As noted in the Introduction, Chapter 2 presents the theoretical foundation of the book. Here, first I will set out ideas about language itself, and relate these to identity and culture. I move to language learning, then to the teaching of EFL and finally, the role of L1 within that domain.

Part 1: Language

In this book I will draw upon the theory of language developed by Michael Halliday known as Systemic-Functional Linguistics (SFL). While I will not be making use of Halliday's detailed grammatical analysis, I will be drawing upon his ideas about language itself (and later, about learning and culture). Therefore, I will provide here a brief explanation of the theory for readers who may be less familiar with it.

Halliday's functional approach to language may be traced back to the anthropological work of Bronislaw Malinowski (1884 to 1942), who documented the society and culture of Trobriand Island communities in the South Pacific. In the course of transcribing and then translating the language of the Islanders as they were engaged in their main livelihood – fishing expeditions – Malinowski realised that readers would not fully understand his account unless he also described the event itself. He coined the term context of situation to cover the non-linguistic meanings which accompany our language use. Furthermore, Malinowski found that he needed to describe the context of culture – to show the roles and significance of a fishing expedition within that culture.

Malinowski's work was taken up and further developed by his student, J.R. Firth (1890 to 1960) in the UK, whose own student, Michael Halliday (b. 1925), has been the leading figure in functional linguistics since the latter part of the 20th century (1985a, 1994). In Halliday's view, language does not ‘convey’ or ‘express’ meaning. Instead, language both constructs semantics and is constructed by it, hence the title of his account of L1 development: Learning How to Mean (1975).