Teaching systemic functional grammar and the landscape of L2 student writers’ academic transition

This qualitative case study investigates how second language (L2) student writers’ knowledge of grammar interacts with their experiences with academic transition. In particular, the study focuses on academically transitioning L2 student writers’ uptake of systemic functional grammar (SFG), which conceptualizes and explicitly explains language as a social semiotic resource for meaning making. The 14 L2 students involved in the study were transitioning to an informative writing course offered by a university in China. The data sources included interviews with the students and the students’ writing pieces and reflections, and were grounded in a thematic analysis. The study shows that the students experienced academic challenges. However, with their improved uptake of SFG, the students were able to overcome the contextual complexity of the new context, thus making the academic transition. In particular, knowledge of SFG enabled the students to gradually construct meaningful content by considering and harnessing contextually appropriate choices at the lexico-grammar level, meeting the academic demands of the writing course. The study concludes that teaching SFG gradually helped L2 student writers develop a knowledge base, enabling them to transition effectively into a meaning-based writing course. The implications of the study include the need for teacher education programs to prepare educators to adapt SFG to local classrooms and facilitate students’ academic transition through appropriate strategies of instruction.