SAINT MICHAEL COLLEGE OF HINDANG, LEYTE INC.

A. Bonifacio St. Pob. II, Hindang, Leyte

FUNCTIONS OF LANGUAGE ACCORDING TO

MICHAEL HALLIDAY
(A Written Report)

In Partial Fulfilment of the Course Requirements in

Major 4A– Principles and Theories of Language
Acquisition and Learning

Prepared by:
CARACUEL, THEA MARIE B.
BSEd- II
(MWF, 6:30-7:30 P.M)

Submitted to:
MICHAEL T. BULAWAN
Instructor

Date of Submission and Presentation:

October 16, 2023
1ST Semester, A.Y 2023-2024
I. Objective(s)

At the end of this lesson, the students will be able to:

1. Define the Functions of Language according to Michael Halliday.

2. Explain how a child learns the language.
3. Apply the Functions of Language in a classroom setting.

II. Introduction

Language is a means of communication used to communicate ideas, beliefs,

or feelings. It gives shape to people’s thoughts, as we as guide and controls their
activity. Language is the key to learning how to become a member of society rather
than just a method of communicating. Michael Halliday argued that children
communicate and learns a language before they can speak. Language doesn’t just
mimic meaning, it creates meaning. Moreover, this lesson discusses furthermore on
the functions of language according to Halliday, its importance and how to apply it in
a classroom or real-life situation.

III. Body

How does a child learns the language?

Halliday views language as not only a mode of communication but a cultural

code we need to understand to fit in with our surroundings: “Language is the main
channel through which patterns of living are transmitted to him, through which he
learns to act as a member of a society… [and] to adopt its culture”. This quote
reveals Halliday’s view that language is the key to learning how to become a
member of society rather than just a method of communicating. Rather than the
language learning process starting when children starts to speak, Halliday argued
that as soon as children can cry or make facial expressions, language is present.
This is because children can communicate their feelings through facial expressions
and actions.

Halliday (2004) argues that there are three ways of thinking about the
relationship between learning and language: learning a language, learning through
language and learning about the language. Children learn a language, i.e. how to
form sounds and utterances in their first (or additional) language. They learn about
the world as they do so, for instance, by acquiring the word ‘hail’ they come to learn
that there is such a concept (possibly even before having experienced it in the real
world) and that is different from both snow or rain (learning through language). And
finally, they learn about the language, i.e. through either explicit or implicit feedback
and modelling, they learn how to put together phonemes, morphemes, words and
ultimately phrases together accurately.

He suggests that social interaction is the key for child language learning as it
is vital for them to see how language functions in society. The way they learn how to
be members of society themselves. Children learns to do things to get a reaction,
meaning they can communicate their emotions and use of language to get what they
want before they can talk. Halliday believes we are always making choices in our
language and communication.

Seven Functions of Language According to Michael Halliday

Michael Halliday (1975) stated a set of initial function as follows: Instrumental,

Regulatory, Interactive, Personal, Heuristic, Representational/ Informative, and
Imaginative.

1. Instrumental

 Language used to fulfil needs or desires, such as requesting food or comfort.

It is the function of language that gives the speaker the satisfaction once his
material needs are being given and received by him/her.

Examples:
 “I want to eat some chocolates.”
 “Can I have some of those apples?”
 “I need to drink my medicine.”

2. Regulatory

 Language that influence the behaviors of others and is used to command,

persuade, or request someone to do something and controlling their behavior.
The speaker adopts a commanding tone.

Examples:
 “Let’s go home now.”
 “You need to finish that work by tomorrow so get on with it.”
 “Can you give me the report from yesterday?”
3. Interactive

 Language used to form relationships, express emotions and strengthen bonds

with others. It helps to alleviate the interaction. It deals on how humans use
language to interact to each other socially or emotionally.

Examples:
 “I love you.”
 “Thank you so much.”
 “Please take care.”
 “I care about you.”

4. Personal

 Language used to express personal opinions, emotions, attitudes and identity,

as well as to seek information about the world. It encompasses how we use
language to learn more about our surroundings, by requesting information
about it. This is known as the ‘personal function of language’, as we gain
information which benefits ourselves and our understanding of society.

Examples:
 “I’m happy for you.”
 “I’m not feeling well.”
 “I hate you!”

5. Heuristic

 Language used to learn, explore and associated with discovery and

explanation, often through questions and self-narration. It is used in acquiring
knowledge about one’s environment, typically through the use of questions.

Examples:
 “What happened?”
 “Why the cat is sleeping?”
 Several questions during a lecture

6. Representational/ Informative

 Language used to request and relay information between people, exchanging

facts and experiences. It describes the exchange of information between two
or more people. These statements are straightforward. They do not seek for
an explanation.
 Examples:
 The weather is very hot due to climate change.
 El Nino affects the livelihood of most farmers.

7. Imaginative

 Language used in storytelling and interactive play, creating fictional scenarios

and characters. This use of fantasy usually occurs in leisure or play scenarios.
People who role-play in video games will sometimes engage in imaginative
functions to help their character be more effective and persuasive.

Examples:
 Pretending to be in a house, spaceship, or adopting different characters
during the play

IV. CLASSROOM SETTING APPLICATION

Through applying this in a real life classroom situation, the students will learn
how to use the language properly and what function of language is best suited in
every situation they are currently into and every person they would encounter.
Having enough knowledge about the different functions of language will allow them
to communicate and express themselves properly. It will help them in maintaining
social relations through meaningful conversations.

Applying the Functions of Language to the Real World Language

Acquisition and Learning

1. Instrumental

 We can apply the instrumental function of language to express our needs and
to help student to get things done. For instance, if the student do not have the
materials like paper and pens, they can use instrumental function of language
to request for paper and pen. Example: Can I borrow your pen? This will allow
students to clearly express their needs and will encourage to voice out
themselves for their needs to be fulfilled.

2. Regulatory

 The regulatory function of language to influence others behavior through

request, rules and persuasion. We can apply this in the real life situations,
especially in implementing rules inside the classroom or commanding the
 students to do their task. This will make students obey what their teacher has
said and will help them to become a good student. Example: You need to
research about the function of language according to Michael Halliday and
pass it to me tomorrow.

3. Interactive

 In interactive functions of language, students will be able to develop better

relationships towards their classmates and teachers, build their socialization
skills as they will be able to interact with others and this will lead to a child
friendly environment. We can apply this function in building better
communication and better relationship between individuals. Example:
Students expressing their gratitude towards their teachers and classmates by
saying ‘Thank you’ or apologizing by saying ‘I’m sorry’.

4. Personal

 Personal functions of language will help student express themselves

especially their opinion towards the certain topic, their beliefs, values and their
point of view. We can apply this function by encouraging students to express
their own understanding and allow them to share it as there are diversity of
students and they have different point of view about the lesson. This will
encourage participation and communication towards teacher and students.
Example: Sharing their opinions and understanding about the lesson and their
insights about it.

5. Heuristic

 In heuristic function of language, we can help students satisfy their curiosity

as it is used to learn, discover and explore. We can apply this function by
encouraging students to ask questions for clarification or what part of the
lesson they didn’t understand, open for suggestions and share their own
understanding. When the students are keep on asking, this only means that
they are curious and that they are willing to learn. Heuristic function will allow
students to ask for clarification, share their commentary and opinion and will
help them to discover more. Example: Students are asking follow up
questions on how to solve Mathematics equation, or asking about how
photosynthesis works.

6. Representational/ Informative

 In representational/ informative function of language, students will encourage

to share their ideas, learnings and understanding about the lesson as it is
 about stating facts and experiences. This will encourage open communication
between students and teachers because they are allowed to share their
different ideas about the topic and learn from each other. We can apply this
function of language through brainstorming, debate, reporting and oral
recitations where in students are encourage to share information about the
topic.

7. Imaginative

 The use of imaginative function of language will encourage students to

express their creativity as it can also widen their imagination and their way of
thinking. It influences everything they do, think about and create. It leads to
elaborate theories, dreams and inventions in any profession. We can apply
this function by allowing students to develop creativity, problem-solving and
other important life-skills. Giving students the opportunity to use their
imagination helps with many aspects of development from social skills to
motor functions. This can be done by role-playing, theater, drama or by
dialogues.

V. SUMMARY
Throughout the lectures, Halliday presented that learning is a linguistic
process. Learning is not simply learning the knowledge of the subject. Rather, it is
more about learning how the knowledge of the subject is codified and transmitted via
language. It is therefore important for a linguist to explain how language functions in
the process of education. Halliday is able to show that a child not only uses language
to express, but also to act. The primary purpose of language is to the facilitate
communication, in the sense of transmission of information from one person to
another. The first four functions help the child to satisfy physical, emotional and
social needs. Halliday calls them instrumental, regulatory, interactional, and personal
functions. The next three functions are heuristic, imaginative, and representational,
all helping the child to come to terms with his or her environment.
Language is the primary means of communication and it is important for the
learners to know and understand the different functions of language in order to
communicate with people properly and accurately. They will be given the knowledge
on what function of language is best suited for every situation and will help them
maintaining meaningful conversations.

VI. REFERENCES
 https://www.open.edu/openlearn/languages/understanding-language-and-
learning/content -section-4

 Why Imagination is Important I Miracle Recreation – www.miracle-

recreation.com>Blog

 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Halliday

 https://functionallinguistics.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40554-016-
0034-0

 https://www.scribd.com/document/98193146/HALLIDAY-7-Functions-of-
Language