An ESP teacher's guide to functional analyses

This introductory guide for ESP teachers first draws attention to the elements of language in use which analysts of language function seek to relate. It is suggested that researchers' different foci of interest contribute to the complexity of meaning of the word “function”. Three orientations in functional analysis are illustrated: the study of language as meaning system, the study of individual communicative acts, and the study of functions in discourse organisation. It is suggested that the third orientation provides understandings of particular usefulness to ESP teachers.