1.3.3 The Compatibility Between SFL and Sociocultu...
The above-mentioned explanation on the relationship between language, context and identity reveals that SFL and sociocultural theory share the view that society, culture, context, language and identities are mutually constitutive, which effectively form an integration to explore a social-linguistic identity phenomenon.On the one hand, SFL puts the social impact on the individual, investigating the ways in which the society is semiotically constructed in the language content and expression.On the other hand, sociocultural theory puts its emphasis not only on the social context but also on the historical dimension.In particular, the concept of communities of practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991) rooted in sociocultural theory is helpful to explore the relation between the past, present and future experiences and the development of identity.
In this study, the above-mentioned three themes in sociocultural theory can be complementary tools combined with SFL grammatical analysis to explore how Chinese students’ disciplinary identities are constructed in the negotiation and development of interpersonal and intrapersonal interactions across time and context.Both the social and psychological dimensions help us look into the social construction of identities in individual development.This is specifically useful to explain the social and individual nature of learning ability development, by focusing on the idea of how language in use will mediate individual development through negotiation in disciplinary practice.Although sociocultural theory receives criticism on its lack of language description and language analysis (Thorne, 2005), it can be addressed well in SFL which presents a systemic description and explanation on language and language development.