Description: In this presentation, teachers will be introduced to Systemic Functional Linguistics, a theory of language that puts context at the center and defines language as a dynamic meaning-making system of choices in context.  One of those context variables is the purpose of language use which influences language choices we make depending on the purpose (asking for help, telling others what happened, sharing an opinion, etc.). In school, students use language for a variety of purposes. This presentation will introduce the teachers to the common purposes in school subjects such as language for explaining how something works or why something happens (explanations), observing and describing the world (a type of informational report), sharing personal experiences (a type of narrative), persuading someone to do something (a type of argument) and many others. Participants will learn that different school texts (both spoken and written) have different purposes and they are realized as genres and genre families such as explanations, arguments, narratives, procedures, informational reports, and inquiring genres. This presentation will be introductory in nature and will be followed by future presentations uncovering the topic in more detail.

About the presenter: Dr. Ruslana Westerlund was born in Buzhanka, Cherkaska oblast, Ukraine and emigrated to the U.S. in 1995. She received her doctorate in educational leadership in 2013, and now is a researcher and an educational consultant specializing in K-12 TESOL.  Since 1995, she has worked at various teacher training universities as well as state and national levels researching, designing and training states and school districts in improving educational outcomes for immigrant and refugee children. Most recently, she has been training teachers in the use of Systemic Functional Linguistics to make language meaningful and visible for their students.  She also used SFL in developing the national-level English Language Development Standards for use by the member states of the WIDA Consortium in the United States and internationally.

Her TESOL webinar on this topic can be found here.  She is the author of several teacher articles which can be accessed in the Journal of English Learner Education and MinneTESOL.  Most recently, she co-edited a volume by Routledge Scaffolding for Multilingual Learners in Elementary and Secondary Schools.

Time: September, 9 2022 at 7 p.m. Ukrainian time

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https://us02web.zoom.us/j/74169734738

Meeting ID: 741 6973 4738