Tazkia Aghnia Aulia, Sri Wuli Fitriati, Widhiyanto

Unveiling Halliday’s Textual Metafunction in Indonesian and Samoan EFL Textbooks for Year 10

Introduction

Unveiling halliday’s textual metafunction in indonesian and samoan efl textbooks for year 10. Unveiling Halliday’s textual metafunction, theme-rheme, and thematic progression in Indonesian & Samoan Year 10 EFL textbooks. Discover common topical themes & zigzag patterns for coherence.

Abstract

Abstract. Textual metafunction helps the authors develop text coherently and cohesively and significantly aids readers in understanding the idea, especially in EFL textbooks. EFL textbook has become the essential learning material in EFL classrooms which it should be delivered with clarity to fostered students to grasp the material. Due to the crucial role of EFL textbooks in EFL classrooms, this study aims to unveil how theme-rheme and thematic progression occurred in reading passages of Indonesian and Samoan EFL textbooks. To attain the aims of the study, twelve reading passages from the Indonesian EFL textbook and eight reading passages from the Samoan EFL textbook for year ten were examined. Data that has been examined by theme-rheme proposed by Halliday and Matthiessen (2014) revealed that topical theme is a common type of theme found in Indonesian and Samoan EFL textbooks. Concurrently, these textbooks have the same type order in the occurrence of theme-rheme’s type, from the most common to the least type of theme that appeared. However, the Samoan EFL textbook contains a smaller variety of components in theme types due to the limited text genres in it. After examined thematic progression of these textbooks, and it revealed that the zigzag theme pattern was the majority theme pattern. Alongside the zigzag theme pattern becoming the majority pattern, these textbooks had different order for the second and third place of theme pattern due to the various contents of these EFL textbooks. This study provides textual metafunction, especially theme-rheme and thematic progression, which could be analyzed in EFL textbooks and, eventually, in literary texts.

Review

This study undertakes a valuable comparative analysis, applying Halliday’s textual metafunction to explore theme-rheme and thematic progression in Indonesian and Samoan Year 10 EFL textbooks. The premise is highly relevant, recognizing the critical role of EFL textbooks in fostering clear communication and student comprehension. By examining twelve Indonesian and eight Samoan reading passages through the robust framework of Halliday and Matthiessen (2014), the research effectively addresses its aim to unveil how textual coherence and cohesion are constructed. The findings, indicating a prevalence of topical themes and a majority zigzag theme pattern across both sets of textbooks, provide insightful empirical data on the characteristic features of these educational materials. The detailed findings offer significant contributions to our understanding of EFL textbook design. The consistent dominance of topical themes across both linguistic contexts suggests a pedagogical focus on clear, informational structuring in these textbooks, which is crucial for learners. The prevalence of the zigzag thematic progression pattern further reinforces this, indicating a strong emphasis on maintaining logical flow and development of ideas. The comparison between the two contexts is particularly illuminating, revealing both shared characteristics—such as the similar order of theme type occurrences—and key differences, notably the smaller variety of theme types in the Samoan textbook attributed to its limited text genres. These distinctions underscore how content and genre diversity can impact the linguistic features and, by extension, the pedagogical richness of learning materials. While the abstract clearly outlines a methodologically sound and insightful study, a full paper would benefit from further elaboration on the pedagogical implications of these findings. For instance, the impact of a "smaller variety of components in theme types" on Samoan learners' textual competence could be explored in greater depth. Nevertheless, this research successfully demonstrates the utility of textual metafunction analysis in assessing EFL textbooks, offering valuable insights for curriculum developers and textbook authors. Its concluding suggestion that this analytical approach can extend to literary texts highlights its broader theoretical applicability and potential for future research in discourse analysis.

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