TLGA 107: Summary of Grammatical Analysis

In the early twentieth century, researchers such as the linguist John Firth (1890-1960) and the anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski (1884-1942) paved the way for a new approach to language which sees language in terms of what it does rather than what it is. This approach is known as systemic functional linguistics, and the term functional grammar is used to describe how words function in a clause. The linguist most closely associated with functional grammar is Michael Halliday (born 1925).

Halliday’s work and that of his colleagues produced a system which analyses texts in terms of three metafunctions. The Experiential metafunction is concerned with meaning, that is, with the way language interprets experience. The Interpersonal metafunction is concerned with the personal relationships that a text establishes and reflects. The Textual metafunction is concerned with the way in which information is organised in a text. The three metafunctions show how texts vary according to register. 

Grammar jokes LOL

By using systemic functional grammar (SFG), the teacher has a powerful tool with which to mediate her/his explanations of language, and thus mediate the learner’s understandings of how to use the language they are in the process of learning. This tool is the bridge between context and text – between the sociocultural setting in which the speaker is conducting her/his activity and the language that is a part of that activity. The tool is called Register, and gives the teacher the ability to pick away at the context of language use and identify:

• the field: what is going on in the activity 
• the tenor: who is taking part in the activity
• the mode: the part language plays in the activity.

Teaching Grammar is not an easy task.

So, each time you present a text to your learners, you can start with establishing the context, as above, and then proceed to highlight whatever grammar is important in each of the three areas.

All knowledge and information in this blog are taken from varieties of sources.
Source: 
Systemic Funtional Grammar
Grammar
Funtional Grammar
Halliday's Functional Grammar