Papers by Marianna V Ryshina-Pankova
Systemic Functional Linguistics and Advanced Second Language Proficiency
The Handbook of Advanced Proficiency in Second Language Acquisition
Specifying the literacy pedagogy moves through genre-based instruction for advanced second language teaching: developing multiple literacies through systemic functional linguistics
Pedagogies: An International Journal
Systemic Functional Linguistics and L2 Pragmatics
The Routledge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition and Pragmatics, 2019
The aim of the chapter is to draw connections between Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) and L... more The aim of the chapter is to draw connections between Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) and L2 pragmatics and demonstrate how SFL can contribute to the study of L2 language learning and use as meaning making in context. Taking the focus on meaning, function, and context as the point of departure, the chapter discusses the commonalities between SFL and L2 pragmatics. It then moves on to point out how our understanding of L2 pragmatics as the study of language ‘as seen in relation to its users’ (Mey, 1993, p. 5) can benefit from the SFL framework. The discussion of the benefits from the theoretical perspective is followed by a review of empirical SFL-based studies of L2 performance and development that aims to show precisely what SFL can reveal about pragmatic L2 use and L2 learning and how this framework can be helpful in fostering pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic competence in instruction. Keywords: systemic functional linguistics, genre theory, L2 meaning making, L2 pragmatics, genre-based instruction
Scaffolding Advanced Literacy in the Foreign Language Classroom: Implementing a Genre-Driven Content-Based Approach
Language Learning & Technology, 2018
With a shift toward understanding the goals of foreign language learning as development of interc... more With a shift toward understanding the goals of foreign language learning as development of intercultural communicative competence (ICC; Thorne, 2010), telecollaborative interaction with geographically distant partners has been seen both as a pedagogical tool that can play a significant role in promoting intercultural negotiation abilities and attitudes and as a felicitous context for assessing these abilities. Addressing the assessment task through a linguistically-grounded investigation of telecollaborative chats, this exploratory study aims to demonstrate how abstract aspects of ICC can be operationalized as deployment of particular discourse structuring and linguistic resources. Drawing on the systemicfunctional approach to discourse analysis (Eggins & Slade, 1997) and Byram’s (1997) framework of ICC, this study examines written synchronous chats created throughout a 7-week telecollaborative activity by advanced American learners of German at a private US University and by German...
Russian Journal of Linguistics, 2020
, instantiates what has been called the "emotional turn" in the human sciences and specifically i... more , instantiates what has been called the "emotional turn" in the human sciences and specifically in the study of language (see also Alba-Juez & Larina, 2018, a special issue of this journal devoted to this theme). The volume focuses on the crucial importance of emotion in human communication and on the construal of emotions through language. Presenting the latest theoretical and empirical research on this matter, the
Die Unterrichtspraxis/Teaching German, 2018
Russian Journal of Linguistics, 2016
Throughout the 2016 campaign, presidential candidate Donald Trump surprised observers with his ab... more Throughout the 2016 campaign, presidential candidate Donald Trump surprised observers with his ability to maintain his popularity in the face of unorthodox and often offensive statements. Trump likely bolstered his electoral chances by appealing to a large segment of voters with whom other candidates failed to align themselves. To quote one news anchor, "People tried to attack Trump; it just didn't workvoters liked him anyway". As previous work by Miller (2002; 2004) has shown, systemic functional linguistic (SFL) analysis (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2004) can illuminate particular strategies politicians employ to strengthen their arguments and exhort their audiences to join their efforts. In this paper, we employ the SFL-based Engagement framework (White, 2003; Martin & White, 2005) to examine ways in which the 2016 presidential candidates aligned themselves with their audiences. Our analysis of the speeches of Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and Bernie Sanders reveals markedly different patterns of interaction with the voters in terms of ways expansive and contractive dialogic strategies are used, an intended audience is identified and thematized, and shared assumptions are made. While Trump makes his arguments in a highly constrained dialogic space, taking the agreement with the audience for granted, his opponents often employ a mix of contractive and expansive argumentative strategies and make more explicit overtures to the audiences whose perspectives they share. This study offers insights as to how each candidate identifies and addresses his or her ideological sympathizers or opponents and exhorts the former to intensify their support.
Student learning outcomes assessment in college foreign language programs, 2015
Recently, there have been urgent calls (e.g., MLA, 2007) to explicitly conceptualize the goals of... more Recently, there have been urgent calls (e.g., MLA, 2007) to explicitly conceptualize the goals of FL study beyond proficiency in a foreign language and in line with a more comprehensive humanistic learning framework characteristic of collegiate education in general. In view of this need to draw transparent connections between FL study and humanistic inquiry, we conducted a project that aimed to establish a framework for understanding and assessing the nature of "humanities learning" in the German Department at Georgetown University. This chapter describes the stages of the assessment initiative in its first cycle by (a) outlining the goals and intended uses of the assessment project, (b) reporting on the process of formulating the learning outcomes, and (c) describing an investigation of student writing performance that sought to determine whether students are achieving the specified outcomes. The chapter demonstrates the transformative impact of the program-internal and curriculum-based approach to assessment on the understanding of humanities learning as well as on tasks and pedagogical practices that can foster humanistic inquiry.
The Handbook of Advanced Proficiency in Second Language Acquisition, First Edition. , 2018
CONTENT-BASED FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHING: Curriculum and Pedagogy for Developing Advanced Thinking and Literacy Skills Edited by Laurent Cammarata, Routledge, 2016
The Routledge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition and L2 Pragmatics, 2019
The aim of the chapter is to draw connections between Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) and L... more The aim of the chapter is to draw connections between Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) and L2 pragmatics and demonstrate how SFL can contribute to the study of L2 language learning and use as meaning making in context. Taking the focus on meaning, function, and context as the point of departure, the chapter discusses the commonalities between SFL and L2 pragmatics. It then moves on to point out how our understanding of L2 pragmatics as the study of language ‘as seen in relation to its users’ (Mey, 1993, p. 5) can benefit from the SFL framework. The discussion of the benefits from the theoretical perspective is followed by a review of empirical SFL-based studies of L2 performance and development that aims to show precisely what SFL can reveal about pragmatic L2 use and L2 learning and how this framework can be helpful in fostering pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic competence in instruction.
Keywords: systemic functional linguistics, genre theory, L2 meaning making, L2 pragmatics, genre-based instruction
The Modern Language …, 2012
Adopting a functional perspective that views grammar as a rich resource for making contextualized... more Adopting a functional perspective that views grammar as a rich resource for making contextualized meanings in a culture-and language-specific way, the article reconsiders the role of explicit grammar instruction in developing communicative abilities of second language learners. It draws on two distinct but complementary research frameworks, Systemic Functional Linguistics and Cognitive Linguistics, and on their conceptualization of grammar as a semiotic tool that serves the functions it is called on to perform in a speech community and is shaped by a variety of historical, social, and biological factors. The article delineates pedagogical principles of functionally based grammar instruction and illustrates them by providing suggestions on how to teach two notoriously complex phenomena in German: clausal dative case and past tenses. It advocates presenting grammatical phenomena in the context of an entire text and creating a metalinguistic awareness that enables learners to make situationally appropriate linguistic choices consistent with those of native speakers.
Preparing Graduate Student Teachers for Advanced Content-Based Instruction: Exploring Content Through Grammatical Metaphor
Aausc 2011 Volume: Educating the Future …, 2012
In their overview of research on the professional development of graduate student teachers in col... more In their overview of research on the professional development of graduate student teachers in collegiate foreign language departments, Allen and Negueruela-Azarola (2010) identify an important theme salient in numerous publications of the last two decades: the ...
Constructing coherent and cohesive textual worlds in advanced foreign language learner writing
Developmental changes in the use of interactional resources: Persuading the reader in FL book reviews
Journal of Second Language Writing, 2011
Negotiating stance and carrying on social interaction in writing in educational contexts has been... more Negotiating stance and carrying on social interaction in writing in educational contexts has been characterized by the choice of linguistic means away from explicit expressions of opinion representative of the informal relationship with the addressee towards the language that strives to conceal a subjective viewpoint and construes a formal relationship with the audience typical between non-intimate participants in the sphere of public discourses (0075, 0115, 0125 and 0130). This cross-sectional study of the book reviews produced by the American learners of German from the three advanced curricular levels investigates the changes in the use of interactional resources these learners employ to achieve the two central communicative goals of the genre: evaluating the book and persuading to read it. The construct of theme (0070 and 0075) as a structure crucial for rhetorical unfolding of texts is used to examine these changes. Given the methodological focus, the study demonstrates how more advanced FL writers move away from direct expression of authorial opinion manifested in thematization of the writer of the review and employ a more intersubjective and thus more persuasive reader-orientation in their texts.► The study identifies major manifestations of interactional meanings in FL texts. ► It suggests developmental paths that capture their change across proficiency levels. ► Development involves movement away from direct towards indirect expression of stance. ► Decrease in thematization of the writer; increase in thematization of the reader. ► Thematizaiton of other interpersonal elements that obscure the evaluating subject.
The Modern Language Journal, 2010
Situated within the framework of the systemic–functional linguistics (Halliday, 1994) and languag... more Situated within the framework of the systemic–functional linguistics (Halliday, 1994) and language-based theory of learning (Halliday, 1993), this article examines a shift toward a more objectified and “scientific” representation of reality in texts written by foreign language (FL) learners at various levels of acquisition. It argues that linguistic variation in style impacting communicative effectiveness of written texts created by learners representing different levels of FL acquisition can be partly captured by means of grammatical metaphor, as a phenomenon of transcategorization, whereby processes (typically realized by verbs), attributes (typically realized by adjectives), or whole propositions (typically realized by sentences) are encoded as nouns. Based on a study conducted on 55 book reviews written by advanced American learners of German and 30 texts written by native speakers in the same genre, the article identifies various types of grammatical metaphors or approximations toward it as characteristic of various acquisition levels. It also demonstrates the role and functions of grammatical metaphor in enhancing the ability of writers to construct a logical argument or a persuasive evaluation. Comparisons to the use of grammatical metaphor in the texts produced by native writers of German show it to be a prominent feature of adult language use in literate and academic contexts, by native or nonnative language users.
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Papers by Marianna V Ryshina-Pankova
Keywords: systemic functional linguistics, genre theory, L2 meaning making, L2 pragmatics, genre-based instruction