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STUDENT'S DESCRIPTIVE SFG GUIDE

INTERPERSONAL LEVEL

1. What is the type of genre of the text under analysis? What is its mode ofcommunication? Spoken? Written?

2. What is the general purpose of the genre and what is my particular purpose in this

case? Do I want to narrate, amuse, inform, request information, complain, persuade?

3. What are the moods that would be most appropriate for realizing this genre

effectively: Declarative, Interrogative or Imperative Mood?

4. What is my identity as a writer? Do I know a lot or little about the subject? Am Ispeculating? Am I giving my own personal view? Am I giving or requesting

information? By means of what kind of lexico-grammatical choices (words,

expressions) can I show my audience/reader my knowledge, my doubts, my desires?

5. What is the identity of my addressee? What type of relationship is there betweenus? Distant? Close? Which linguistic choices will help me show this?

*In the assessment criteria for English B this level is correspondant with Criteron B=Cultural Interaction

IDEATIONAL LEVEL

1. What type of Processes (verbs denoting action, state, used to describe),

Participants ( Who are the doers or recepients of the actions, being described-

Nouns and pronouns) and Circumstances (when, where, how-adverbs) are morelikely to be required by this genre?

2. Taking into account the topic of this text in particular:

what type ofProcesses (type of verbs), Participants (nouns and pronouns) and

Circumstances (adverbs) would be more appropriate to express the ideas Iwant to express?

What choice of tenses would be more appropriate? Present tenses? Which

ones? Past Tenses? Why?Which ones? Why?

3. Do all my lexical choices (words, expressions) collocate? Have I used prepositions

well? Do all my lexical choices mean what I expect them to mean?

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4. Have I chosen Processes, Participants and Circumstances bearing in mind not

only the text-type but also my communicative purpose? For example, if I want to

sound polite, have I used verbs that convey this attitude? If I want to describe, have I

used verbs, adjectives and nouns which contribute to make my description morevivid? If I want to persuade have I chosen words, phrases that make my argument

stronger and more convincing? Which ones? Why?

5. Have I chosen Processes, Participants and Circumstances that will match myidentity as a writer and the identity of the addressee as well? That is, if I am writing

a letter applying for a job, for instance, by means of which lexical choices do I show

respect for my prospective employer?

* In the assessment criteria for English B this level is correspondant with Criteron A=Language.

TEXTUAL LEVEL

1. What is the typical schematic structure for this genre? Does it have an opening? Is

it expected to have an introduction? Does it need a title? Subtitles? Have I respected

such schematic structure? Why? Why not?

2. Is my text coherent?: Are the ideas in my text clearly organized and expressed? Do

I support them well? Do I illustrate with examples? Do I contradict myself? (First Iclaim something and then I claim exactly the opposite?)

3. Have I chosen my connectors in such a way that what I expected to be the

consequence of something sounds like a consequence? Or what I expected to be

presented as a contradiction or the reason for something, sounds like a contradictionor reason? In other words, is my text reader-friendly?

4. Is my text cohesive? Do I guide my reader through lexicalcohesion? Do I repeat the

same word or phrase every now and then? Do I use synonyms or near synonyms?

5. Have I chosen and used pronouns making sure they clearlyrefer to what I actuallywant them to refer to? Do they agree in person and number with the referent I

meant? Am I consistent in the use of pronouns? Or do I shift from one to the other?

6. Is my writing lively, vivid, convincing? Have I focused, emphasized the

information I wanted to highlight? How?*In the assessment criteria for English B this level is correspondant with Criteron C=Ideas

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