Language Functions,Halliday’s Seven Functions of Language, and Functional Approaches to Language Teaching

Name                         : Nita Wahyuni

                                   Ayu Wandyra

Group                        : 14

Language Functions

            Functions are essentially the purposes that we accomplish with language for example requesting, respoonding, greeting, parting ect. Functions cannot be accomplished of course, without the forms of language: morphemes, words, grammar rules, discourse rules, and other organizational competencies. Function are sometimes directly related to forms. “How much does that cost?” is usually a form functioning as a question and “He bought a car” functions as a statement.

            Communication is a series of communicative acts os speech acts or perlocutionary force of linguistic communication. That effects has implications for both the production and comprehension of an utterance;both modes of performance serve to bring the communicative act to its ultimate purpose.

Halliday’s Seven Functions of Language

            Since the term “function” has been variously interpreted. Michael  Halliday(1973), who provided one of the best expoositions of language functions, used the term mean the purposive nature of communication, and outlined seven different functions of languages:

1.      The Instrumental Function it means that server for manipulate the environtment to cause certain events to happen.

2.      The regulatory funtion of language is the control of events.

3.      The representational function is used language to make statements, convency facts and knowledge.

4.      The Interactional function to ensure social maintenance.

5.      The personal function allow to express feelings, emotions personality, “gut-level”reactions.

6.      The heuristic function involves language used to acquire knowledge, to learn about the environtment.

7.      The Imaginative functionn serves to create imaginary systems or ideas.

These seven different functions of languages are neither discrete nor mutually exclusive.

Functional Approaches to Language Teaching

Van Ek and Alexander’s (1975) exhaustive list of language functions became a basic reference for notional-functional syllabuses, now simply referred to as functional syllabuses. Functional syllabuses remain today in modified form. A typical current language textbook will list a sequence of communicative functions that are covered. For example, the following functions are covered in the firts several lessons of an advanced-beginner’s textboook, New vistas 1(Brown,1999):

1.      Introducing self and other people

2.      Exchanging personal information

3.      Asking how to spell someone’s name

4.      Giving commands

5.      Apologizing and thanking

6.      Identifying and describing people

7.      Asking for information