3.5 Functional approaches

Unlike UG, which is a linguistic approach with an internal focus on language acquisition, functional approaches take an external focus on language learning. Functional models are different from structuralist and generative model in that they emphasize the information content of utterances and consider language primarily as a system of communication rather than a set of rules. The term “function” includes both structural function and pragmatic function. The former is concerned with the role a structural element plays as a subject or object, or an actor or goal, while the latter concerns what the use of language can accomplish, such as convey information, control others’ behaviour, or express emotion.

Functional approaches focus on the use of language in real situations as well as underlying knowledge. The study of SLA begins with the assumption that the purpose of language is communication, and that development of linguistic knowledge requires communicative use. The scope of concern in functional approaches goes beyond the sentence to include discourse structure and how language is used in interaction, and to include aspects of communication beyond language. In this part, we will introduce systemic linguistics and functional typology..

 

3.5.1 Systemic linguistics

Systemic linguistics, developed by M. A, K. Halliday in late 1950s, is a model for analyzing language in terms of the inter-related systems of choices that are available for expressing meaning. There is a basic notion that language structures cannot be studied without considering the circumstances of their use, including the extralinguistic social context. Halliday has the following functional view of language acquisition:

 

Language acquisition … needs to be seen as the mastery of linguistic functions. Learning one’s mother tongue is learning the uses of language, and the meanings, or rather the meaning potential, associated with them. The structures, the words and the sounds are the realization of this meaning potential. Learning language is learning how to mean.

(Halliday 1973:345)

 

What do language learners essentially acquire? In Halliday’s view, it is not a system of rules but the “meaning potential”, that is, what the learner can; not what he knows. The process of acquiring a language is “mastering certain basic functions of language and developing a meaning potential for each” (Halliday, 1975:33). The following is a list of universal pragmatic functions of language described by Halliday(1975).

 

                Table 3.3  Universal functions of language

        Function                      Description

         Instrumental          language used as a means of getting things done

         Regulatory           used to regulate the behaviour of others

         Interactional          used in interaction between self and others

                                  Personal              awareness of language as a form of one’s own identity

                                Heuristic              language as a way of learning about things

          Imagination             creation of a world of one’s own making

                               Representational           means of expressing propositions

 

The functional view of the study of SLA is that L2 learning is a process of adding multilingual meaning potential to what has been achieved in L1. In other words, “SLA is largely a matter of learning new linguistic forms to fulfill the same functions within a different social milieu” (Saville-Troike, 2008:54). Saville-Troike once observed children’s linguistic performance who had just arrived in USA from different countries, and found that all of them could accomplish a wide range of communicative functions even they had limited English means at their disposal. The following are the different functions performed by different means, including both nonlinguistic and linguistic strategies:

 

Table 3.4 Functions fulfilled by different forms (adapted from Savelle-Stroike, 2008: 54)

                                                Regulatory               Interactional      Heuristic

     Nonlinguistic              (hitting another child      Unh? (uttered as     (pointing at an object with a                                                       question look to request

                who is annoying)         a greeting)       the English term for it)

        L2 formula     Don’t do that!            Hi!            What’s it?

       Single L2 word   He!(Pointing out another   Me? (an invitation   What? (asking for the English                                                        for an object                             offending behavior to a teacher  to play                                              

L2 phrase or clause     That bad!            You me play?          What name this?

 or clause

complex L2       The teacher say that wrong!   I not like to play now. What is name we call this?

construction

 

3.5.2 Functional typology

Functional typology is based on the comparative study of a wide range of the world’s languages. This approach of functional study involves the classification of languages and their features into types. Its purpose is to describe patterns of similarities and differences among them, and to decide which types occur more frequently or are universal in distribution. The reason why this approach is called ‘functional’ is that the analysis takes into consideration not only language structure, but also its meaning and use.

Functional typology is applied in SLA to account for developmental stages of L2 acquisition. For example, why some L2 forms are more difficult to learn, and why some L1 elements transfer to L2, and why some others do not. An important concept related to these accounts is “Markedness”, dealing with whether a specific feature of a language is “marked” or “unmarked”. An unmarked feature is more frequently used, and more “normal” than a marked one, while a marked feature is more complex in light of structure and concept. For example, in phonology, the most common syllable structure CV (consonant + vowel, such as in me, tea and banana) is “unmarked”, while the less common type, such as a sequence of consonants ( str in streets) is “marked”. In vocabulary, the preposition in signifies location while into is more complex, indicating both location and direction. Thus, into is “marked” in contrast with in. In syntax, the basic word order SVO is unmarked while SOV is relatively marked. Even in discourse, there are marked and unmarked expressions. An “unmarked” response to the English greeting How are you? is Fine. However, a response giving information about one’s health or other personal conditions is “marked” because such a response is not expected in the normal routine exchange.

Relevant studies show that unmarked elements are likely to be acquired before marked ones in children’s L1, and to be easier for a learner to master in L2 (Saville-Troike, 2008:56). The Markedness Differential Hypothesis, proposed by Eckman (1977), predicts that unmarked features in L1 are more likely to transfer, and that marked features in L2 will be harder to learn, as can be shown in Table 3.6

 

 

 

 

Table 3.5 Markedness and predictions in L2 learning

Feature in L1       Feature in L2              Prediction

Unmarked       Marked              L1 feature will transfer to L2

Marked        Unmarked              L2 feature will be easy to learn

                              L1 feature will not transfer to L2

To have a better understanding, we will look at an example of pronunciation in English and Spanish. The pronunciation of consonant sequence /sk/ in English is marked (as the sch in school). This is difficult for Spanish people to learn because Spanish phonological system is simpler, and it does not allow two voiceless consonants to occur together. So, beginning Spanish ESL learners tend to break the /sk/ combination apart into two syllables and pronounce the word school in the Spanish way /es-kul/, thus avoiding the marked structure. Just in opposition, those who learn Spanish will have no difficulty in pronouncing the Spanish word escuela (school), since it doesn’t contain any consonant cluster in any syllable.

It seems that functional typology resembles CA in terms of comparing different languages, so as to predict or explain transfer from L1 to L2. However, it goes beyond the surface structural analysis. The Markedness Differential Hypothesis is also more advanced than the CA approach.