Transitivity in Analytical Exposition Text Selected by Pre-service Teachers: a Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) Analysis

Abstract

This study investigates the transitivity in analytical exposition texts selected by pre-service teachers through the application of Halliday's Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) theory. This study aims to identify the dominant types of processes and explore how processes construct meaning and argumentation in analytical exposition texts. A descriptive qualitative approach and textual analysis were applied in this study. The data analyzed were four analytical exposition texts selected by pre-service teachers from the 2021 cohort. The analysis was conducted manually and utilized UAM CorpusTool to ensure accuracy. The findings indicate that material processes are the dominant process across all texts, followed by relational processes, mental processes, verbal processes, and existential processes, while behavioral processes were absent. Material processes present observable actions and cause–effect reasoning, while relational processes define and classify concepts. Mental processes reveal cognition and emotion, verbal processes cite external authority, and existential processes affirm the presence of issues. Therefore, these process types construct logical, persuasive, and credible arguments. This study has pedagogical implications that pre-service teachers need to comprehend transitivity to design teaching materials that encourage strong argumentation. An understanding of process types helps them to evaluate their writing and supports students' argumentative writing skills.

Keywords: analytical exposition texts, pre-service teachers, transitivity