Research On The Reading Of College English Based On Systemic Functional Linguistics

In recent years, with the social and economic development, the foreign exchange has increased enormously, which poses a demand for English talents in china to realize the transformation from the ability of reading and writing to comprehensive application ability. Although there have been continuous improvements in the teaching methods and great progress in the college English teaching, it is still unsatisfactory that a certain distance still exists from the syllabus of college English. In order to elevate the overall English teaching level essentially, much work has to be done. For example, it is necessary to refer to the achievement of the linguistic research home and abroad and explore for more update teaching methods.Zhihui Fang from the University of Florida puts forward the functional linguistic analysis teaching method and bridges the linguistic theory and the teaching practice by suggesting the application of the theory of systemic function linguistics to the reading instruction. With the systemic functional linguistic analysis teaching approach by Zhihui Fang as its theoretical foundation, this thesis conducts an empirical research for the reading instruction by combining concrete discourses. The thesis is made with the expectation to provide a feasible scheme for the text reading instruction and dedicate more to the college English teaching.Firstly, the thesis conducts an analysis of the textual meaning, which is realized by analyzing the theme of the clause. Textual meaning is concerned with the ways of how text is constructed, which can be examined by time, cause and effect, comparison or condition etc. Theme serves as the organizer of the text with information involved in it being"Given Information"including person, date and many other time marks. The textual meaning can be identified by analyzing the theme and the frequently presented conjunction contained in theme.Secondly, the ideational meaning is analyzed to clarify which process is the dominant one in a text. The participants and event in a text can be presented by analyzing the processes of the clause, participants and the context.Finally, the analysis is made on the interpersonal meaning to disclose the internal meaning of the text and the author's view on the subject. The way of how the author constructs the interpersonal meaning can be illustrated by the choices of different processes, the behavior of different participants and the choices of mood, modality and vocabulary. The research of the thesis gives rise to some main findings which can be presented as follows: firstly, as one kind of teaching theories, the systemic functional grammar proves to be very powerful in feasibility and application; secondly, it can assist the students to get the deep meaning conveyed by language through context and grasp the intention of the author; thirdly, the teaching method of systemic functional analysis can promote students'understanding about the choice of syntax, vocabulary and cultivate their reflection on the creativity of language semiotic so that they can choose the right words according to the context; fourthly, this teaching method can not only contribute to the comprehensive cultivation of the students language ability in the three perspectives---vocabulary, syntax and semantics, but also enhance their reading and writing ability.