Analysis of interpersonal metafunction in text messages a case study of group text messages among teachers of english at viet anh school

BINH DUONG PROVINCIAL PEOPLE’S COMMITTEE THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY TRUONG THI THUY TRINH ANALYSIS OF INTERPERSONAL METAFUNCTION IN TEXT MESSAGES: A CASE STUDY OF GROUP TEXT MESSAGES AMONG TEACHERS OF ENGLISH AT VIET ANH SCHOOL MAJOR: ENGLISH LANGUAGE MAJOR CODE: 22 02 01 MASTER THESIS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE BINH DUONG PROVINCE - 2021 BINH DUONG PROVINCIAL PEOPLE’S COMMITTEE THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY TRUONG THI THUY TRINH ANALYSIS OF INTERPERSONAL METAFUNCTION IN TEXT MESSAGES: A CASE STUDY OF GROUP TEXT MESSAGES AMONG TEACHERS OF ENGLISH AT VIET ANH SCHOOL MAJOR: ENGLISH LANGUAGE MAJOR CODE: 22 02 01 MASTER THESIS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE SUPERVISED BY NGUYEN VU PHUONG, PhD BINH DUONG PROVINCE - 2021 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Nguyen Vu Phuong, who has given expertise support for the development and completion of my thesis His support has facilitated my professional growth as a researcher, and he offered me his guidance and thorough critique with expertise I also owe him gratitude for his patience and encouragement throughout the process of the study I wish to express my deep gratitude to 15 teachers of English at Viet Anh School who kindly agreed to participate in this study The data collection would not have been completed without their support I give my sincere thanks to these participants for their willingness and arranging time in their heavy schedules to participate in this study I also would like to thank the management of Viet Anh School for their support on my completion of the thesis My gratitude is due to the postgraduate administrative office personnel at Thu Dau Mot University for providing the necessary support during my study period I highly appreciate their care and service Special thanks are due to my grandma, parents, brother and sister for their support, love, and encouragement that promoted my strength and passion to achieve a master’s degree i ABSTRACT This study examines an interpersonal metafunction and textism analysis of group text messaging among teachers of English at Viet Anh School 1090 teachers of English’ messages were analysed in terms of speech function, mood, modality, personal pronoun and categories of textism (including linguistic textism, typing error and contextual textism) in order to find out how the interpersonal metafunction was being served in English teacher’ text messages and how the social relationship among these teachers was expressed through their language in text messages Systemic Functional Grammar was used as the theoretical framework to guide the study The analysis reveals that through interpersonal metafunction the relationship among teachers of English established and maintained The analysis indicates that the teachers of English often use text messages for providing more information and demanding services by the dominant use of declaratives clauses in their interaction These teachers of English also perform their plans or desires about their future intention through the frequent use of modality such as ‘will’, ‘can’ or ‘could’ Through the analysis of personal pronouns, it can be clear that the teachers of English tend to interact with each other by sharing their points of view rather than mentioning about other things or persons Their social relation is shortened through the popular use of pronouns ‘I’, ‘we’ and ‘you’ Moreover, the application of textism shows that the mutual comprehension among English teachers through the pragmatic use of non-standard form in text messaging and the limited use of categories of textism did not lead the receivers to confusions or misunderstanding The findings suggest that declarative clauses are suggested to transfer more information to the teachers In addition, the use of ‘will’, ‘can’ and ‘could’ for indicating the inclination or probability of the teachers of English which is applied in order to show attitude and intention in the performance their role in the society Moreover, the frequent use of personal pronouns ‘I’, ‘We’ and ‘You’ indicates about the close relationship among the teachers of English when they interact to ii each other in order to show their position in the process of exchanging of information Textism benefits because teachers of English can give more expressions on their information conveyed through the pragmatic use of nonstandard form in text messages iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT i ABSTRACT ii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF TABLES vi LIST OF APPENDICIES vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the study 1.2 Rationale of the study 1.3 Scope of the study 1.4 Objectives and research questions of the study 1.5 Significance of the study 1.6 Organization of the study CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Text messaging and its role in communication and its challenge 2.1.1 Text messaging 2.1.2 Role of text messaging in communication 10 2.1.3 Challenges of using text messages 11 2.2 Theoretical and Practical Studies on Text Messaging 12 2.3 Textism: Pragmatics of Word Form in Text Messages 14 2.3.1 Textism 14 2.3.2 Pragmatics of word form in text messages 16 2.4 Theoretical background: Systemic Functional Grammar 17 2.4.1 An overview of Systemic Functional Grammar 17 2.4.2 Context 18 2.4.3 Metafunction 19 2.4.4 Interpersonal metafunction and the clause 21 2.4.4.1 Speech functions 22 2.4.4.2 Mood 27 2.4.4.3 Polarity and modality 34 2.4.4.4 Personal pronoun 37 2.4.5 Previous research findings 38 2.5 Summary and research gap 40 iv 2.5.1 Summary 40 2.5.2 Research gap 42 2.6 The framework of the study 43 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 46 3.1 Research Design 46 3.2 Sampling 47 3.3 Data Collection 49 3.4 Data Analysis 50 3.5 The Trustworthiness of the Findings 52 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS 54 4.1 Mood 54 4.1.1 Mood types and speech functions 54 4.1.1.1 Declaratives 55 4.1.1.2 Interrogatives 57 4.1.1.3 Imperatives 58 4.1.1.4 Minor clause 59 4.1.1.5 Exclamatives 60 4.1.2 Speech function and responses 61 4.2 Modality 65 4.2.1 Inclination/ futurity 68 4.2.2 Probability 69 4.2.3 Obligation 70 4.2.4 Usuality 71 4.3 Personal pronouns 72 4.4 Textism 75 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 80 5.1 Summary of findings 80 5.2 Implications 81 5.3 Recommendations for future studies 82 5.4 Concluding remarks 83 REFERENCES 84 APPENDICIES ９２ v LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1 Categories of textism and examples 14 Table 2.2 Speech roles and commodities in interaction 23 Table 2.3 Speech function and responses 23 Table 2.4: Example of Mood element structure 27 Table 2.5: Finite Verbal Operator 28 Table 2.6: Example of Structure of declarative mood 30 Table 2.7: Example of Structure of Yes/No interrogative 30 Table 2.8 Example of Interrogative Clause 31 Table 2.9: Example of Imperative Mood 32 Table 2.10: Example of Exclamative mood 33 Table 2.11: The Degree of modalisation realisations in English 35 Table 2.12: The Degree of modulation realisations in English 36 Table 2.13: Personal pronouns in English 37 Table 3.1 The participants of the study 48 Table 3.2: Data Analysis Sheet 51 Table 4.1: Mood types and speech functions 54 Table 4.2: Speech functions and their responses 61 Table 4.3: Semantic realisation of modality 65 Table 4.4 Number and percentage of types of modality 67 Table 4.5: Use of personal pronoun 72 Table 4.6: Textisms in the text messages 76 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: The framework of the study 44 Figure 2: The steps in analysing the data 52 vi LIST OF APPENDICIES Appendix A: Samples of data analysis ９２ Appendix B: Emailed request for participation ９５ Appendix C: Consent form for participants at Viet Anh School ９６ Appendix D: Peer-investigator confidentiality agreement form ９７ vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the study The rapid development of the technology (e.g., modern devices such as mobile phones) appears to meet the needs for the communication and entertainment The development of modern telecommunication has brought people closer in order to open all aspects of life Among effective tools for conveying information, text messaging is becoming more popular when it responds to various purposes by its written language It is the most effective, convenient and common technological tool for communication because it is time-saving and economical (Mampa & Kwema, 2005) According to DeVito (2001), communication is one of the key mediators in today’s world Communication occurred firstly in oral forms which were then transferred into written ones Thus, oral and written communications have become part of human life and have been hard to separate (Soffer, 2010) Text messaging has brought benefits for communication to users as regards speed, security, and connection which are evaluated highly in the world Besides that, the evolution of language was mainly influenced by the speed of texting messages, because it is important for the users of texting messaging to have a timely reply rather than a grammatically correct one Soffer (2010) stated that interpersonal communication through texting messages is not as effective as traditional face-to-face interaction since the expressions in text messages are lack emotions on face, gestures, voice and sight However, he regarded these are as the key components for creating personal and professional relationships Halliday and Matthiessen (2004) expressed that language functions build and maintain social relationship between writers and readers The way the texters apply their language in texting indicates their behaviors and attitudes in receiving the information from messages Also, people interact with one another and share all kinds of information such as expressing their status, social and individual attitudes by sending Morley, G D (2000) Syntax in functional grammar: An introduction to lexicogrammar in systemic linguistics London: Continuum Nai, S S., Jia, W K., Chih, Y Y., Shan, H S., & Yu, C L (2017) Instant messaging with emotion-embedded vectorized handwritings on mobile devices EURASIP Journal on Image and Video, 1-15 doi:10.1186/s13640-017-0173-6 Nepomuceno, S M (2005) An analysis of interpersonal meaning in a computer mediated conversation using the systemic functional grammar approach 290299 Retrieved from http://www.paaljapan.org/resources/proceedings/2004/Nepomuc.pdf Ngongo, N., Dethan, M., & Hyna, H B (2018) Metafunction meaning realization in lexicogrammar of sermon texts on ‘language and cultural month’, Kupang Town: A systemic functional linguistic approach Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research (ASSEHR), 228, 214-225 Nunan, D (1993) Introducing discourse analysis London: Penguin Group Nur, S (2015) Analysis of interpersonal metafunction in public speeches: A case study of Nelson Mandela’s Presidential inauguration speech The International Journal of Social Sciences, 30(1), 52-63 Nurhidayah, L (2013) Modalization and modulation expressions of the EnglishBahasa Indonesia Confession of a Shopaholic movie texts (M.A thesis) Yogyakarta State University, Indonesia O’Donnell, M (1999) “Context in dynamic modelling” in Mohsen Ghaddessy (Ed) Text and Context in Functional Linguistics Holland: Benjamins Ong'onda, N A., Matu, P M., & Oloo, P A (2011) Syntactic aspect in text messaging World Journal of English Language, 1(1), 2-8 Plester, B., Wood, C., & Joshi, P (2009) Exploring the relationship between children’s knowledge of text message abbreviations and school literacy outcomes British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 27(1), 145-161 Prasetyo, D T (2013) An interpersonal metafucntion analysis of persuasive speeches produced by speaking four class students of English Education 89 Department of Yogyakarta State University in the academic year of 2012/2013 (M.A thesis) Yogyakarta State University, Indonesia Prihandini, A., & Putra, I P (2019) Interpersonal Metafunction in Leonardo DiCaprio’s Speech English Journal Literacy UTama, 3(1), 40-46 Roberts, C W (1989) “Other than Counting Words: A Linguistic Approach to Content Analysis” Social Forces, 68(1), 147-177 Rosen, L D., Chang, J., Erwin, L., Carrier, L M., & Cheever, N A (2010) The relationship between ‘‘textisms’’ and formal and informal writing among young adults Communication Research, 37, 420–440 Saragih, A (2005) Introducing Systemic Functional Grammar FBS, Universitas Negeri Medan (tidak diterbitkan) Schneider-Hufschmidt, M (2005) Usability Issues of Sending Text Messages In Social, Cultural and Design Perspectives on SMS (Computer Supported Cooperative Work) (pp 223-236) New York: Springer Sebayang, T (2018) An interpersonal metafunction analysis of Martin Luther King Jr.’S speech Universitas Sumatera Utara, Indonesia Smith, C (2011) Americans and text Messaging Retrieved from https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2011/09/19/americans-and-textmessaging/ Soffer, O (2010) “Silent orality”: toward a conceptualization of the digital oral features in CMC and SMS texts Communication Theory, 4(20), 387-404 Tagg, C (2012) Discourse of text messaging London: Continuum Tayebinik, M., & Puteh, M (2012) Text messaging in English language literacy Procedia-social and behavioral sciences, 97–105 doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.11.251 Thompson, G (1996) Introducing functional grammar London: Arnold Thompson, G (2014) Introducing functional grammar (3rd ed.) London and New York: Hodder Education 90 Thurlow, C., & Brown, A (2003) Generation txt? The sociolinguistics of young people’s text messaging Discourse Analysis Online, 1(1), 1-27 Tully, S (2013) Kiss me thru the phone: pragmatic competence in text messaging among young twenty-somethings (Senior thesis) Columbia University, Columbia Varnhagen, C K., MacFall, G P., Pugh, N., Routledge, L., Sumida-MacDonald, H., & Kwong, T E (2010) LoL: New language and spelling in instant messaging Reading and Writing, 23, 719–733 Yang, H (2017) The Interpersonal Metafunction Analysis of Barack Obama’s Inaugural Address International Journal of Languages, 3(1), 27-31 Ye, R (2010) The Interpersonal Metafunction Analysis of Barack Obama’s Victory Speech English Language Teaching, 3(2), 146-151 Yousaf, Z., & Ahmed, M (2013) Effect of SMS on writing skills of the university students in Pakistant ( a case study of university of Gujrat) Asian Economic and Financial Review, 3(3), 389 - 397 Yule, G (1996) The Study of Language (2nd Ed.) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Zudianto, H (2015) Interpersonal metafunction analysis of the representation of multiethnicity in the government- endorsed curriculum 2013 textbook when English Rings A Bell for SMP/ MTS Kelas VIII (PhD thesis) Yogyakarta State University, Indonesia 91 APPENDICIES T15/ TM 0001 T15/ TM 0002 T15/ TM 0003 T15/ TM 0004 T15/ TM 0005 T15/ TM 0006 Hello everyone The situation seems more complicated, as we have so many Vietnamese people working and studying in Korea come back to VN It's so crowded the the government don't allow any more flights from Korea to land in Tan Son Nhat and Noi Bai airports We heard that quite many people fly to Cambodia, then take busses back to VN √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ ９２ Refusal Contradiction Undertaking Answer Acceptance Command Acknowledgement Offer Question Speech Functions Initiation Response Expected Discretion Statement Imperative Wh- Interrogative Yes/ No Interrogative √ How are you? It's almost weeks after Tet Exclamatives Data Declarative Code Minor clause Mood types Indicative Interrogative Salutary Function Appendix A: Samples of data analysis T15/ TM 0007 More over, there are some thirty thousand Korean people working in VN, and many of them need quaranting √ √ T15/ TM 0008 We don't know anything for sure yet about the return to school, but please keep contact and we inform as soon as we know something √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ T15/ TM 0009 T15/ TM 0010 T15/ TM 0011 T15/ TM 0012 T15/ TM 0013 T15/ TM 0014 Hopefully it's not so bad so that junior high school students can come back next week, and primary children can return Monday, March 17, as planned Yesterday a Japanese infected with Covid-19 flew by Vietnam Airlines and transited in Tan son Nhat airport It caused the whole passengers and crews being quarantined Good morning √ √ Thank you for the information √ √ √ Enjoy your day ;d ９３ √ Refusal Contradiction Undertaking Answer Acceptance Command Acknowledgement Offer Question Speech Functions Initiation Response Expected Discretion Statement Salutary Function Imperative Wh- Interrogative Yes/ No Interrogative Exclamatives Data Declarative Code Minor clause Mood types Indicative Interrogative T15/ TM 0015 T15/ TM 0016 T15/ TM 0017 T15/ TM 0018 T15/ TM 0019 T15/ TM 0020 T15/ TM 0021 Unfortunately passengers, French, Australian, Vietnamese "escaped", and now the government are trying to find them :-(( Thank you for the √ information Hoping to hear positive news soon As the school notice to parents, Senior students will come back to school on Mon ( 09/03/3020) I'll send you your schedule as we've told before( periods/ week) I'll replace Mr.Tiaan by Ms.Ana Thank you for your √ cooperation √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ ９４ Refusal Contradiction Undertaking Answer Acceptance Command Acknowledgement Offer Question Speech Functions Initiation Response Expected Discretion Statement Salutary Function Imperative Wh- Interrogative Yes/ No Interrogative Exclamatives Data Declarative Code Minor clause Mood types Indicative Interrogative Appendix B: Emailed request for participation Dear All I am writing to request your help in my MA research into text messages I would be very grateful if you could help me I need to collect a database of text messages in order to examine how the teachers of English use language when we text I need your agreement so that I can use the messages you send and receive in a group of foreign teachers including two managers of English I will look at Interpersonal Metafunction (including speech function, mood, modality, and personal pronoun) and textisms in your text messages The messages will be completely anonymized with names changed so that none of the people involved can be identified If you can help, please let me know I can then provide more information about this topic if you would like me to Thanks a million for helping me Hope to hear from you soon, Best regards, Truong Thi Thuy Trinh ９５ Appendix C: Consent form for participants at Viet Anh School PARTICIPANTS CONSENT FORM Title project: Analysing of interpersonal metafunction in text messages: a case study of group text messages among teachers of English at Viet Anh school Please complete this form in order to confirm your participation in the study By participating in this study, I agree that:     I was provided information and explanation of the purpose of the study My text messages in Zalo group are used for the purpose of the study I have had the opportunity to ask questions about this research and I have received satisfactory answers If the contents of the messages are ever published in a dessertation, thesis or other formats for any purposes, all such content will be anonymised that no participants are identified from that content  The content of the messages only usees for the research without any commercial purposes  I will provide more information related to this research if necessary By signing this form,  I agree to participate in the research  I not want to participate in at this time Participant name: …………………… Signature: ………………… Date: …………………… ９６ Appendix D: Peer-investigator confidentiality agreement form Peer-investigator confidentiality agreement Project title: Analysis of interpersonal metafunction in text messages: A case study of group text messages among teachers of English at Viet Anh school I, _, the peer- investigator, agree to: 1.keep the contents of the text messages by not discussing or sharing the research information or format with anyone other than the researcher 2.return all the files and transcripts to the researcher when the analysis is complete delete all research information regarding this project that is not returnable to the researcher if any Name: ……………… Signature: …………………… ９７ Date …………………………… 98 99 100 101 102 １０３ ... i ABSTRACT This study examines an interpersonal metafunction and textism analysis of group text messaging among teachers of English at Viet Anh School 1090 teachers of English? ?? messages were analysed... someone, offering declarative statement, advising statement, or even directing imperative statement Similar to modalisation, interpersonal meaning of modulation makes the obligation and inclination... feature of interpersonal metafunction and textism to the language of text messaging in that it matches with the tradition of text messaging for meeting the communication need and maintain social