Systemic Functional Linguistics Interest Group - SFLIG

Loved the conference vibes and the matching Zoom backgrounds at SFLIG 2025!!!

SFLIG 2025- Day 4, 13 November 2025

Plenary 8: Enhancing Evidence for Systemic Functional Linguistics and Genre Theory in K-12 Literacy Education

Assoc. Prof. Clarence Green, University of Hong Kong

Abstract

Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) and Genre Theory (GT) have influenced decades of research in first and second-language literacy education. However, recent systematic reviews highlight a gap in large-scale interventions and controlled trials evaluating their impact (Green et al., 2024). This presentation explores how the evidence base for SFL and GT’s effectiveness on K-12 student literacy outcomes can be strengthened through research designs that extend beyond those commonly currently used in SFL/GT K-12 classroom research. Interventions with control groups demand significant collaboration among schools, funding agencies, universities, and researchers, but without them current evidence syntheses are constrained by the existing limited evaluations of SFL and GT’s potential benefits in K-10 classrooms. Given international shifts in educational policy and practice calling for the types of research discussed in this presentation, it is proposed that the research community consider adopting designs that align with rigorous evidence standards, such as those set by educational evaluation bodies (e.g., What Works Clearinghouse) and systematic review guidelines for evaluating educational evidence via interventions. The discussion of where SFL/GT classroom research might go in the future is valuable for stakeholders engaged in policy, curriculum development, and teacher training across multiple countries, offering a pathway to more robust evidence-informed literacy education practices.

Biography

Dr Clarence Green is an Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong. His research focusses on vocabulary, reading, first and second language acquisition, language psychology and disciplinary literacy. He holds a PhD (University of Melbourne), and was formerly a k-12 teacher (Victorian Institute of Teachers, Ontario College of Teachers). He co-chairs the Australian Linguistics Society’s ‘Linguistics in the Schools’ SIG, is Associate Editor of the Asia Pacific Journal of Education, and editorial board member of the Journal of English for Academic Purposes and Australian Journal of Linguistics. He received the 2025 recipient of the UKLA/Wiley Research in Literacy Education Award. Email: [email protected]

System network discussed by Prof. Christian Matthiessen

Plenary 6- SFLIG 2023, Day 3