A Functional Grammar Analysis: Three Metafunctions in ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’

Abstract

Language is something learnt from the earliest stage of human life that continues until adulthood. Therefore, to further learn about how important literature in early stages of human life is, an approach towards children’s literature is needed. This study aims to analyze a work of children’s literature with a Systemic Functional Linguistics approach. Ideational, Textual, and Interpersonal meanings are analyzed from the short story “Jack and the Beanstalk†accessed from https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/short-stories/jack-and-the-beanstalk. The researchers use a descriptive qualitative method. The story is broken down into individual clauses which are then analyzed using SFL in tables as shown below. The result shows that the majority of the text used material process and topical unmarked theme, which indicates that the story is simple but concise. The story itself, although simple, tells a magical fantasy tale, which stimulates children’s imagination to the fullest.