چكيده لاتين :
Researchers working in SL education have mostly come back to
reconsider the role of grammar in EFL fESL education in the last two
decades. They argue that if the language learners are somehow led to
יnoticeי or יfocus onי form, their language acquisition process can be
enhanced. (cf. Long 1996; Swain 1985 & 1995; Schmidt 1990, 1994 &
2001 and Carroll 2000). But we think this emphasis on יformי may, in
practice, prove to have no pedagogic effect or may even be counterproductive
if the יformי recommended to be focused on is not the right
one and the pedagogic strategy employed for this purpose is not
appropriate. It is now a well-established fact that knowledge of language
is יproceduralי in nature and as such it cannot be transferred to the
learner. יTeaching the languageי by יtransferring meta-lingual
knowledgeי should not, thus, be the objective of יfocus on formי
pedagogic strategies. Language as a whole and reading more specifically
can be learned by the learnerיs engagement in performing the acts of
communication. Thus, focusing the language learnerיs attention on
יformי should be carried out with the objective of facilitating or rather
יlubricatingי the learnerיs engagement in performing the acts of
communication.
Most of the first-year university students in EFL situations, upon
their arrival to university, realize that they cannot handle the texts of
their special interest in English despite the fact that they have
accumulated an extensive amount of knowledge on grammar. This
paper, subscribing to the view of יengagement-in-doingי, will discuss
ways of assisting such students to learn effective reading strategies
through handling their texts with more awareness on the textuality ofthe
texts.
The יformי we have chosen for the purpose of focusing our
learnersי attention on is, thus, the textuality of a text rather than the
grammaticality of a sentence. The paper sets out to explain what it
means by the textuality of a text and how the language learnerיs
awareness about it can promote hislher ability to engage in the
discursive process of negotiating a message mediated by a text. The author draws upon his Systemic-Functional inclinations in his
characterization of the concept of יtextualityי. He defines יtextualityי as
a hierarchical semantic connectedness which originates initially as
יimpulsesי from the propositions (יprocessesי or יverbsי and the
elements acting as their satellite arguments ). A text can be seen as
consisting of a set of hierarchically arranged propositions. But this
hierarchy is linearly presented as a set of clause complexes or t-units: a
main clause together with all the defining and adverbial clauses hanging
around it. We consider the main verb of every t-unit as the principal
impulse-generatingsynaptic agency in a text because its impulse directly
contributes to the unfolding of the text, the impulses arising from the
dependent clauses adding their force to the rippling effect of the main
verb in the t-unit. Apart from the impulse-generating agencies, each text
would also embody a set of what we may call יimpulse-directingי
agencies, which would reinforce and direct the generated impulses. The
thematic elements chosen for every t-unit, the inter-sentential and intrasentential
connecting words, the rhetorical organization of the t-units,
the topic sentences for each paragraph, and the generic conventions
governing the text can be named as examples, which would direct the
way the impulses spread out and intersect one another creating what is
named the textuality of a text.
Perception of textuality of a text would certainly place the reader
in a better position to negotiate a message from the discourse process
mediated by the text. The readersי awareness about the organization of
the t-units in a text, the lexico- grammatical character of their main
verbs, the semantico-rhetorical character of the connecting words, the
textual rhetorical organization and generic conventions will certainly
enhance hislher text- handling capacity. The paper will discuss the
pedagogic strategies which the author has longitudinally prepared and
the effectiveness of which he has experientially witnessed.
