Systemic Functional Linguistics Interest Group - SFLIG

Such a great initiative! SFL Day at ALEA 2026! 👏💐

Join us at ALEA 2026 for the dedicated SFL Stream!

The Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) Stream at the Australian Literacy Educators’ Association National Conference 2026 will bring together leading voices in SFL.

📅 Saturday 11 July 2026
📍 Fremantle, Western Australia

A special thanks to our organisers:

* Dr Vinh To
* Prof. Beryl Exley
* Dr Nathan Lowien

Register now: https://eventandconfco.eventsair.com/2026-alea-conference/registration



Beryl Exley Dr Vinh To-Tiến sĩ Tô Thị Vinh

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The Systemic Functional Linguistics Association of Tunisia (SYFLAT) is pleased to announce its

Third Tunisian Systemic Functional Linguistics Conference (TSFLC 3)

📅 22–24 March 2027
📍 Hammamet, Tunisia
🔗 Conference website: https://www.syflat.org/tsflc3

Theme of the conference:
Social change and periphery voices in SFL and related theories

Plenary Speakers:

Anne McCabe - Saint Louis University, Madrid
John Bateman - Bremen University, Germany
Sadok Dammak - Sfax University, Tunisia
Serge Sharoff - Leeds University, UK
Stella Newmann- RWTH Aachen University, Germany

We are delighted to share that the SFLIG 2023 Special Issue of Linguistics and the Human Sciences (Vol. 17, No. 3) is now officially published by the University of Toronto Press!

Co-edited by Dr Eric Cheung (Hong Kong Polytechnic University) and Dr Vinh To (University of Tasmania), this special issue brings together four peer-reviewed articles selected from the 2nd International Systemic Functional Linguistics Interest Group Conference (SFLIG 2023), which was co-hosted online by the University of Tasmania and the School of Professional Education and Executive Development (SPEED) at Hong Kong Polytechnic University in November 2023.

The issue showcases the breadth and depth of SFL research across diverse contexts:

• Margaret Turnbull examines how dialogic discourse builds collective disciplinary capability in secondary history classrooms through Pedagogic Register Analysis

• Wang (Melinda) Xuan & Jonathan Webster apply SFL and Rhetorical Structure Theory to unpack the texture and architecture of online philanthropic fundraising discourse

• Dorra Moalla offers a social semiotic and sociological analysis of how Tunisian cities reshaped their semiotic landscapes during the COVID-19 pandemic

• Claire Simpson-Smith uses Appraisal theory to interrogate how risk is constructed and legitimised in environmental impact statements

Huge congratulations to all four authors, and a heartfelt thank you to the reviewers whose rigorous feedback strengthened every contribution. It has been a true privilege to shepherd this issue to publication.

Read the full issue here: https://utppublishing.com/toc/lhs/17/3

Contents | Linguistics and the Human Sciences 17, 3 Using pedagogic register analysis, this article describes how one teacher's dialogic practice evolves over time to create a community of learners and collective disciplinary knowledge. In current research, there is substantial rigorous evidence of the ...

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Dear Members,

A gentle reminder about the SFL webinar series on Systemic Functional Linguistics: Theory and Application by Complutense University in Madrid, Spain 🇪🇸. In May there are three webinars, with the first delivered by Andres Ramirez and colleagues on 15th May at 1pm (Spain time).

Abstract and link to register are provided below. 👇

Register here:
https://www.ucm.es/formacion-permanente/sflta/textos/591696

Presenters: Andrés Ramírez, Yuly Andrea González and Cristian David Londoño

Topic: Genre-based translanguaging

Date and Time: 15 May, 13.00 - 15.00 (Spain time).

Abstract:

This presentation introduces a framework for translingual pedagogic design and analysis grounded in Systemic Functional Linguistics and genre-based pedagogy, extended through translanguaging, and complemented by Legitimation Code Theory for macro-level analysis. The presentation is organized in two parts: (1) translingual pedagogic design through Genre-Based Translanguaging, and (2) translingual pedagogic analysis at micro and macro levels of classroom discourse. The first part presents Genre-Based Translanguaging (GT) as a multilingual extension of genre-based pedagogy, particularly the Reading to Learn approach. In GT, guidance through interaction around model texts and shared experiences is enacted translingually, as teachers and students use two or more languages in principled ways to support learning language, learning about language, and learning through language. Pedagogically, GT builds on the Reading to Learn teaching–learning cycle—including preparing for reading, detailed reading, joint construction, and independent construction—and extends these cycles through the strategic use of the first and target languages, the use of culturally responsive model texts, a gradual increase of target language use, and integrated language development classroom activities as the basis for guided interaction and knowledge building. The second part of the presentation focuses on translingual pedagogic analysis. At the micro level, the primary unit of analysis is the teaching–learning exchange, understood as a discourse-semantic unit consisting of marginal and nuclear phases. The presentation introduces system networks developed to model language-shift options available to teachers and students during classroom interaction, showing how shifts between languages are functionally related to pedagogic purposes within teaching–learning exchanges and across pedagogic cycles. At the macro level, Legitimation Code Theory is introduced as an analytical approach for examining how teaching–learning exchanges and pedagogic cycles are organized within lessons. Using the autonomy dimension of LCT and a translation device, the analysis traces lesson trajectories to reveal patterns of movement across languages, contents, and pedagogic purposes along a translanguaging continuum. The framework, therefore, connects translingual pedagogic design, translingual classroom interaction, and lesson organization through a multi-level model that links discourse-semantic analysis of translingual teaching–learning exchanges with macro-level analysis of lesson trajectories and autonomy pathways, providing an SFL-principled approach for designing and analyzing multilingual pedagogy.

I'm pleased to share my recent publication on the system of THING TYPE in Dagaare. The paper shows that nominal morphology is used in Dagaare to construe entities into ontological types of things. Preliminary findings were first presented at the ISFLIG 2021 Conference.

Natural language ontology: diachronic restructuring of nominal classification in Dagaare Research on nominal classification in Mabia (Gur) languages, including Dagaare, has generally concluded that their classificatory systems are only partially semantic. This study, focusing on the Lobr variety of Dagaare, provides evidence that Dagaare possesses a historically restructured yet robust....

Today marks the 12th Anniversary of the Systemic Functional Linguistics Interest Group (SFLIG), and our community has grown to 4.5K members strong! 🎉

A heartfelt thank you to everyone who has contributed, supported, and helped keep this community vibrant, welcoming and inspiring throughout the years. 🙏🫶💐