“Supporting Elementary English Language Learners’ Argumentative Writing Through a Functional Grammar Approach” by Catherine O’Halloran
O’Halloran’s dissertation looks at how second and fourth graders’ use of argument can be supported by explicit language instruction in systemic functional linguistics (SFL). This research was part of a larger study, The Language and Meaning Project, which focuses on training teachers in SFL to support explicit and meaningful interaction with language among students, especially English Language Learners. The study took place in Michigan public schools, where the majority of students spoke Arabic as their first language” (46). The case study used “(a) two intact classrooms and (b) 10-11 focal students within each of those classes” (48). This research design allowed for one class to be the experimental group, while the other was the control. Students’ arguments were analyzed at the clause-level as well as the broader “stage (e.g. Claim, Evidence, Reason, Counterargument) levels (x). Pre-tests and post-tests were also used to gauge students’ progress and were judged by independent raters. The research found “the arguments of a majority of students in each grade improved after participation in the argument unit” (x). Interestingly, although much research makes a correlation between making sophisticated arguments and age, O’Halloran’s research demonstrates “that even students whose age is typically regarded as an impediment or who may otherwise have difficulties were capable of constructing effective arguments when supported to do so” (xi).
I would recommend this dissertation to anyone interested in SFL, as well as teachers interested in helping students, especially ELLs, create more sophisticated, well-supported, and logical arguments. The research design of this study does an excellent job documenting the impact of SFL on students’ writing by setting up a control and experimental group, using pre-tests and post-tests, and analyzing data using SFL as well as more traditional methods. Data analysis includes T-unit analysis to evaluate the complexity of student writing. Chapter four looks specifically at second grade level writing, while chapter five looks at fourth grade. Though student writing that is unsupported may manifest on developmental lines, students’ writing that is explicitly supported can exhibit sophisticated features of argumentation at an early age. In terms of my own research, this study will be highly influential to my research design, to help establish a causal relationship between instructional interventions and their impacts. The study also provides a number of tools for analyzing student texts at the clause and stage level.
Works Cited
O’Halloran, Catherine. Supporting Elementary English Language Learners’ Argumentative Writing Through a Functional Grammar Approach. Diss. U of Michigan, 2014. Ann Arbor: Michigan UP, 2014. Print.