SAMPLE ESSAYS
Nguyễn Thị Trung1
Abstract: Transitivity is a semantic concept that examines the experiential meaning in clauses. This paper presents the results of a transitivity analysis of IELTS Academic sample essays based on Halliday and Matthiessen (2014)’s framework. This theoretical framework provides a model for identifying the process types which include material, mental, relational, behavioural, verbal, and existential processes. A descriptive method accompanied by qualitative and quantitative approaches was used to give a detailed description of six process types employed in the sample essays with band scores of 7.0- 7.5. The findings revealed that the prevailing type of transitivity deployed in the essays was the material process, followed by the relational process and the mental process.
The verbal process was found the fourth most common process type, followed by the existential process and the behavioural process, which was the least frequently used in the sample essays. From the findings, it is recommended that proper deployment of process types may enable IELTS test-takers to formulate stylistically appropriate essays, which, in turn, can help test-takers to achieve higher band score.
Key words: IELTS academic writing, transitivity, material process, mental process, relational process, behavioural process, verbal process, existential process
1. Introduction
The International English Language Testing System, which is managed by three institutions: the British Council, IDP: IELTS Australia and the University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations (Cambridge ESOL), is an English language test that measures test- takers’ language proficiency in listening, reading, writing and speaking skills (Coffin &
Hewings, 2003; Green, 2006; Hamid, Hardy & Reyes, 2019). The IELTS test is generally regarded as a demonstration of English language proficiency for both academic and immigration purposes.
It is assumed that IELTS Academic test-takers who meet band score requirements will be able to deal with the tasks required in English-medium universities (Coffin, 2004;
Green 2005, 2007; IELTS Research Reports Online Series, 2013). Up to now, various global tertiary institutions have required IELTS as the preferred test for university entrance (IELTS Australia Published Research Reports, 2004). In Vietnam, a great number of leading universities such as University of Economics of Ho Chi Minh, Foreign Trade University, Ha Noi University of Science and Technology, Ton Duc Thang university require certain IELTS band scores as a prerequisite for high-quality programs.
In this paper, the main focus is the analysis of six types of process namely the material process, the relational process, the behavioural process, the verbal process,
1. TS., Trường Đại học Quảng Nam
and the existential process employed in formulating IELTS Academic essays based on the Systemic Functional Theory developed by Halliday and Matthiessen (2014). Based on the findings, pedagogical implications related to transitivity are highlighted for the production of a successful piece of IELTS Academic Writing Task 2.
Literature Review Theoretical Background Transitivity
The concept of transitivity, in Halliday’s terms, is a central component in interpreting the experiential meaning of the clause in a linguistic text through the study of process types; that is, what kind of event or state is being described (realised by types of verbs) and the roles of participants; the entities involved in the process, such as Actor and Goal;
Senser and Phenomenon; Carrier and Attribute (which are part of the nominal group);
and the circumstances in which participants and processes are involved (expressed by adverbial and propositional phrases). As Halliday and Matthiessen (2004, p. 170) asserted, “the transitivity system construes the world of experience into a manageable set of process types.” Each process type provides its own model or schema for interpreting a particular domain of experience as a figure of a particular kind.
Types of process
Halliday and Matthiessen (2014) stated six process types in the English transitivity system as follows.
Figure 1. Types of process in English (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2014, p. 216)
• Material process
The material process typically construes ‘doings’ or ‘happenings’ in the physical universe; that is, concrete and tangible actions in the real world.
• Mental processes
Different from describing actions as the material process does, the mental process represents the meanings of thinking or feeling.
• Relational process
The relational process is a process of being: that is, something is being said to ‘be’
something else rather than as ‘doing’ or ‘sensing’.
• Behavioural process
Halliday (1994) described a behavioural process as a “half-way house” between material and mental processes or a process of ‘physiological and psychological behaviour’
(Halliday & Matthiessen, 2004, p. 248).
• Verbal process
The verbal process relates to the process of ‘saying’.
• Existential Process
The existential process represents something that exists or happens.
2.2. Previous Related Studies
Under the umbrella of academic writing, the analysis of the experiential meaning in writing, particularly the transitivity analysis has been a topic of interest for language researchers and educators. There has been a multitude of studies investigating the transitivity system. For example, Alifereti (2013) conducted an investigation into the types of circumstances, particularly incongruent circumstances at the word level as well as at the clause level, and expansion types to explore the importance of building verticality, a type of knowledge structure in argumentative writing by non-native English students to enhance their academic writing. From the perspective of Systemic Functional Grammar, she pointed out that abstract and metaphorical linguistic features were represented in relational clauses. Her findings also asserted that ‘process’ was always the first to be involved before ‘nouns’ in language learning. Her research, however, only concentrated on three processes namely the material, mental and relational ones instead of the six processes stated by Halliday.
Darani (2014) examined the relationship between linguistic structures and socially constructed meaning in a literary text based on Halliday’s transitivity framework. The findings indicated that the material process was the dominant type followed by the mental, verbal, existential, behavioral, and relational processes respectively. The high frequency of the material process types revealed that the characters’ persuasion was expressed through acting upon what they were asked to and asserted that functional text analysis enabled to identify a range of different and suitable types of texts for language instruction.
In addition, Zein et al (2018) explored the proccess types presented in students’
narrative texts and showed that six process types found in their narrative texts were
material, mental, relational, verbal, behavioral and existential processes. The material process was the most frequent one, followed by mental, relational processes and suggested that the students should pay more attention to the use of process in the narrative text since it had an influence on their writing quality.
The research conducted by Sianipar (2020) stated that all process types, namely the material process, the mental process, the relational process, the behavioral process, the verbal process, and the existential process were found with varieties of the usage in constructing language features of the students’ recount texts, which is a text recalling and reconstructing events, experiences, and achievements from the past in a logical sequence (Stubbs, 2010). The processes were realized by personal pronoun, direct and indirect objects, while the circumstances were realized by prepositional and adverbial phrases.
Most of the studies mentioned above provide insights into transitivity analysis in texts. With a view to improving the quality of IELTS candidates’ answers to Task 2” of the academic writing test, the paper addresses the transitivity system, particularly process types employed in formulating IELTS Academic essays in the light of Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistics.
3. Research Methods
A descriptive method accompanied by qualitative and quantitative approaches was employed to give a detailed description of six process types employed in realizing stylistic features of essays with band scores of 7.0-7.5. An IELTS band score of 7.0 indicates a good level of proficiency in English and is on a par with C1 according to the Common European Framework for Reference, Level 5 as defined in MoET’s Six-level Foreign Language Competency Framework for Vietnam (see Bộ Giáo dục và Đào tạo [MoET], 2014).
The data for the study is 90 IELTS sample essays with band scores from 7.0 to 7.5 including 3,576 clauses. IELTS sample essays belong to exposition and discussion genres of six different common topics namely: education, environment, family, work, social issues and health.
4. Findings and Discussion
Transitivity is concerned with the types of process expressed in the clause.
According to Halliday and Matthiessen (2014), transitivity system consists of six processes that show human experience, namely the material process (process of doing), the mental process (process of thinking), the relational process (process of being), the verbal process (process of saying), the behavioural process (process of behaving) and the existential process (process of existing).
Figure 2. Transitivity in IELTS sample essays
As can be seen from Figure 2, all the six process types classified by Halliday and Matthiessen (2014) are found to have occurred in the IELTS sample essays. It is clear that the material process is the dominant process type in the sample essays, with a total occurrence of 1,089 (42.8%), followed by the relational process (824, 32.3%), the mental process (309, 12.1%), the verbal process (195, 7.7%), the existential process (112, 4.4%) and the behavioral process (18, 0.7%) in descending order of occurrence frequencies.
The material process, which involves physical actions, typically denotes ‘doings’
or ‘happenings’ in the real world. The findings show that material processes are the most numerous in the category of transitivity as ‘the material world is the foundation in nature and the human activity is the fundamental guarantee of human existence” (Hu, 1994, p. 30). A common range of verbs is used in material clauses including sell, provide, influence, do, teach, adopt, send, work, stop, travel, give, educate, improve, boost, buy, produce, use, reduce… Material clauses consist of an Actor, the ‘doer’ of this type of action, a process and a Goal, the optional participant to which the doing is done. The representation of a material process can come in either the active form or the passive one.
Below are some extracts taken from the IELTS sample essays.
||| Every government allocates a certain proportion of its budget for the safety of its citizens. |||
||| Consequently, they can design courses [[that offer better employment opportunities for children]] |||
||| In conclusion, although there are a number of different points of view regarding costs of university studies, || I claim || that this should be financed by both students and states. |||
In Example (1) and (2), it is seen that every government, they are actors who initiate the action, allocate or design, referring to the material processes while Example (3) is in
the passive, with the presence of the verb finance to attract the readers’ attention to the action.
The relational processes are those of being, as the term ‘relational’ indicates that something is being said to be something. There are two distinct types of relation processes, namely attributive and identifying. When a relational process is in the attributive mode, it has two participants: Attribute and Carrier. In the identifying mode, one entity is used to pinpoint another; the relationship between them is one of Token and Value, or sometimes they are called Identified and Identifier. The findings indicate that relational processes are found to be the second most frequently employed process types in the study, with 824 instances, representing 32.3%. The verbs with the highest frequency, including be, become, mean, have, feature, consist of, include, represent, seem are employed to present the state of beings in Relational processes, as illustrated in the following examples.
||| Firstly, language serves as the backbone of any culture in a society. |||
||| All of these scenarios are harmful for businesses. |||
(6) ||| It is often said || that [[admitting children in boarding schools]] is an excellent option; || however, some people are against this opinion due to various reasons. |||
In Example (4), both the Token and the Value are realized by the nominal groups language and the backbone of any culture respectively. Halliday states that the Token will be a ‘sign, name, form, holder or occupant’ of a Value, which defines the ‘meaning, referent, function, status or role’ of the Token. In Examples (5) and (6), the relational process is realized by the verb be. Halliday and Matthiessen (2014) points out that in a relational clause, things, acts, and facts are construed as one element in a relationship of being, not a phenomenon of consciousness.
Unlike relational processes, mental processes are processes of sensing, including four sub-categories: perception (seeing, hearing, feeling); cognition (thinking, knowing, understanding, realizing), affection (loving, hating, adoring) and desideration (wanting, desiring, wishing). In this process, we do not talk about what we are doing but about what we think or feel. There are often two constant participants in a mental process: a Senser and a Phenomenon. It is found in this study that mental processes constitute a small number of approximately 11.7%, with 613 cases. It is clear that mental processes are not frequently employed in IELTS Academic Writing due to the fact that they are related to human awareness and are considered as somewhat subjective. However, in spite of a low percentage of around 11.7%, mental processes still occupy the third largest proportion of the six process types, revealing the writers’ effort to persuade the examiners to accept their point of view. Common verbs are used to project the writer’s opinion, beliefs or feeling such as believe, reflect, feel, need, view, understand, think, appreciate, mean, find,… For example,
(7) ||| In conclusion, I believe || that there are jobs [[which are very important for the society]]. |||
(8) ||| In conclusion, I think [[removing art, music and competitive sports from the school curriculum]] is wrong.
||| Some people argue || that decisions should only be taken by the management, ||
while others feel || that employees too should be a part of the decision making process. |||
As can be observed from the three examples, the mental processes involve human participants I, others, called the Senser and the second participant is the Phenomenon, which is a fact.
Ranking the fourth of the six process types in the data with 350 instances accounting for 7.7%, the verbal processes are mainly used to quote sayings from other people, which makes the argument more convincing, indicating the writer’s stance at the same time with verbs like say, support, be recommended, suggest, agree, argue, explain, claim, assert… The typical participants in the processes include the Sayer (the one who does the verbalization), the Receiver (the one to whom the saying is addressed), the Target (the one that the verbalization is directed to), and the Verbiage (the message itself). For example:
(10) ||| However, students can use this money in wrong purposes, || but generally I claim || that this is a good investment for country. |||
(11) ||| Some believe || that the government is the right authority [[to choose the subjects]] || while others insist || that students should be allowed to choose their subjects. |||
(12) ||| While some people believe || that the changes in the scientifically altered foods are beneficial to the mankind, || others assert || that they are affecting the health of the people adversely. |||
Verbal processes occupy a crucial position in academic texts since they can indicate the writer’s point of view. Examples (10), (11) and (12) are identified as verbal processes, as the verbs claim, insist and assert clearly report or quote a locution. The verbiages this is a good investment for country, students should be allowed to choose their subjects, they are affecting the health of the people adversely correspond to what is said, strengthening the argumentation.
Existential processes represent something that exists or happens. The function of existential processes is to construe being as simple existence; therefore, there is only one participant known as Existent. The findings show that only 112 instances of existential processes are employed in the IELTS Academic Writing samples. Consider the following extracts from the sample essays.
(13) ||| Hence, people think || that if there is an upper limit on an individual’s income,
|| equality will prevail in the community || and citizens can live in harmony. |||
||| For instance, [[failing to submit an assignment or project by its deadline]] may lead to loss of marks || or other consequences may arise. |||
||| Furthermore, these plastic wastes are non-biodegradable; || hence they remain in the environment for an indefinite period of time. |||
Like relational clauses, existential clauses typically have the verb be with the easily identified structure involving the use of the word there, as in Example (13). Existential processes are also identified by such verbs as arise, remain like those in Examples (14) and (15) to express the existence or happening.
Few instances of behavioral processes are found in the academic writing samples, with only 18 cases, occupying 0.7%. Behavioral processes relate to specifically human physiological and psychological behavior, reflecting mental states. Typically, they have only one participant, namely the Behaver, as in the example below, where the Behaver students is typically a conscious being.
||| To elaborate, sometimes students fall asleep in the class || as there is no interaction between the teacher and the students. |||
5. Conclusion
To sum up, by examining the transitivity patterns in the sample essays, we can explain how experiential meaning is being constructed. Based on the SFL analysis, the study found that all of the six types of processes were deployed in the sample essays. The dominant process type found is the material process, followed by the occurrence of the relational process, which is the most commonly used to describe the actions, events or states of being related to their own experience regarding the ideas developed in the essays.
The mental process is also used to project the writer’s opinions, beliefs or feelings. The verbal process is occasionally used to quote sayings from other people in order to make the arguments more persuasive, and to indicate the writer’s stance while the behavioural process, which construes human behaviors, is rarely employed.
It is clear that writing with better awareness of the relationship between the transitivity choice of processes between clauses may enable IELTS writers to produce stylistically appropriate IELTS essays, thus gaining a higher score in the test.
REFERENCES English
[1] Alifereti. V.T.L (2013). An investigation of verticality in tertiary students’ academic writing texts: A Systemic Functional Perspective. International Journal of Applied Linguistics & English Literature, 2(3).
[2] Coffin, C. & Hewings, A. (2003). IELTS as preparation for tertiary writing: Distinctive interpersonal and textual strategies. Analysing Academic Writing, 153-171.
[3] Darani, L.H. (2014). 14th International Language, Literature and Stylistics Symposium. Persuasive style and its realization through transitivity analysis: A SFL perspective. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 158, 179 -186.
[4] Green, A. (2006). Washback to the learner: Learner and teacher perspectives on IELTS preparation course expectations and outcomes. Assessing Writing, 11, 113-134.
[5] Halliday, M. A. K. Revised by Matthiessen, C.M.I. M (2004). An introduction to Functional Grammar (3rd ed. ). London: Edward Arnold.
[6] Halliday, M. A. K. Revised by Matthiessen, C.M.I. M (2014). An introduction to Functional Grammar (4th ed.). Routledge.
[7] Hamid, M. O., Hardy, I. & Reyes, V. (2019). Test-takers’ perspectives on a global test of English: questions of fairness, justice and validity. Language Testing in Asia, 9(16). Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1186/s40468-019-0092-9.
[8] Sianipar, S. D. (2020). Medan State University. A transitivity analysis on students’
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academia.edu/75433950/A_Transitivity_Analysis_on_Students_Writing_Recount_
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[9] Stubbs, S. (2010). Targeting Text. Sidney: Blake Education.
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Vietnamese
Bộ Giáo dục và Đào tạo [MoET] (2014). Khung năng lực ngoại ngữ 6 bậc dùng cho Việt Nam (Six level Foreign Language Proficiency Framework for Vietnam). (Ban hành kèm theo Thông tư số 01/2014/TT-BGDĐT ngày 24 tháng 01 năm 2014 của Bộ trưởng Bộ Giáo dục và Đào tạo).
CHUYỂN TÁC TRONG BÀI VIẾT MẪU HỌC THUẬT IELTS
NGUYEN THI TRUNG Quang Nam University Tóm tắt: Chuyển tác là khái niệm ngữ nghĩa dùng để xác định nghĩa kinh nghiệm trong cú. Bài báo này trình bày kết quả phân tích chuyển tác của các bài luận mẫu học thuật IELTS dựa trên khung lý thuyết của Halliday và Matthiessen (2014). Khung lý thuyết này cung cấp mô hình để xác định các loại quá trình bao gồm quá trình vật chất, tinh thần, quan hệ, hành vi, phát ngôn và hiện hữu. Phương pháp mô tả cùng với định tính và định lượng được sử dụng để mô tả chi tiết sáu loại quá trình được sử dụng trong các bài luận mẫu với thang điểm từ 7,0-7,5. Kết quả cho thấy quá trình vật chất được sử dụng phổ biến trong các bài luận, tiếp theo là quá trình quan hệ và quá trình tinh thần.
Quá trình phát ngôn phổ biến thứ tư, tiếp theo là quá trình hiện hữu và quá trình hành vi ít được sử dụng nhất trong các bài luận mẫu. Từ kết quả này, chúng tôi khuyến nghị rằng việc sử dụng hợp lý các loại quá trình có thể cho phép thí sinh IELTS viết các bài luận phù hợp về mặt văn phong, từ đó góp phần đạt được điểm số cao hơn.
Từ khóa: Bài viết học thuật IELTS, chuyển tác, các loại quá trình
