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CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
This chapter outlines the methodology used in this research that includes purpose of the study
and research questions, research settings and participants, Research design and research method,
data collection and data analysis.
3.1Aims of the Study
As mentioned in Chapter I, the study was conducted with the aims to:
1. find out types of grammatical metaphor which are used in students’ assignments; and
2. investigate the impact of the use of grammatical metaphor on the written characteristics
of the texts.
3.2Research Questions
In line with the aims above, the study addressed the following research questions.
1. What types of grammatical metaphor are used in students’ assignments?
2. How does the use of grammatical metaphor contribute to the written characteristics of the
texts?
3.3Research Method and Research Design
This study uses a case study qualitative research design, the method of text analysis in particular
due to the similarities in the nature of the present study with the description of case studies
proposed by research experts. First of all, researchers of qualitative study are not interested in
making generalizations of phenomena under investigation (Dawson, 2009) and this is not what
this study was attempting to do either. Secondly, the present study used a case study method
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chosen not “for representativeness but because of its uniqueness or that it can be used to illustrate
an issue”. Thirdly, this study focused on one single entity occurring in its natural environment
without manipulation and this is one characteristic of case study in qualitative research as
indicated by Merriam (1991). Finally, the study investigated one single, low-scale case but
provided an in-depth analysis, which is another feature of case study as proposed by Bordens and
Abbott (2008), Conolle, et. al. (1990), Nunan and Bailey (2009), and Stake (in Silverman, 2005).
All these characteristics indicate that the present study fall under the category of case study.
More specifically, this study used text analysis due to its focus of investigation, i.e. on
written texts (Merriam, 1991; Travers, 2001). As pointed out by Travers (ibid), the procedure of
textual analysis in case study follows the procedures laid out in the related theory. For this
purpose, this study incorporated Grammatical Metaphor developed by Halliday (1994), Halliday
and Mathiessen (2004) and Martin (1992) in analyzing the texts under investigation. Regarding
Functional Grammar, the framework in which grammatical metaphor originated, Freebody (cited
in Emilia, 2007), states that it is “one of a variety of linguistic approaches that have been well
developed in the area of education”.
3.4 Research Settings and Participants
The study investigated nine writing assignments of three students of a state postgraduate school
in Bandung. Thus, three assignments were taken from each participant, each of which was
written for assignment in their first three semesters at the university. The three participants were
chosen based on their GPAs, each of whom representing low-achievers with the GPA of 2.95
(low achiever GPA ranges between 2.80-3.00); average-achievers with the GPA of 3.30 (mid
achiever GPA ranges between 3.15 – 3.45), and high-achievers with the GPA of 3.62 (high
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The nature of participants’ involvement in this study was voluntary. Bordens and Abbott
(2008) suggest that voluntary-based participants have two major disadvantages, these are: (1)
volunteer bias, and (2) the ungeneralizable nature of the research findings. These disadvantages
were not issues in the study because: (1) the object of the study was the texts written by the
participants, not the participants who wrote them, for their course assignments -- not for the
study; and (2) as stated previously that case study, the type of qualitative study this study belongs
to, is not intended to make generalization but to investigate one particular case (Hood, 2009).
The limitation of nine research articles in the study was for the purpose of comprehensive
analysis since larger amount of data would not allow such comprehensiveness. In addition, the
rationale behind the involvement of the written work of the three participants in this study was
the fact that they were products of adult writers whose exposure to the mature scientific written
work through their education entails likelihood of grammatical metaphor incorporation in their
texts (Christie, 2002; Christie and Derewianka, 2008; Halliday, 1993) which was the main
interest of this study.
3.5 Data Collection
Even though data collection and data analysis in qualitative research are conducted
simultaneously (Hood, 2009; Merriam, 1991), the two processes will be described separately in
this chapter for purposes of clear description.
The study incorporated document analysis as the technique for data collection. The main
data source for this purpose was nine research articles written by three postgraduate school
students, from each of whom three writing assignments were collected. The assignments were
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Thus, the texts used in the study possess high degree of objectivity and stability since they were
produced in the absence of the researcher’s intrusion (Lazaraton, 2009; Merriam, 1991).
However, as suggested by Merriam (ibid), there are two major problems of data
collection in document analysis, namely of authenticity and objectivity. These problems may
arise due to the fact that the data in such process “are subject to purposeful and nonpurposeful
deception”. Of these two constraints, the main issue encountered in this study was that regarding
authenticity in form of plagiarism. This is due to the closely-relatedness of academic writing
with referencing and quoting sources (Tweddle, 2009). Incorrect ways in doing these may lead to
the infringement of plagiarism (ibid). Due to time and software constraints in conducting a
thorough selection to guarantee plagiarized-free research articles inclusion into the study, the
articles were included without any such process.
Despite enrolling in the same year at the postgraduate school, the Field of the texts
written by the participants in the study might widely differ. This was due to the voluntary nature
of this research in which the participants were free to submit the assignment from each semester
to this study on their own accord. To illustrate, there were five courses taken by the participants
each semester and they were free to submit any research article of any course from each semester
to be involved in this study. The texts used in this study, along with the course for which each
was written are presented in Table 3.1 below, while a full sample text can be seen in Appendix
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Table 3.1 Texts Used in the Present Study Students Semester 1 Low achiever Title: The Effectiveness of Using
Pictures in Descriptive Writing: A
Mid-achiever Title: English Learning Motivation Score and Its
Coding is one important aspect in qualitative data analysis (Hood, 2009; Merriam, 1991;
Seidel, 1998) in which each piece of data important for the purpose of the study is assigned a
unique, either textual or alphanumeric, marker system (Hood, ibid). The writing assignment
collected was coded SA1.A, SA1.B, and SA1.C; SA2.A – SA3.C This labeling is configured as
follows: SA stands for Student’s Assignment; number following SA indicates the writer of the
assignment, Student 1 – Student 3; and the letter following the number indicates the semester
from which the assignment was taken, e.g. A refers to the first semester, B refers to the second
semester and C refers to the third semester. So, for example a text coded SA1.A is the
assignment written by Student 1 as his/her first semester assignment; SA1.B is the assignment
written by Student 1 of his/her second semester assignment; SA1.C is the assignment of Student
1 of his/her third semester assignment, etc. The detail of this labeling is illustrated in the
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Table 3.2 Writing Assignment Labeling
Writer Semester Coding
Student 1 1 SA1.A
2 SA1.B
3 SA1.C
Student 2 1 SA2.A
2 SA2.B
3 SA2.C
Student 3 1 SA3.A
2 SA3.B
3 SA3.C
3.6 Data Analysis
The study investigated grammatical metaphor in the participants’ research articles and the
written characteristics contributed by the use of the metaphor in their writings that include lexical
density, abstraction, nominalization, implicit internal logical relations; impersonal constructions;
and clear text structures. Data analysis in the study involved the theory of grammatical metaphor,
especially that developed by Halliday (1998) for ideational metaphor; that by Halliday and
Matthiessen (2004) for Interpersonal Metaphor, and that by Martin (1992) for textual metaphor.
For ease of analysis, abstracts and texts in tables or figures found in the research articles
were not analysed. In addition, due to the concern of the study which was on the participants’
writings, excerpts of (video/audio) recorded observation/interviews and direst quotation from
data were not analysed.
The method used to analyse the grammatical metaphor investigated in this study is
elaborated in the following.
3.6.1 Ideational Metaphor
Due to time constraints, the analysis of ideational metaphor was only conducted on the
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realization at the rank level. Since meaning realization at both levels are closely interrelated,
meaning that a metaphorical realization at the rank level also affects the clause configuration at
the structural level (Halliday, 1998; Halliday and Matthiessen, 2004), the metaphorical
realization at the structural level was inevitably identified during the analysis.
Clause was the unit of analysis as is the tradition in systemic functional linguistics. With
regard to rank movement, each clause was analysed whether it (figure) was a metaphorical
realization of clauses (sequence), and further down, whether groups or phrases or words
(elements) within that clause metaphorically realize clause (figure). As for structural
configuration, the study uses Halliday’s (1998) taxonomy of Ideational grammatical metaphor as
illustrated in the following table.
Table 3.3 Ideational Metaphor (Halliday, 1998)
No Semantic Type Class Shift
Congruent Metaphorical
1 Quality Entity Adjective noun
2 Process Entity Verb noun
3 Circumstance[minor process]
Entity Prepositional phrase noun
4 Relator Entity Conjunction noun
5 Process Quality Verb adjective
6 Circumstance Quality Adverb adjective; prepositional phrase
adjective; prepositional phrase noun modifier
7 Relator Quality Conjunction adjective
8 Circumstance Process Be/go + preposition verb
9 Relator Process Conjunction verb
10 Relator Circumstance Conjunction prepositional phrase
11 0 Entity 0 noun
12 0 Process 0 verb
13 Entity Modifier (of entity) Noun various
The metaphorical realizations of conjunctions were used to identify logical metaphor, i.e.
types 4, 7, 9, and 10; while the remaining realizations, i.e. types 1-3, 5, 6, 8, and 13, were used to
identify experiential metaphor. Types 11-12 were not taken into account in the analysis since
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On analyzing a clause, type(s) of ideational metaphor occurring in a clause was first
identified with notation. Then, the number of each type of ideational metaphor was totaled. An
example of analysis on ideational metaphor at a clause level is presented in excerpt [3.1] below.
[3.1] His research found that integrative reasons for second language learning are most significant 13 2 5 4 13 2
among the respondents, which are 234 Korean 9th graders 6
The analysis of ideational metaphor on all clauses from each research article was then totaled as
exemplified to that on a clause and presented in Table 3.4 below.
Table 3.4 Sample Analysis of Ideational Metaphor
Ideational Metaphor Types/total
Experiential/Types Total
1 2 3 5 6 8 13
- 2 - - 1 - 2
Logical/Types Total
4 7 9 10 - - -
1 - - - -
More example of ideational metaphor analysis can be seen in Appendix 3.6.1.
3.6.2 Interpersonal Metaphor
Since interpersonal metaphor covers areas of Modality and Mood, these two resources of
interpersonal metaphor were also analysed in this study.
There are three points to note regarding the analysis of interpersonal metaphor in this
study. First of all, since projection is a characteristic of interpersonal metaphor that is manifested
in the metaphors of mood and modality (Halliday and Matthiessen, 2004); the unit of analysis for
cases of interpersonal metaphor involving projection was both the projecting and the projected
clauses (see excerpts [3.2] to [3.4] below). Secondly, the projected propositions were then further
analysed to classify to which interpersonal metaphor type the metaphorical clause belongs: 1)
projection that manifests the writer’s assessment was classified as modality metaphor (see
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proposal and assigns it to others including manifestation through a) “dummy it” construction,
sources of authority and others that render evidence to the proposition (Halliday and
Mattihessen, 2004) – see excerpt [3.2]. Thirdly, incongruent realization of speech functions of
statement, question, offer and command as another was classified as a case of mood metaphor
(see excerpt [3.3]).
A sample analysis of interpersonal metaphor is exemplified in excerpts [3.2] through
[3.4] below.
[3.2] During the first three meetings, observation showed that students respond well in any of the groupings on student’s initiatives, indicating the higher level of receptiveness among these upper intermediate students (SA.3A)
[3.3] it is clear that the nature of the learning situation will influence a student’s level of motivation. (SA.2A) [3.4] To avoid doing so, teachers are recommended to help these learner. (SA.3A)
Projection is present in both excerpt [3.2] and [3.3] but that in [3.2] is used by the writer
to strengthen her proposition through reference to source of evidence, i.e. observation, shifting
modal responsibility from herself to the observation. This shift in modal responsibility is a case
of mood metaphor and thus interpersonal metaphor in [3.2] was classified as a case of mood
metaphor. In contrast, despite similar writer detachment from the proposition, the projection in
[3.3] denotes the writer’s certainty regarding the proposition that the nature of the learning
situation will influence a student’s level of motivation; hence a case of modality metaphor. On
the other hand, the indicative mood of excerpt [3.4] realizes a proposal which is congruently
realized by imperative. Such incongruent realization of mood function was classified as mood
metaphor.
A more comprehensive example of interpersonal metaphor analysis in the study can be
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3.6.3 Textual Metaphor
There are two types of unit of analysis for textual metaphor in this study. First, related to
hyper-theme, the unit of analysis was paragraph (Martin, 1992). Second, the units of analysis for
macro-Theme were headings and subheadings (Martin, ibid).
For identifying hyper-Theme, each paragraph in the study was read closely whether or
not the first sentence of the paragraph encapsulates the overall paragraph development. For
identifying macro-Theme however, the first paragraph of each heading/subheading and the
paragraphs following this first paragraph were analysed to see whether or not the development in
that particular heading/subheading followed the idea encapsulated in the first paragraph.
More detail example of textual metaphor analysis in the study can be seen in Appendix
3.6.3.
3.6.4 How Grammatical Metaphor Contributes to the Written Language Characteristics of the Texts
After classifying the types of grammatical metaphor used in the texts, the next analysis was
conducted to the impact of these types of grammatical metaphor on making the text more
written-like. This analysis involved the scrutiny on how the use of grammatical metaphor in the
text: (a) helps structure the clause in ways that allow more information and technicality to be
packaged using experiential metaphor; (b) creates greater logical reasoning and conciseness in
the text through the occurrence of logical metaphor; (c) helps the orientation of objectivity
through impersonal constructions through the occurrence of interpersonal metaphor; and (d)
helps create clear text structuring through textual metaphor. For these purposes, the analysis
mainly employed the concept of ideational and interpersonal metaphor formulated by Halliday
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The analysis at this stage was conducted to both clause and text levels. At the clause
level, the analysis was conducted to clauses in which the grammatical metaphor occurs and the
impact of such use on making the text more written. Particularly for textual metaphor, the
analysis was conducted at a wider scope which included the paragraphs in which the particular
metaphor is located. In addition, for textual metaphor functioning in text structuring, the analysis
of the textual metaphor effect was also conducted to the “neighbouring” paragraphs, i.e.
paragraphs prior to and following the occurrence of the metaphor. The analysis was even
conducted to the text as a whole for textual metaphor serving as macro-Theme.
To strengthen the data analysis at this stage, the use of grammatical metaphor was also
contrasted to the congruent realizations in the text.
An example of the analysis at this stage is illustrated below using excerpt [3.5].
[3.5] In conducting the study of Error Analysis, there are few things that should be *concerned [considered] by the researcher. One of the important things that should be noted is the steps in EA research proposed by Corder (1974, cited in Ellis, 1994): collection of a sample of learner language, identification of errors, description of errors, explanation of errors, and evaluation of errors. Therefore, the next discussion will
talk about the steps taken in this study based on Corder’s. (SA3.C)
Analysis:
There are two types of grammatical metaphor in the above paragraph: textual metaphor
(bold-underlined) and experiential metaphor (underlined) each of which contributes to clear
text structuring and information packaging, as well as abstraction and lexical density
(Halliday, 1994; Martin, 1991; Thibault, 2008).
The organizing vocabulary few things in the first clause complex (sentence) in the
above paragraph is textual metaphor serving as hyper-Theme (Martin, 1992) that predicts
what will be discussed in the paragraph, i.e. things that anyone conducting the study of error
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preceded by the internal conjunction (Martin, 1992) One of the important things. This
paragraph is closed with another textual metaphor the steps that sum up what has been
discussed previously. This whole paragraph further predicts what to be discussed in the
paragraphs that follow, serving the function of macro-Theme albeit positioned not at the
beginning of the text. This function of prediction is consistently adhered to by the writer in
which the steps taken in the study of error analysis as suggested by Corder are further
elaborated in the coming paragraphs.
The only experiential metaphor are phrases in underlined collection of a sample of
learner language, identification of errors, description of errors, explanation of errors, and
evaluation of errors which create abstraction and lexical density in this paragraph. However,
such abstraction does not contribute much to the written-ess of the text because, as mentioned
previously, this set of abstraction is the only form of experiential metaphor used in the
paragraph. Thus, apart from the clear text structure contributed by the use of textual metaphor,
the lexical density of this paragraph is relatively low for formal academic writing 3.7 (Halliday,
1985).
3.7 Concluding Remark
The chapter has presented the methodology of how the study was conducted. This includes the
research questions which serve as the starting points for the conduct of the research, the selection
of participants and research settings and research design and method. How data were collected
