effects of text and

in creating those some effects when they become authors themselves. This is part of the

teachings in the classroom for the writing business documents and will prove very useful.

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References

Eggins, S. (1994). An introduction to systemic functional linguistics. London: Pinter

Publishers.

Gee, J. P., Michaels, S., & O'Connor, M. D. (2004). In M. l. Compete, W. L. Milroy, & J.

Prieslle (Eds.), The handbook of qualitative research in education (pp. 19-50). Mahwah:

Routledge.

Kress, G., & van Leeuwen, T. (1998). Font pages: (The critical) analysis of newspaper

layout. In A. Bell, & P. Garrett (Eds.), Approaches to media discource (pp. 186-219).

Malden: Blackwell Publishers.

Luke, A. (2000). Critical literacy in Australia: A matter of context and standpoint. Journal of

Adolescent & Adult Literacy , 43 (5), 448-462.

Macken-Horarik, M. (2002). Something to shoot for. In Genre in the classroom: Multiple

perspectives (pp. 17-42). Abingdon: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Warner Village Theme Parks. (n.d.). Win $5,000 Cash or 1 of 50 $200 gift Cards. Retrieved

May 8, 2009, from http://mymail.ezemsgs.com/em/mail/view.php?

id=1181823621&k=99872dd

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Appendix A – Original Text

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Appendix B: Functional stages

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Appendix C: Partial Analysis

Statemen

t

Annual pass e-news

RESIDUE

Imperativ

e

Visit The MyFun website

Predictor Component

RESIDUE

Imperativ

e

Purchase Tickets

Predictor Component

RESIDUE

Imperativ

e

View annual pass member

benefits

Predictor Component

RESIDUE

14


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Statement Exclusive Annual Pass Competition

RESIDUE

Offer

You could win

$5,000 cash or one of

fifty

$200 grocery gift cards

jus

tby using your annual pass

Subject Finite: modal Predictor Complement Adjunct: circumstantialSubjec

tComplement

MOOD RESIDUE MOOD

Actortextual

Process:

materialActor Goal

Beneficiary Process:

materialGoal Pr:intesnvie Carrier Attribute

THEME RHEME THEME RHEME

Statemen

t

Simply visit your park of membership twice before 30th June.

Adjust: circumstantion Predictor Subject

MOOD RESIDUE

Process:

material

Actor Range Circumstance

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Interpersonal Topical

THEME RHEME

Statement On your first visit, collect a postcard from the

front gate

and have it stamped on both your visits

Adjuct Subject Adjuct

:

Predictor Predictor Complement subject

MOOD RESIDUE RESIDUE MOOD

Actor Circumstance Process:

material

Goal Process: Material Circumstance Beneficiary Range

THEME RHEME THEME RHEME

Statement When you have two stamps place i

t

in the entry barrel at the front gate and you ‘ll be in the draw to win!!

subjec

t

subjec

t

MOOD RESIDUE MOOD RESIDUE

Actor Process:

material

Goal

THEME RHEME

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Imperativ

e

Top of page

RESIDUE

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