Functions – Unit 4

This chapter will be focus in the reasons why we communicate, functions. When people speak or write, they do it for a reason. Each reason has a purpose or function; there are many such us refusing, greeting, advising or inviting.

Any purpose can be spoken or written in a language and it describes how we use language. It means through functions we use grammar and lexis in context (situation) using exponents (language we say or write). For example; as context we have: invite a friend to a party. The exponent: “would you like to go a party…..?”; and the function here is to inviting. Something characteristic of functions is that all of them have the end –ing form. When we talk about functions, we need to take in account the level of formality. It plays an important role here. Ff I say ‘Want more coffee’ as ‘Would you like to have some more coffee?’ is not the same. The first is informal and the second is formal respectively.

In classroom, it is very important to know what a function is, so it gives students a clear idea of what to do, and though chunks learning process can be easier.

Here a video with more examples:

Referencias

Mary Spratt, A. P. (2011). The TKT Course. United Kingdom: Cambridge.

Nordquist, R. (23 de December de 2015). About Education. Obtenido de About Education: http://grammar.about.com/od/il/g/lexisterm.htm

Kinsella, K. (2010, October). Hawaiʻi Teacher Standards Board.Retrieved from http://www.htsb.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Academic-Language-Functions-toolkit.pdf