The Encoding of Field in EFL Learners' Academic Writing in English
Abstract
One of the problems in teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) is the teachers’ lack of knowledge on the process of the students’ text production, which seems to have not been adequately explored and described. This research aims to describe the process of encoding of Field in EFL learners' academic writing in English, especially argumentative texts, focusing on how students produce the texts and why they produce the texts as they do. A Mixed method is applied in this research; Qualitative data is collected from interviews and quantitative data is compiled from the texts produced by a group of 25 Indonesian university students, who become the subject of this research. The findings show that Indonesian students, when writing English argumentative texts, use mostly Material process, Relational process, and Mental process. Furthermore, the students mostly use Circumstance of Reason, Time and Circumstance of Degree. These types of Processes and Circumstances are encoded in the text for the reasons of elaborating, explaining, and expressing opinions, based on the question asked. In other words, the encoding of Field seems to be influenced by the question or prompt given. This has given an idea of how foreign language teaching should be conducted.
References
Bensalem, E. (2018). The Impact of Whatsapp on EFL Students’ Vocabulary Learning. Arab World English (AWE). 9(1), 23-28. https://doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol9no1.2
Brinton, J. Laurel. (2000). The Structure of Modern English. A Linguistic Introduction. Amsterdam/ Philadelphia: John Bunjamins Publishing Company. https://doi.org/10.1075/z.94
Butt, D., Fahey, R., & Yallop, C. (1995). Using Functional Grammar. An Explorer's Guide. Sidney: McQuarie University.
Butt, D., Fahey, R., Feez, S., & Spinks, S. (2012). Using Functional Grammar. An Explorer's Guide (3rd ed.). South Yarra: Palgrave Macmillan.
Cambridge. (2007). IELTS. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Eggins, S. (1994). An Introduction to Systemic Functional Linguistics. London: Pinter Publisher.
Eggins, S. (1992). An Introduction to Systemic Functional Linguistics. London: Pinter Publisher.
Halliday, M. A. K. (1985). Context of Situation. In Halliday, M.A.K & Hassan, Ruqaiya. Language, Context, and Text: Aspects of Language in Social-Semiotic Perspective. Victoria: Deakin University.
Halliday, M. A. K. (1994). An Introduction to Functional Grammar. London: Edward Arnold.
Lee, J. (2018). The Effects of Task Complexity and L2 Proficiency on L2 Written Performance. The Journal of Asia TEFL, 15(4), 945-958. https://doi.org/10.18823/asiatefl.2018.15.4.4.945
Lightbown, P. M., & Spada, N. (1999). How Languages are Learned (2nd edition). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Longman. (2003). Dictionary of Contemporary English. Essex: Pearson Education Limited.
Mathiesen, C., & Bateman, J. A. (1991). Text Generation and Systemic-Functional Linguistics. Experiences from English and Japanese. London: Pinter Publisher.
Ping, Alvin Leong. (2004). Delimiting the Theme of the English Clause: An Inference-Boundary Account. In SKY Journal of Linguistics, 17(2004), 167-187.
Rahayu, B. (2014). Tenor in Indonesian University Students’ Argumentative Text in English. Frontiers of language and Teaching, 5(1).
Rahayu, B. (2020). TOEFL Score of English Department Students, Cenderawasih University. Indonesian Journal of Languages and Linguistics, 5(1), 51-64. https://doi.org/10.30957/ijoltl.v5i1.615
Rahayu, B., & Rinantanti, Y. (2020). The Effect of Multiple Intelligence to English Achievement of Papuan EFL Learners. The Asian EFL Journal, 27(3.2), 287-307.
Renandya, W. A., Hamied, F. A., & Nurkamto, J. (2018). English Language Proficiency in Indonesia: Issues and Prospects. Journal of Asia TEFL, 15(3), 618-629. https://doi.org/10.18823/asiatefl.2018.15.3.4.618
Rinantanti, Y., Asfah, R. Atmowardoyo, H., & Bin-Tahir, S. Z. (2017). Perception of Senior High School EFL Teachers in Papua, Indonesia towards Their Own Competence. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 8(6), 1181-1189. https://doi.org/10.17507/jltr.0806.20
Rubba, Dr. Johanna. (2011). Syntax: Terms and Concepts. Clauses and their Elements. English Department (Linguistics) Cal Poly State University-San Luis Obispo. Retrieved from http://cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba/syn/syntax_clauses.htm
Stageberge, N. C., & Oaks, D. D. (2000). An Introductory English Grammar (5th ed.). USA: Thomson Wadsworth.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Copyright for this article is retained by the author(s), with first publication rights granted to the journal.
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
