1 : A FUNCTIONAL APPROACH TO LANGUAGE

It is often said that children, as they use language, are constantly learning language

learning through language, and learning about language.

We never stop learning language - from the babbling of babies to the voracious preschool years, from our early encounters with print and our first attempts at writing through to the secondary textbooks and essays, and then beyond to the new demands of adulthood, where we still continue to learn and refine the language needed in every new situation in which we find ourselves.

And it is now widely recognised that we learn through language - that language is absolutely central in the learning process. Our perception of the world is constructed through language, and it is through language that we are able to interact with others in our world. In schools, we could virtually say that "language is the curriculum".

But what of learning about language? As we use language, we develop a relatively unconscious, implicit understanding of how it works. A functional approach to language attempts to make these commonsense understandings explicit. Once they have been brought out into the open, we can use them to help us in the classroom.

WHAT IS A FUNCTIONAL APPROACH TO LANGUAGE?

A functional approach looks at how language enables us to do things - to share information, to enquire, to express attitudes, to entertain, to argue, to get our needs met, to reflect, to construct ideas, to order our experience and

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Exploring How 'i}f'B~ts Work

make sense of the world. It is concerned with how people use real language for real purposes. At the heart of a functional model of language is an emphasis on meaning and on how language is involved in the construction of meaning. It sees language as a resource for making meaning.

A functional approach to language is not concerned with a set of rules which prescribe correct and incorrect usage. Language in real life is not a complete, ideal system conforming to neat, pre-determined categories. Language is dynamic and ever-evolving. We develop language to' satisfy our needs in society. Language is functional when it fulfils those needs effectively.

WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES OF A FUNCTIONAL APPROACH TO LANGUAGE?

§ A functional model of language complements modem classroom practice based on holistic approaches to language teaching and learning.

§ Like Whole Language, it is interested above all in meaning, not in empty conventions.

§ Because meaning is found within a text as a whole, a functional model of language describes how language operates at the text level, not at the level of individual words and sentences in isolation.

§ A functional approach to language stresses how meanings are made in conjunction with other people. This strongly supports the small groupwork and conferencing practices of today's classrooms.

§ It is concerned with real language used by real people - not schoolbook exercises contrived purely to teach some point of grammar, or reading texts devised to teach some aspect of reading.

§ It is not interested in simply teaching language for the sake of teaching language. Rather, it demonstrates how language operates in all areas of the curriculum.

§ In primary classrooms today, there is an emphasis on writing for specific purposes. A functional approach to language attempts to show how texts can most effectively achieve these purposes.

§ Children today are also encouraged to write with a particular audience in mind. A functional model describes how texts will vary according to whom you are addressing and how distant that audience is.

§ Perhaps most impor:tantly, the knowledge of language provided by a functional model helps us to identify what children's strengths are and to make dear and positive suggestions as to how they might make their texts more effective, instead of vague, superficial comments or mere corrections of spelling and punctuation.

§ If children have an explicit knowledge of what language resources are available, they are in a better position to make informed choices when developing texts of their own.

HOW MIGHT YOU USE A FUNCTIONAL APPROACH TO LANGUAGE IN THE CLASSROOM?

A functional approach to language does not advocate teaching about language by handing down prescriptive recipes. Rather it is concerned with providing information about the development of effective texts for particular purposes, and providing it at the point of need within the context of real, purposeful language use. A functional model of language can be drawn upon during classroom activities based on a "process" or "whole language" philosophy - wherever children are engaged in the construction of texts and opportunities are created for explicit discussion of these texts. Such opportunities might occur, for example, during the modelling of a text, during a shared book activity, during the construction of a class text, or during a conferencing session. Sometimes these opportunities can be programmed, sometimes they may be spontaneous. They can occur at the whole class, small group, or individual level.

Many teachers have found it useful to develop in the class "a language for talking about language". These shared understandings about text, reflected in the shared terminology used by the class, allow for a more productive use of time. They can be built up through group reflection on the language as it is used, starting with questions like these.

What do you think we might use this sort of a text for in our society? What could we call it?

Remember when we were writing Explanations? Why is this text different from an Explanation?

Look at the beginning of the text. What do you think the writer is doing here? What does the beginning of this text tell the reader?

Is it the same as the beginning of a Report?

What name could we give this sort of a beginning? What about a term such as "orientation" to remind us that it is setting the scene?

Which words link up the text and show us when the actions took place? We could call these "linking words".

Thus the children are guided towards making explicit the knowledge they already have about texts. This shared knowledge and terminology, combined with the insights contributed by the teacher, then becomes a resource they can draw on in their subsequent discussions of texts.

The teachers you will meet in the chapters of this book decided to trial a variety of activities which would allow for the growth of shared understandings about texts. In particular, they drew on the curriculum cycle outlined in the support documents for Writing K-12 and the NSW Disadvantaged Schools Program materials (see References). The cycle they jointly developed, described in the following pages, provided a context for language exploration while the children were using language for real purposes in a variety of curriculum areas.

CURRICULUM CYCLE

Preparation

• Identify the major understandings and abilities to be developed in the unit of work you are preparing (e.g. finding and organising information about transport, putting forward an argument on conservation, telling a horror story). Specific topics can be negotiated with the children during the unit, and you might also negotiate some end product (e.g. big book, letter to press/ government minister) to provide a goal the children can work towards and an audience they can reach out to.

• Decide which genre (or genres) would be appropriate to develop these understandings/ abilities (e.g. Report, Argument, Narrative). This becomes the language focus of the unit.

• Plan a number of activities to familiarise the children with the subjectmatter and the genre, ranging from hands-on, exploratory, oral activities through to more reflective, written activities.

• Locate sample texts in the chosen genre to use for immersion and modelling. Read them carefully beforehand to become familiar with their features.

Note

It's important to know how well children can already use the genre. If you are uncertain, you may find it helpful to ask them to write a text "Gold",

using the genre in question, so that strengths and weaknesses become apparent and they can observe how their texts improve as they progress through the unit.

Your assessment of the children's' proficiency in the genre at this stage may well influence the subsequent phases of the unit - for instance:

• if the genre is relatively unfamiliar to most of the children, the class may need to develop common basic understandings about it as a whole group

• if the class has worked previously with the genre, it may help to look at specific aspects, e.g. how to write an effective beginning

• if the children demonstrate quite different levels of proficiency, it may be a good idea to work with groups on different aspects.

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Modelling

If children are to write in a particular genre, they first need to become familiar with its purpose and features through immersion in the genre and by exploring sample texts.

• Introduce a model of the genre to the class (e.g. using the OHP). Choose or compose a text which is similar to the one to be written later as a joint construction by the class.

• Discuss the purposes for which we use this type of text in our society (e.g. the purpose of a Recount is to tell what happened).

• With the class, identify how the text is structured. Each genre has a distinctive set of stages which help it to achieve its purpose. These stages make up its schematic structure. (The schematic structure of a Recount, for example, consists of an orientation which sets the scene, followed by a series of events which tell what happened.) It's a good idea to look at a copy of the model text with its stages clearly marked, and to give the children a photocopy of this for later reference.

• Discuss the function of each stage. (For instance, the function of the orientation of a Recount is to let the reader know who was involved, when and where the events took place, and any other information necessary to understand the events which follow.)

Note

§ Some teachers might introduce the features of a text directly to the children, while others might prefer, through careful guidance and question-

Exploring How Texts Work

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ing, to help the children discover the features themselves (in which case the class may need to examine several examples of the same genre).

§ During the modelling phase you may wish to compare a successful text with one which has not achieved its purpose, asking the children to work out why.

§ It may also be interesting to compare the structure and stages of this genre with one previously examined.

§ Model texts can be commercially published ones, texts written previously by students, or texts written by the teacher.

§ In the modelling phase you can also refer to language features other than the structure of the text, but it's probably most helpful to start with a picture of the text as a whole.

J oint Construction

Before children write independent texts, it is useful for them to participate in the group writing of a text in the chosen genre. A text may be jointly constructed by the whole class, by a small group, or by a teacher and child during conferencing.

• Researching the topic. Before writing, we need to make sure we have something to write about. We often need to research the topic. The type of research we do will depend on the genre we plan to use, e.g.

Report: observing/reading/making notes/watching video Argument: discussion/interviews/ finding evidence Narrative: brainstorming/silent contemplation.

At this stage you may find it necessary to work with the children on researching skills (e.g. use of library, locating information in a book, notemaking).

• Pooling information. As well as demonstrating what form the final product may take, the joint construction of a text also demonstrates the process involved in writing a text. So, as the children build up their data banks and start pooling their ideas and information, they may need guidance in organising their jottings through the use of matrix charts, columns, headings, flowcharts, and so on.

• Revising structure. It may be helpful at this stage to revise the schematic structure of the genre (e.g. by referring to model texts).

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• Jointly constructing a text. Let the children contribute the information and ideas while you act as guide, asking questions and making suggestions about the structuring of the text. Scribe the text yourself so that the children can concentrate on the meanings they are creating. When it's complete, give them each a copy as a further model.

• Assessing the children's progress. Some children may be keen to try an independent text, while others may feel they need further modelling. So at this stage flexibility may be needed, with different groups working on different tasks.

Independent Construction of Text

Having read and examined specimen texts in the chosen genre, and having had the experience of jointly constructing a similar text, many children may now choose to write their own texts on a related topic.

• Each child, possibly with your guidance, chooses a topic. For instance, if you've already modelled a text on "How to care for your dog", a child might choose to write a similar text on caring for cats, or goldfish, or tortoises.

• The children write their drafts, referring to models.

• Each child consults with you and/or peer(s), receiving comments on what he or she has achieved (in the light of built-up, shared knowledge about the genre) and suggestions for changes to help the text achieve its purpose more effectively.

• You may find that conferencing about drafts reveals a need for more modelling and joint construction.

OJ Editing and publishing the children's texts are optional final steps.

Public conferencing of some of the children's texts (in a constructive way and with each writer's permission) can encourage discussion of more detailed language features, just as shared reading of children's texts can give further opportunities for modelling the genre.

Children eventually reach the point where they can undertake writing the genre quite independently. Indeed they may choose to do so in free-choice writing sessions, for contract work or for projects. When they have gained control of the basic features, they may move on to exploit the genre more creatively.