The form-function link

Students will find grammar more meaningful if we teach grammar (form) in relation to discourse functions – our intentions and acts when we interact with the reader in essays, letters, and other types of texts. To prepare ourselves for teaching the form-function link, we can begin by noticing what grammatical structures writers use to express what discourse functions. Here are the results of such a noticing exercise undertaken by teachers:

Discourse function	Language form
Open expository essay by framing the issue (lead in to W’s position/thesis)	Generic noun + present perfect + adj (to say W’s comment) Comics have always been a controversial issue.
State a possible situation relevant to R to prepare R for W’s position or claim (expository essay, letter of opinion to press) State a belief/observation as a fact (to assert W’s position or to support the position)	Modal may + adverb not always (You may not always agree with your family.) [preparing R for the position: Be tolerant.] Generic noun (refer to whole group – people or to everyone in the group – each person) + simple present tense + that-clause. Tolerant people appreciate that each person in their family is different
(Letter appealing for funds) Begin by enticing R with a prospect favourable to R. Introduce the organization and purpose of fund-raising	Interrogative form with modal would + Pron you + adj (depicting attractive outcome). How would you like the chance to make an easy $5000… Name of organisation, verb + NP (stating purpose of funds) …and help Netball Singapore build new premises?
Create a hypothetical case/situation to support W’s position or claim (expository essay, letter of opinion) Insert details about a thing/person to strengthen W’s claim, without writing an additional sentence. (Additional sentence will distract R from the point of the argument.) [essay, letter expressing opinion, and other genres]	If-clause with modal will(showing W’s certainty)…+ main clause with modal would (stating hypothesized outcome). If a man, …, won’t wander from place to place, why would an animal? (to argue that animals in the wild are not free) Adjectival phrase placed after N – separated by commas. (…a man, boldest and most intelligent of creatures, won’t wander…)

W = Writer; R = Reader; NP = Noun phrase; N = Noun

The discourse functions and associated language structures were discovered by teachers who studied various texts (a letter of appeal, an argument from a novel, a civics book for children, etc). The items in the right column are not the only ways of realising the corresponding discourse function. There are other ways and other discourse functions. You can add to both columns by studying other texts.

Some questions and suggestions

1. Do we have to teach the terms like NP and adjective?

No. You can use simple expressions (E.g. words describing things, put in a word to describe the thing/person). For students who can handle it, terms like ‘adjective’ are a convenient short cut.)

2. There are so many grammatical structures. How can we teach them all?

It is not possible to teach them all. We have to select. Two questions to guide selecting are:

· What are the essential social practices in the genre you want the students to write? Teach the grammar for those practices. Example:

Essential practice in expository essay: State/assert W’s position.

Grammar to teach: Generic N + simple present tense + NP expressing evaluative comment (e.g. School uniforms stifle creativity in students.) [Or other structure realising the same discourse function.]

· What mistakes do my students make in grammar when performing an essential genre practice? Give a grammar lesson to teach them the correct structure. Be sure to link the structure to the discourse function in your explanation and practice exercises. Example:

Common mistake: Student use would instead of will when they intend to sound certain in supporting a position/claim (e.g. Hard work would bring success… to support the claim: I agree that success is the result of hard work rather than luck.)

Grammar to teach: The use of will for asserting claims that W feels certain about.