Text in English Teaching

Halliday (1978, 2) said that: "Language does not consist of sentences; it consists of texts or discourse the exchange of meanings in interpersonal meanings in interpersonal contexts of one kind or another". In the context of English Language Teaching (ELT), Helena (2020, 2) suggests the following things:

• Language is a system that people use to exchange meanings or to communicate in their daily lives;
• The system consists of grammar, vocabulary, sound, spelling, etc. With the system, students can learn how to create grammatical sentences.
• However, when communicating, people do not produce single sentences; they usually produce more than one sentence. The sentences produced by people are not random; the sentences are usually structurally connected or logically connected. These connections create something beyond the individual sentence; they create a text or a discourse.
• A text is a unit of meaning. Since it is a unit of meaning, a text can be spoken and written. When people talk to each other meaningfully, they create text; when people write meaningfully, they also create text.
• When a text is meaningful to the listeners or the readers, communication happens.
• Communication happens at a text level, not at a sentence level. It goes without saying that we cannot communicate with one word, but the context of situation should be as such so that that single word can be easily understood. This happens because meanings are not only conveyed by words; they are conveyed by the context as well. In face to face interactions, people make use of words as well as the shared context to create meanings.
• When we claim that we teach English for communication, we do not stop at sentence level; we need to end up at text level.
• Every text has a communicative purpose such as describing, explaining, recounting, and so on.
• With this understanding, text becomes a central issue in teaching language in general and especially ELT.

Thus, in short we can say that the main job of an English teacher is to help students create texts or discourse. Is that so?

According to Halliday (1978, 10), a text is made of meanings. The meanings are coded in words and structures, in sounds and written symbols to be communicated. This citation implies several things as follows:

• text is a unit of meaning
• text can be written or spoken
• one needs to choose suitable words and structures to convey the meanings accurately to avoid any possible misunderstanding

Language is a means of communication. In most cases, people communicate to others because they have something in mind or some meanings to be conveyed. When they communicate, they exchange meanings. And in that time, text or discourse is created. Then, it is undeniable that the main job of an English teacher is to help students create text or discourse.

References:

Halliday, M. A. K. (1978). Language as social semiotic: The social interpretation of language and meaning. Edward Arnold.

Agustien, H. I. R. (2020). Implementing a Text Based Approach in English Language Teaching. TEFLIN Teacher Development Series.