The theory
What do we mean by a ‘functional model’?
To succeed in educational contexts, students must develop control over the language and visual resources needed to comprehend and compose print and multimodal texts. This requires a rich model of language that goes beyond correcting grammatical errors. A functional approach is more concerned with how language functions in our daily lives to achieve our goals. It sees language as a system for making various kinds of meanings. In school contexts, for example, the kinds of meanings we make in science vary considerably from the kinds of meanings we make in subject English.
How texts vary depending on the context
A functional model describes how our language choices differ depending on the context. The choices we make vary depending on such factors as:
our purpose for using language (the genre)
Students need to be taught how texts vary depending on their social purpose. To achieve their goal, texts move through a series of stages and phases characteristic of their genre. A recount of an excursion, for example, is structured differently from an explanation of a natural disaster.
the subject-matter (the field)
Students need to use language and visuals to build deep knowledge of the content across all areas of the curriculum. They need to be able to use not only everyday language but the increasingly abstract, technical and complex language of academic contexts. They need to be taught the ways in which the different curriculum areas use language. Subjects such as science, mathematics, history and English make different choices from the language system.
who we are interacting with (the tenor)
Students need to know how language can be used to effectively engage with others. How can they use oral language to interact productively in group work and to participate in class discussions? When reading, can they identify how language is being used to delight, intrigue, manipulate, persuade? In their writing, can they use language to express opinions, convey feelings, and establish a connection with their audience?
whether the text is spoken, written or multimodal (the mode)
Students need to know how to move between the spontaneous, free-flowing language of the spoken mode and the more considered, increasingly dense and compact language of the written mode in academic contexts. A functional model describes how the context-dependent spoken mode differs from the written mode where meanings need to be independent of a shared context.
A functional approach provides the teacher and students with a comprehensive, contemporary model of language that addresses the real-life language and literacy challenges in a range of contexts.
Download the document below for a more in-depth look at a functional model.