Systemic functional linguistics as a methodological tool in mathematics education research

Abstract

The aim of this article is to illustrate how Systemic functional linguistics (SFL) can be used as methodological tool for analysing the meaning of texts from two different studies. An analysis using SFL provides insights into how different concepts of mathematical literacy operate in the text. SFL considers language to be a resource used for expressing meaning in specific contexts that accomplishes specific communication purposes. Therefore, SFL contains opportunities for highlighting different aspects of mathematics education which are of interest to researchers. In Sweden, the SFL approach has been used in other research areas but references to it in mathematics education research have been limited.