Understanding representations of the roles of teachers and students of english as a foreign language in different contexts in the light of transitivity analysis

Abstract

This paper examines the contributions of transitivity analysis to the comprehension of how individuals from both the educational and the professional contexts view the roles of teachers and students in the process of EFL learning and teaching. Representations are the meanings which are socio-historically constructed in the linguistic activity of the different practical activities in which individuals participate in the social formations they belong to. Data are from four research corpora. Participants were from: a basic education school, an undergraduate EFL teacher education course, the HR department of a company and an undergraduate hotel management and administration course. Participants of processes, processes and circumstances were examined. Results suggest transitivity analysis is a powerful instrument to understand representations of learning and teaching in relation to their contexts.