Short conversations in the listening comprehension section of toefl itp in light of systemic functional grammar

Võ Việt Cường

Tạp chí KHOA HỌC & CÔNG NGHỆ

109(09): 45 - 49

SHORT CONVERSATIONS IN THE LISTENING COMPREHENSION SECTION
OF TOEFL ITP IN LIGHT OF SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR
Vo Viet Cuong*
College of Economics and Technology – TNU

SUMMARY
TOEFL ITP (Test of English as a Foreign Language: Institutional Testing Program) is now used as
part of the test format designed by Vietnam National Foreign Language Project 2020 to test the
English proficiency of Vietnamese. However, they tend to do poorly in the listening
comprehension section of the tests of the Project, in which short conversations between two people
in part A are the first challenge. Besides the high speaking speed of the native speakers in the
recordings, the grammatical structures that convey the meaning of each conversation seem to be
one of the linguistic components affecting the students’ understanding of each conversation.
Realizing the students’ problem above, we have conducted an analysis of clause expansion in three
selected short conversations consisting of requests and their responses in part A of the listening
comprehension scripts of the book “TOEFL Preparation Kit Workbook 2002-2003, Volume 1”
designed and introduced by ETS, in light of Systemic Functional Grammar. The results of the
analysis suggest further studies on more conversations of this kind.
Key words: TOEFL ITP, short conversations, challenge, clause expansion, requests and their
responses, Systemic Functional Grammar.

INTRODUCTION*
Besides IELTS (International English Language
Testing System), TOEFL ITP (Test of English
as a Foreign Language: Institutional Testing

Program) is now used as part of the test format
designed by Vietnam National Foreign
Language Project 2020 to test the English
proficiency of Vietnamese. In addition, a
considerable number of international institutions
still accept TOEFL ITP score for admissions to
them. These indicate that TOEFL ITP is still
popular in Vietnam.
As teachers of English at Thai Nguyen
University, we are experienced in instructing
quite a large number of students in TOEFL
ITP. For many years of teaching TOEFL ITP,
we have found that listening seems to be a
challenge to them. To explain this, we, to
some extent, need to depend on Schiffrin
[5.389-390]’s statement:
In order for communication to proceed at all,
people must share certain basic knowledge,
e.g. knowledge about the world, about the
language to be used, and so on.
*

She also introduced the principle of
intersubjectivity which is the process of
dealing with the sharing of knowledge or
experience, in which shared knowledge is one
product of communication. She also added
that
intersubjectivity
both

allows
communication and is achieved by
communication [5.389-390]. Our students are
graduates, so they probably have the
necessary experience and knowledge about
the world. The knowledge about the language
to be used – English, however, is a challenge
to them because a majority of them hasn’t
been in contact with English since graduation.
Thus, they tend to do poorly in the listening
comprehension section of the tests by
Vietnam National Foreign Language Project
2020, in which short conversations between
two people in part A are the first challenge.
Besides the high speaking speed of the native
speakers in the recordings, the grammatical
structures that convey the meaning of each
conversation seem to be one of the linguistic
components
affecting
the
students’
understanding of each conversation. Realizing
the students’ problem above, we have

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conducted an analysis of clause expansion in
the short conversations in the listening
comprehension section of TOEFL ITP in light
of Systemic Functional Grammar to know
how it functions to display some of the main
discourse features which may affect the
students’ understanding of the conversations.
Thus, the analysis in this article is a grammarbased one, the importance of which was
stressed by Halliday [2.xvi]:
A discourse analysis that is not based on
grammar is not an analysis at all, but simply a
running commentary on a text.

Due to the limited time and framework of an
article, we can only focus on the analysis of
clause expansion in three selected short
conversations consisting of requests and their
responses in part A of the listening
comprehension scripts of the book “TOEFL
Preparation Kit Workbook 2002-2003,
Volume 1” designed and introduced by ETS,
in light of Systemic Functional Grammar.

DEVELOPMENT
An introduction to clause expansion in
Systemic Functional Grammar
Halliday [2.215-216] viewed clause complex
as the grammatical unit above the clause. He
also introduced two types of interdependency
among clauses depending on their status
which are hypotaxis and parataxis. Hypotaxis
is the relation between a dependent clause and
its dominant one on which it is dependent.
Parataxis is the relation between two clauses
of equal status, one initiates and the other
continues [2.218]. Halliday [2.218] used the
Greek letter notations: α β γ δ… to represent
hypotactic structures and the numerical
notations: 1 2 3… to represent paratactic
structures in a clause complex. These
notations are illustrated in the examples in
table 7 (2): Basic types of clause complex in
[2.220] cited in the next page of this article.
Besides the interdependency among clauses,
Halliday [2.219-220] also introduced the
logico-semantic relations among the clauses
in a clause complex which are expansion and

109(09): 45 - 49

projection. Projection is not the main issue of
the analysis; it still contributes to the
expansion of the clauses in a clause complex,

however. According to Halliday [2.219],
expansion is the case in which the secondary
clause expands the primary clause by
elaborating it, extending it, or enhancing it.
Projection is the case in which the secondary
clause is projected through the primary
clause, which instates it as a locution or an
idea. Following is the description of each of
the categories of expansion and projection
created by Halliday [2]:
In elaboration, one clause elaborates on the
meaning of another by further specifying or
describing it. The secondary clause does not
introduce a new clement into the picture but
rather provides a further characterization of
one that is already there, restating it, clarifying
it, refining it, or adding a descriptive attribute
or comment. The thing that is elaborated may
be the primary clause as a whole, or it may be
just some part of it – one or more of its
constituent [2.225].
In extension, one clause extends the meaning
of another by adding something new to it.
What is added may be just an addition, or a
replacement, or an alternative [2.230].
In enhancement, one clause enhances the
meaning of another by qualifying it in one of a
number of possible ways: by reference to
time, place, manner, cause or condition
[2.232].

In projection of locution, one clause is
projected through another, which presents it as
a locution, a construction of wording [2.220].
In projection of idea, one clause is projected
through another, which presents it as an idea,
a construction of meaning [2.220].

In summary, according to Halliday [2.225],
elaborating, extending, and enhancing in
expansion can be compared with three ways
of enriching a building in which we can
elaborate its existing structure, extend it by
addition or replacement, and enhance its
environment.
Halliday [2.219] used (=) for elaboration, (+)
for extension, and (x) for enhancement in
expansion. He used (“) for projection of
locution and (‘) for projection of idea.

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The examples in the following table illustrate Halliday [2]’s descriptions above:
Table 1. Basic types of clause complex [2.220]

(1) Expansion

(a)
elaboration

(b)
extension

(2) Projection

(c)
enhancement

(a)
locution

(b)
idea

(i) paratactic
John didn’t wait;
1
he ran away.
=2
John ran away,

1
and Fred stayed behind.
+2
John was scared,
1
so he ran away.
x2
John said:
1
‘I’m running away’
“2
John thought to himself:
1
‘I’ll run away’
‘2

(ii) hypotactic
John ran away,
α
which surprised everyone.
=β
John ran away,
α
whereas Fred stayed behind.
+β
John ran away,
α
because he was scared.
xβ
John said

α
he was running away.
“β
John thought
α
he would run away
‘β

An analysis of requests and their responses in the short conversations in light of Systemic
Functional Grammar
In this part of the article, we analyze the three conversations consisting of clause complexes in
the requests and their responses cited from Cuong [6.27,29,30] selected as Nguyen and Vinh
[3.182] and Quang [4.151-160]’s suggestions. We use the notation “///” for clause complex
boundary and the notation “//” for clause boundary in a clause complex. The conjunctions
inserted as Halliday [2.239]’s suggestion are in bold type. The original conjunctions are
highlighted in both bold and underlined type for easy distinction in the analysis. We still apply
the notation system introduced by Halliday [2.219] to the analysis of the clause complexes.
Following is the analysis of the clause complexes in the requests and their responses in the
conversations:
Conversation 1:
(woman)
///Can you come to the concert with me this weekend,//or do you have to prepare
for exams?///(1)
+ 2 (variation:
1
alternative)
(man)
///I still have a lot//to do … //but maybe a break would do me good.///(2)
1
+ 2 (addition: adversative)

xβ
α
(purpose)

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109(09): 45 - 49

Conversation 2:
(woman)
///I really want to see the play at the outdoor theater tonight.//So will you come
with me?///(3)
x 2 (cause1
effect)
(man) ///You know//I hate battling all those mosquitoes.//But … if you have your heart set on it
….///(4)
1
+ 2 (addition: adversative)
…
α
‘β

xβ
Conversation 3:
(man) ///Hi, I’d like to sign up for the film selection committee.//So is this the right place?///(5)
1
x 2 (cause-effect)
(woman)
///Yes, it is!//In fact, there are a lot of fun people on that committee,//but
1
= 2 (clarification)
+3
you’ll have to put in a lot of hours.//So I hope//your schedule isn’t too tight.///(6)
(addition: adversative)
x 4 (cause-effect)
α
‘β
conjunction
“but”
in
combination
with other
As can be seen from the analysis above, there
linguistic
components
can
cause
difficulty
to
are six clause complexes in which the
the students in understanding the responses
conjunction “so” was inserted in clause

mainly focused on by the listening
complexes 3, 5, 6 and the conjunction “in
comprehension questions.
fact” was inserted in clause complex 6. This
CONCLUSION
implicit use of conjunctions can be a
challenge to the students because they have
In this article, we have introduced the concept
only one time to listen to the conversations in
of clause expansion and its components in
which the people speak very fast in a short
Systemic Functional Grammar. After
time. The students then have to reword the
applying it to the analysis of the
utterances in their minds as we do in the
conversations in this article, we have
analysis but in a short time without taking
discussed the possible effects of the displayed
notes to refer backwards or forwards to find
discourse features on the students’
the co-text or context as easily as we do. The
understanding of the conversations. The
appearances of projection in combination
analysis implies that further studies on more
with expansion in clause complexes 4 and 6
conversations of this kind need to be
also challenge the students because the
conducted and their results can be tried on the
structures of the clause complexes then
students to improve teaching and learning

become more complicated with the added
these conversations.
information through projection of locution or
REFERENCES
idea. This is common in every day
[1]. ETS. (2004), TOEFL Preparation Kit
conversations. The conjunction “but” was
Workbook 2002-2003, Volume 1, Thành phố Hồ
used in the three responses in the
Chí Minh: Nhà xuất bản Trẻ.
conversations. The speakers’ intentions are
[2]. Halliday, M.A.K. (1994), An Introduction to
different, however. In clause complex 2,
Functional Grammar, London: Edward Arnold.
“but” is used for declining, in 4 for accepting
[3]. Huỳnh Thị Ái Nguyên & Nguyễn Quang
Vịnh. (2008), TOEFL-iBT bí quyết và thành công,
reluctantly or declining politely, and in 5 for
Hà Nội: Nhà xuất bản Giáo dục.
giving advice. The varied uses of the same
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[4]. Nguyễn Quang. (2007), Cú điển dụng học Anh
– Việt, Hà Nội: Nhà xuất bản Từ điển bách khoa.
[5]. Schiffrin, D. (1994), Approaches to
Discourse, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
[6]. Võ Việt Cường. (2010), Some Discourse
Features of Requests and Their Responses in
Short
Conversations
in
the
Listening

109(09): 45 - 49

Comprehension Section of TOEFL Materials,
Unpublished M.A. Minor Thesis: Một số đặc điểm
diễn ngôn của yêu cầu và đáp lại yêu cầu trong
các hội thoại ngắn trong mục nghe hiểu của tài
liệu luyện thi TOEFL, Tiểu luận văn thạc sĩ không
xuất bản, Hà Nội: Trường đại học ngoại ngữ, Đại
học Quốc gia Hà Nội.

TÓM TẮT
CÁC ĐOẠN HỘI THOẠI NGẮN TRONG MỤC NGHE HIỂU CỦA TOEFL ITP
DƯỚI ÁNH SÁNG CỦA NGỮ PHÁP CHỨC NĂNG HỆ THỐNG
Võ Việt Cường*
Trường Cao đẳng Kinh tế Kỹ thuật – ĐH Thái Nguyên
TOEFL ITP (Bài thi tiếng Anh như một ngoại ngữ: Chương trình thi nội bộ) hiện được sử dụng
như một phần của dạng thức đề thi được Đề án ngoại ngữ Quốc gia Việt Nam 2020 thiết kế nhằm

khảo sát năng lực tiếng Anh của người Việt Nam. Tuy nhiên, họ thường có khuynh hướng thực
hiện không tốt mục nghe hiểu trong các bài thi của Đề án, trong đó các đoạn hội thoại ngắn giữa
hai người là thách thức đầu tiên. Bên cạnh tốc độ nói nhanh của người nói bản xứ trong các bản
ghi âm thì các cấu trúc ngữ pháp chuyển tải nghĩa của mỗi đoạn hội thoại dường như là một trong
những thành phần ngôn ngữ ảnh hưởng đến việc hiểu mỗi đoạn hội thoại của học viên. Nhận thức
được vấn đề trên của học viên, chúng tôi đã tiến hành một phân tích về sự bành trướng cú trong ba
đoạn hội thoại ngắn có các yêu cầu và đáp lại yêu cầu trong phần A của các bản ghi chữ phần nghe
hiểu của cuốn sách “TOEFL Preparation Kit Workbook 2002-2003, Volume 1” được ETS thiết kế
và giới thiệu, dưới ánh sáng của Ngữ pháp Chức năng Hệ thống. Kết quả của phân tích gợi ra
những nghiên cứu sâu và rộng hơn về các đoạn hội thoại cùng loại.
Từ khoá: TOEFL ITP, các đoạn hội thoại ngắn, thách thức, sự bành trướng cú, yêu cầu và đáp lại
yêu cầu, Ngữ pháp Chức năng Hệ thống.

Ngày nhận bài: 21/5/2013; Ngày phản biện: 17/6/2013; Ngày duyệt đăng: 02/10/2013
Phản biện khoa học: ThS. Mai Văn Cẩn – Trường Đại học Sư phạm- ĐH Thái Nguyên
*

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