Teaching And Learning Language Functions In The Department Of English At Mmuto: Students’ Awareness

Résumé: This current study investigates teachers’ implementation of Language Functions and third year students’ awareness of these functions in the Department of English at Mouloud Mammeri University of Tizi Ouzou. Its aim is to discover to what extent third year students are aware of language functions, to identify the main reasons behind third year students’ inappropriate use of language functions, and to get insights into teachers’ way of implementing language functions. This research relies on MAK Halliday’s theory of Systemic Functional Linguistics (1960), some assumptions about language awareness (Hawkin, 1984) and its importance in EFL context, and some information about the notion of communicative competence, which entails the mastery of language functions. To reach the aforementioned aims, a mixed method research has been adopted to gather the necessary data. This investigation has used the Quantitative Statistical Procedure to analyze the numerical data gathered from the questionnaires, and Qualitative Content Analysis to interpret the qualitative data collected from the open ended questions included in the questionnaires. The results of this study demonstrate that almost all third year students of the department of English at MMUTO are not aware of language functions. Though they are taught about language functions, they do not possess appropriate knowledge about the use of language functions in different social contexts. The findings of the questionnaires have also revealed that the students’ lack of awareness is one of the major reasons that contribute to their inappropriate use of language functions, and this lack of awareness is due to a certain extent to the way those functions are taught.

Publié dans la revue: