One concomitant of the early exclusion of SFL Theory from linguistic departments was its early adoption by education departments.
Importantly, teaching is not just a job, but a calling. It potentially attracts people who want to make a difference in the world through their activity, within the classroom (e.g. assisting disadvantaged students) and beyond (e.g. pursuing social justice issues).
On the one hand, SFL Theory is functional for teachers because it provides the means of both assisting disadvantaged students and pursuing social justice issues, not least because it is informed by the ethical stance embodied in the Marxist communism to which Halliday was ideologically committed.
On the other hand, because the focus of teachers, like applied linguists in general, tends not to be on theorising, a significant proportion of the SFL community is not personally concerned with determining theoretical validity, but instead puts their faith in others to provide them with valid theorising. This is a contributing factor to the culture of faith in the SFL community.
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