Speaker
Description
Among the genres in IELTS Academic Writing Task 1, process descriptions require candidates to represent sequential actions in a coherent and objective manner. Despite growing research on IELTS writing, limited attention has been paid to the transitivity patterns underlying process-description discourse. Drawing on Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), this study investigates how experiential meanings are constructed through the transitivity system in ten high-scoring process-description texts collected from Cambridge IELTS materials and examiner-generated model responses. Using qualitative discourse analysis and cross-sample comparison, the study examines the distribution and communicative functions of six process types: material, mental, relational, verbal, behavioral, and existential. The findings reveal the predominance of material processes in representing procedural actions and sequential development, while relational and existential processes contribute to the impersonal and objective style characteristic of the genre. The study is hoped to offer insights into genre-specific linguistic choices and highlights pedagogical implications for SFL-informed instruction in IELTS writing classrooms.
Biography
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyễn Thị Quỳnh Hoa is currently Vice Dean of the Faculty of English and Senior Lecturer at the University of Foreign Language Studies, The University of Danang (UFLS-UD). She holds a Ph.D. in Linguistics and has over 30 years of experience teaching English and linguistics. Her research interests include English language studies, linguistics, discourse analysis, translation studies, language and culture, and English as a medium of instruction (EMI). From 2006 to 2014, she served as the founding Dean of the Faculty of International Studies at UFLS-UD.
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