Application Of Systemic Functional Context Theory To College English Reading Instruction

Context is a very important concept in systemic functional linguistics. Systemic functional linguists attach great importance to the actual use of language by paying attention to the context in which the actual use of language occurs. From Malinowski’s original elaboration on the concept of context to Halliday’s register theory, within which he identifies the three variables, i.e., field, mode, and tenor, there has been an advancing development in systemic functional context theory. This theory shows explicitly that context plays an important role in language understanding.In order to improve the non-English majors’ reading proficiency and help them to grasp the effective reading strategies, the author attempts to apply systemic functional context theory to reading instruction.This thesis is based on functional linguistics theory of context. Two kinds of context are recognized in this theory, i.e., linguistic context and non-linguistic context. The latter is divided into situational context and cultural context. Through investigation of context in English reading comprehension, we try to find out whether context teaching can stimulate the students’ interest in reading and improve their reading ability.This thesis uses a qualitative and quantitative research method. The systemic functional context theory is used in English reading instruction for freshmen in environmental monitoring classes in School of International Education of Wuhan Institute of Technology for three months. The author compares the experiment results between the control class and the experimental class. The context teaching method is used in the experimental class, and the traditional teaching of reading is used in the control class. Then the pretest and posttest of the two classes are analyzed.The results of the present study indicate that the application of context theory to the teaching of college English reading is very helpful for students in their reading comprehension. With the help of context analysis, students can have a better understanding of the reading materials. This study proves that the application of systemic functional context theory to college English reading is feasible. Students will overcome the difficulties in reading comprehension more easily and then improve reading proficiency.