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Journal of English and Education 2016, 4(2), 115-123

AN ANALYSIS OF NARRATIVE TEXTS IN TEXTBOOKS
USED BY EIGHTH GRADE STUDENTS
(Systemic Functional Linguistics Perspective)
Veronika Titin Suhartini
veronikasuhart30@gmail.com
Department of English Education, Indonesia University of Education
Abstract: This paper entitled “Analysis of Narrative Texts in Textbooks Used by
Eighth grade Students (Systemic Functional Linguistics Perspective)” is aimed to
reveal to what extent Narrative texts in two selected English textbooks fulfill the
criteria of Narrative text and to find out the similarities and differences of
Narrative texts between two selected English textbooks. The study employed
descriptive qualitative method. The data were in this study were six Narrative
texts taken from two selected textbooks. The data analysis was done by
investigating schematic structure, social purpose and linguistic features by using
Transitivity system. The results of analysis show that in some extent (1) four out
of six Narrative texts have fulfilled the schematic structure criteria namely
Orientation, Complication, and Resolution; (2) five out of six Narrative texts
fulfill the social purposes; and (3) six out of six Narrative texts fulfill the
linguistic features. To sum up, Narrative texts in two textbooks are similar in

terms of linguistic features and process types, whereas the differences were found
in terms of social purpose and schematic structure.
Keywords: Narrative text, SFL, Transitivity system, linguistic features, schematic
structure, social purpose

In addition, since the Educational

Introduction

Unit

Texts are important means of

Curriculum

(KTSP)

2006

education since texts are used as


requires eighth grade students to

educational materials in schools and

comprehend

have a crucial place in language

textbook that is used for educational

education. There are several types of

purpose should orient towards the

text

National

such


as

Recount,

Report,

Narrative

Curriculum,

text,

and

English

Narrative

textbook that is used for teaching


and Descriptive texts (Christie &

learning process should provide a

Derewianka,

good example of Narrative text.

Exposition,

Discussion,

2010;

Knapp

&

Therefore, to discover the quality of


Watkins, 2005; Emilia, 2011).

115

Veronika Titin Suhartini
An Analysis of Narrative Texts in Textbooks Used by Eighth Grade Students
(Systemic Functional Linguistics Perspective)

textbook,

(Knapp & Watkins, 2005; Gerot &

Narrative texts in the textbook can be

Wignell, 1994). The character can be

analyzed

a person, animal, plant or thing


language

content

by

in

using

experiential

metafunction in Systemic Functional

(Christie

Linguistic (SFL) framework since it

Knapp & Watkins, 2005; Emilia,


views how language is used to

2011). It aims to entertain, to get and

construe the meaning in social

retain the attention of the reader or

settings

SFL,

listener of the story, to teach lesson,

especially Transitivity system, is used

to explore social values and moral

as a tool to analyze the Narrative


values (Gerot & Wignell, 1994;

texts because it perceives language

Emilia, 2004). The simple structure

not only as a set of rules but also

of the narrative text is orientation,

concerns on how language serves as

complication, and resolution (Gerot

a

and

& Wignell, 1994; Knapp & Watkins,


meaning

2015). Some linguistic features of the

(Halliday,

resource

exchanging

for

2004).

making

system

of


&

Derewianka,

2010;

narrative texts are presented as

(Halliday, 2004; Eggins, 2004).
This study is aimed to analyze

follows (adapted from Emilia, 2004;

Narrative texts in two selected

Primary National Strategy; Knapp &

English textbooks used by eighth


Watkins, 2015; p. 321; Gerot &

grade students by using Transitivity

Wignel, 1994, p.16):
a.

system. This study is expected to

The story is written in the

discover whether the texts have

first person (I, we) or third

fulfilled the criteria as a good

person (she, he, and they).
b.

example of Narrative texts in terms
of

social

purpose,

The verbs are in past tense.
For example: One day a

schematic

man and his son went to the

structure and linguistic features.

jungle to hunt deer.
c.

Literature Review

Chronological

(plot

or

Narrative text is a type of text

content have a chronology

talking about a series of event that

of events that happened in a

happened to a person or a character

particular order). So

116

Journal of English and Education 2016, 4(2), 115-123

that it is sequenced in time

Partici

Proc Partici

Circumst

and use time connectives;

pant

ess

pant

ances

The

Play

footbal

in

l

yard.

once upon a time, after a
while,

then,

finally.

Connectives are widely used
to move the narrative along

boys

the

and to affect the reader.
d.

Main

participants

are

characters with recognizable
qualities, are often specific
Methodology

and individual
e.

The method used in this study

The processes that mostly
was

occur in this kind of text is

texts derived from two selected

in narrative texts, Transitivity system

English textbooks used for eighth

is used as a tool for analyzing

grade students. The focus of the

processes that emerged in the text.

study is on analyzing Narrative texts

Transitivity system has six types of

chosen from two selected English

processes (Halliday, 2004; Eggins,

textbooks.

2004; Emilia, 2014). Those processes
mental,

There

were

three

Narrative texts from each textbook

verbal,

that

relational, behavioral, and existential.

were

analyzed

using

SFL

framework in order to identify their

All these types are different and have

criteria in term of social purpose,

their own grammar. Each process in

schematic structure and linguistic

transitivity system consists of three
principle components

using

subject of this study was Narrative

Since there are some processes exist

material,

method

document analysis technique. The

material, verbal and mental.

are

qualitative

features.

which are

process, participant and circumstance
(Halliday,

2004;

Eggins,

Data Presentation and Discussion

2004;

In terms of social purpose,

Emilia, 2014). Below is an example

five out of six Narrative texts have

of processes:

117

Veronika Titin Suhartini
An Analysis of Narrative Texts in Textbooks Used by Eighth Grade Students
(Systemic Functional Linguistics Perspective)

fulfilled the criteria as a Narrative

not fulfill the criteria of schematic

text. There are two social purposes

structure as suggested by Christie

of Narrative text; to entertain the

and

reader and to tell an imaginary story.

(2010), Knapp and Watkins (2005)

All texts from two selected textbooks

since it only provided two out of

have fulfilled the first social purpose.

three elements which are Orientation

They can entertain the readers and

and Complication. Moreover, from

telling stories in a sequence of events

textbook, there is Text 6 which also

(Gerrot & Wignel, 1996; Knapp &

has not met the fulfillment of

Watkins, 2005). For the second

schematic structure since it did not

social purpose, five out of six

provide appropriate Orientation.

Derewianka

(2010),

Emilia

Narrative texts have achieved the

In terms of linguistic features,

criteria to tell an imaginary story

it is demonstrated that Narrative texts

since the characters are animal. Text

from both Textbook A and Textbook

1 from textbook A did not reach the

B

second social purpose of narrative

appropriate

text, to tell an imaginary story,

required by Narrative texts such as

because the character, the events, and

the use of time connectives, specific

the place were not imaginary or real.

participant, Past Tense, and the

In

term

of

have

already

employed

linguistic

the

features

existence of material, verbal and

schematic

structure, the research shows that

mental processes (Halliday, 2004).

four from six texts have fulfilled

From

the

analysis

and

three elements of Narrative text

explanation above, it is found that

which are Orientation, Complication,

Narrative texts from both textbooks

and Resolution (Knapp & Watkins,

provide similarities and differences.

2015).

six

For the similarities, it is found that

Narrative texts, Text 2 derived from

all Narrative texts derived from

Textbook A did not provide any

Textbook A and Textbook B are

However,

Resolution

which

from

the

indicates

the

written in third person point of view

problem is not solved and the story

since

has not come to an end. Text 2 did

participants

118

all

of

the

have

characters
proper

or

name

Journal of English and Education 2016, 4(2), 115-123

(Halliday, 2004). Besides that, the

can be seen from the table above, it

similarities between Textbook A and

is clearly seen that all of Narrative

Textbook B can be found in the

texts have provided the processes

process type and the linguistic

that are required by Narrative texts

features of the Narrative text. The

which are material, mental, and

description

verbal

is

presented

in

the

processes

(Christie

&

Derewianka, 2010; Halliday, 2004;

following table.

Gerot & Wignell, 1996). Besides the
Table 1 Process Types of Narrative

processes required, there is also an

texts in Textbook A and Textbook

occurrence of other processes such as

B

relational and existential processes.
Textbook B

Relational processes are processes of

Te Te Te Te Te Te

being (Halliday, 2004, Emilia, 2014)

xt

xt

xt

xt

xt

xt

while

1

2

3

4

5

6

processes that represent experience

14

2

9

15

15

7

which shows that something exists or

Textbook A

Mater

6

1

2

0

5

occur in Orientation. It similarly
2

3

5

2

1

happened in all of Narrative texts in

1

two

l
Relati

10

5

1

3

3

of

In

addition,

Narrative

the
texts

between Textbook A and Textbook
6

3

1

2

0

B can be found in the linguistic

0

features as can be seen from the table

ioral
Existe

textbook.

similarities

5

onal
Behav

are

2014). These existential processes

8

l
Verba

processes

happens (Halliday, 2004; Emilia,

ial
Menta

existential

1

1

1

1

1

below.

1

ntial

Table

1

presents

the

similarities of Narrative texts found
in Textbook A and Textbook B. As

119

Veronika Titin Suhartini
An Analysis of Narrative Texts in Textbooks Used by Eighth Grade Students
(Systemic Functional Linguistics Perspective)

consists

Table 2. Linguistic features of

participant,

Narrative texts in Textbook A and

three
process

circumstance.

Textbook B

Time

of

In

elements;
itself,

and

addition,

the

Textbook A Textbook B

Narrative texts in two selected

Te Te Te Te Te Te

textbook have used past tense as the

xt

xt

xt

xt

xt

xt

verb in each clause.

1

2

3

4

5

6

Apart from the similarities,













there are also differences found in

connec

the Narrative texts between Textbook

tives

A and Textbook B. Narrative texts in

Specifi













both selected textbooks are different

c

in term of schematic structure and

Partici

social purpose. The analysis of

pants

schematic structure in Narrative texts

Past













from Textbook A and Textbook B is
presented in the table below.

Tense

Table 3. The Schematic structure
of Narrative texts in Textbook A

Table 2 reveals that all of

and Textbook B

Narrative texts in Textbook A and
Textbook B have achieved all criteria

Orient

Compli

Resol

of linguistic features. Narrative texts

ation

cation

ution

in both selected textbooks have used

T

the time connectives which shows

ex

the story is written chronologically

t1

2005).

Text

T

Moreover, all of Narrative texts also

book

ex

employed the specific participants.

A

t2

(Knapp

&

Watkins,

This is related to the processes

T

occurred in the texts. As mentioned

ex

by Halliday (1994, cited in Emilia,

t3

2014, p. 150) that process usually

120











-







Journal of English and Education 2016, 4(2), 115-123

Table 4. The Social purpose of

T


ex





Narrative texts in Textbook A and
Textbook B

t4
Text

T

book

ex

B

t5





Purpo



Textbook B

Te

Te

Te

Te

Te

Te

xt

xt

xt

xt

xt

xt

1

2

3

4

5

6













-











ses

T
ex



-



t6
To
entert

Table 3 demonstrates the
difference of Narrative texts between

ain

two

the

selected

English

textbooks.

From the table, it is shown that one

reader

out of three Narrative texts in

To

textbook

tell an

A

did

not

provide

Resolution. Meanwhile, in Textbook

imagi

B there is one Narrative text did not

nary

achieve the criteria of Orientation.

story

Moreover,

Textbook A

Narrative

texts

in
Table

Textbook A and Textbook B are

4

indicates

that

different in term of social purpose.

Narrative texts in Textbook A and

The

Textbook B have achieved the first

analysis

of

difference

is

purpose of Narrative texts which is to

presented in the following table.

entertain

the

reader

(Knapp

&

Watkins, 2005). It is obtained from
the

stories

which

are

written

chronologically and intended to tell a
story

in

sequence

of

events.

However, there is a Narrative
texts in Textbook A that does not

121

Veronika Titin Suhartini
An Analysis of Narrative Texts in Textbooks Used by Eighth Grade Students
(Systemic Functional Linguistics Perspective)

achieve

the second

of

criteria of Narrative texts in terms of

Narrative text which is to tell an

schematic structure, social purpose

imaginary story. There are some

and linguistic features. The Narrative

criteria for Narrative text to be

texts between two textbooks also

identified as an imaginary story. It is

show differences and similarities.

seen from the imaginative characters,

Narrative texts in textbook A and

events,

the

textbook B are similar in terms of

characters of Text 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6

linguistic features and process types.

are animals which can be categorized

However, Narrative texts in textbook

as

A and B are different in terms of

and

places.

imaginative

purpose

Since

character,

the

characters of Text 1 are real human

social

and did not indicate any imaginative

structure since one of three texts in

character so that Text 1 did not tell

Textbook

an imaginary story

Resolution while one of three text in

From the description, it can

and

purpose

A

did

schematic

not

provide

Textbook B did not provide the

be inferred that Narrative texts in

Orientation.

Textbook A and Textbook B have
shown similarities and differences.

References

Narrative texts in Textbook A and B

Christie, F., & Derewianka, B.

are similar in terms of Process Types

(2010).

and Linguistic features. While the

British: Continuum.

differences of Narrative texts in

School

discourse.

Eggins, S. (2004). An introduction to

Textbook A and Textbook B are

systemic functional linguistics..

found in the schematic structure and

New York: Continuum.

social purposes.

Emilia,

E.

Introducing

grammar .

functional

Conclusions

(2014).

Bandung:

Pustaka Jaya

The findings of this study
indicated that in some extent, most of

Emilia, E. (2011). Pendekatan genre

Narrative texts from the two selected

based.

English textbooks have fulfilled the

Bandung: Rizqy

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untuk

Press.

guru.

Journal of English and Education 2016, 4(2), 115-123

Gerot, L. & Wignell, P. (1994).

Knapp, P., & Watkins, M. (2005).

Making sense of functional

Genre, text, and grammar.

grammar.

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Gerd

technology for teaching and

Stabler.
Halliday,

M.A.K.

introduction

assesing

(2004).
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